Social Media Experiment
- Maxine Callow
- Mar 24
- 3 min read
We had a peer group chat last Thursday morning about whether it’s worth chasing followers on social media. To me, it feels like an onerous chore: making videos or endlessly photographing work, editing into reels, choosing music, finding relevant topics, shaping a brand, posting at peak times, and doing it all consistently. The list goes on, and the rules shift often enough that you’re always trying to keep up. I don’t follow any one person closely; I prefer a mix of ceramic artists in my Instagram feed. The problem is the amount of dross that seeps in, leaving you wading through it.
Our discussion touched on whether showing your face helps a reel travel further. I decided to loosely test this by posting two reels from my ceramics account.
On Thursday, I was making seven moulds. Lucy filmed me pouring plaster, including me in the frame rather than just my hands. I posted the edited reel, sped up and set to music, later that evening.
On Friday, I created a slideshow of seven similar ceramic pieces, again set to music, and posted it as a reel. This one contained no human presence, only images of the work.
The results make a strong case for including yourself in your posts.
The following images show the insights provided by Instagram as of 11:30am on Tuesday 24 March 2026. In each case, the reel featuring me is on the left, and the image-only reel is on the right.
The difference in views between the two reels is significant. There are, of course, other variables that may influence the results, particularly the music, which could affect age and country demographics. I deliberately avoided hashtags to reduce further distortion.
The split between followers and non-followers is notable. While I haven’t researched the algorithm in depth, it seems clear that reaching non-followers is preferable if the aim is wider exposure.
Likes are low on both posts relative to views. This likely reflects a common habit: people are less inclined to engage with content from accounts they don’t know. There’s a degree of detachment in how we interact online.
A key outcome of this experiment is the number of new followers gained. This figure is slightly skewed, as I removed six bot accounts. Too many bots can negatively affect engagement, so I’ve been deleting them as they appear. Notably, the image-only reel generated no new followers.
The gender split is also interesting. The mould-making reel attracted more men, which may relate to me being female on camera, while the cat pieces drew more women, perhaps reflecting a general preference.
Geographically, the first reel reached a broader range of countries, including some unexpected ones such as Turkey. The cat reel was largely confined to the UK, which aligns more closely with what I would have predicted.
Overall, this was a loose experiment with equally loose analysis, but it still reveals some useful insights. It will influence my approach to posting. I will use reels more than I have previously, although including myself remains something I’m not entirely comfortable with, so that may not increase significantly.
More broadly, the question of whether I want to pursue followers at all remains unresolved. I’m not convinced it leads to increased sales or meaningfully improves my practice. I would rather spend my time in the studio, working with clay, than documenting the process for an audience I don’t know.
Both reels were also shared on Facebook, but for the purposes of this exercise, and in line with our discussion last Thursday, I have focused solely on Instagram.
Link to mould-making reel: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWFHba0jN4Z/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
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