Most creators chase views. The ones who actually grow understand something different. The real question is not whether people will watch your Reel. It is whether someone will think of a specific friend while watching it.
Some Reels get thousands of views and then disappear. Others keep showing up in group chats, DMs, and Slack channels for weeks. The difference is not production quality. It is not the trending audio. It is not even the caption.
It is whether the person watching it immediately thought of someone else.
Most engagement on Instagram stays on Instagram. Likes stack up on your post. Comments sit below the video. Even saves live inside the app, visible only to you in your analytics.
But when someone forwards your Reel, something different happens. That piece of content moves from the feed into a person’s DM with someone they actually know. It travels from your account into a private conversation between two real people.
The algorithm can push content to more screens. But only people can push content into relationships.
And most creators never even think about designing for forwards. They are optimizing for the algorithm while ignoring the far more powerful distribution channel sitting right there.
Honey, an algorithm recommends you to strangers. A forward recommends you to someone’s actual best friend. Which one do you think carries more weight?
Delphi the Dolphin
There are patterns to what people forward. Once you see them, you start noticing them everywhere. Here are the five types of Reels that consistently travel through DMs.
Relatability Reels
“The freelancer checking their bank account every hour after sending an invoice.”
Person-Type Reels
“Every marketing team has this one person.”
Useful Shortcut Reels
“Three hooks that consistently increase watch time.”
Contrarian Reels
“Posting more is not always the answer.”
Conversation Reels
“Most brands are posting way too much content.”
Relatability Reels work because they describe a feeling so accurately that the person watching thinks, “I need to send this to the four other people who understand this.” Person-Type Reels work because they make someone instantly picture someone they know.
Useful Shortcut Reels travel when they answer something a friend has been asking about. Contrarian Reels spark the forward because sharing a hot take is a way of starting a conversation. Conversation Reels are practically designed to be debated in DMs.
Contrarian content is just bait for people who want to text their friends ‘ok but are they wrong though??’ — and that is a beautiful thing.
Delphi the Dolphin
Generic content creates a weak emotional response. When a Reel is aimed at everyone, it connects with no one deeply enough to make them pick up their phone and send it to a person they actually know.
Look at the difference between these two ideas for a Reel:
Too broad
“How to grow on Instagram.”
Shareable
“The creator spending five hours editing every Reel and wondering why growth still feels impossible.”
The first one is information. The second one is recognition. Recognition is what gets forwarded.
Specificity is not about narrowing your audience. It is about creating a strong enough signal that the right people feel seen. And when people feel deeply seen, they want to share that feeling with someone else.
A broad Reel gets a like. A specific Reel gets sent to a friend with three crying laughing emojis and a “this is literally us.”
Trying to speak to everyone is the content equivalent of making a dish so mild nobody dislikes it… but nobody texts their friends about it either. Season your content, people.
Delphi the Dolphin
Most creators run through the same checklist before posting. Is this valuable? Is it educational? Does it fit the brand? Is the caption good? Is the thumbnail working?
All of those questions are fine. But there is one question that cuts through all of them and tells you almost immediately whether your Reel has share potential.
The one question to ask before every post
Can someone instantly think of one specific person they would send this to?
If the answer is yes, your Reel has something working in its favour that no algorithm can replicate. It has a reason to travel.
If the answer is no, it does not mean the content is bad. It might still get views. But it probably will not go anywhere on its own. It will sit on the feed, collect some passive engagement, and stop there.
Content that cannot answer the “who would send this” question is usually too broad, too safe, too general, or too focused on what the creator wants to say rather than what the audience needs to feel.
If you have to think for more than three seconds about who might send it, the answer is probably nobody. Great content has a specific person attached to it before it’s even posted.
Delphi the Dolphin
The best Reels do not feel like content. They feel like something someone needed to say, and you happened to say it first.
Before you post your next Reel, imagine it landing in someone’s DM inbox. Picture the person receiving it. Picture what the sender typed above it when they forwarded it.
If you can see that moment clearly, your Reel has a real chance of going somewhere. If you cannot, it might be worth asking what needs to change to get there.
Forwards are not a metric you can buy or boost. They are a sign that your content made someone feel something strong enough to share it with another human being. That is rarer than most creators think, and far more valuable than most platforms let on.
The algorithm is a crowd. A forward is a recommendation. One says ‘here’s a thing.’ The other says ‘I thought of you.’ Make content that makes people think of other people. Everything else is just noise.
Delphi the Dolphin
Jul 10, 2026Anjana Devi
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