Everything about Instagram Carousel Posts

Using Instagram carousel posts is a good way to show your important experiences or moments in more detail or present a complete body of your work.

Moreover, many businesses are now taking advantage of the carousel ad—a highly engaging and interactive format that performs ten times better than regular ads—to do a more effective Instagram marketing for free. It was introduced in 2015 for images and later promoted to include videos.

Let me explain more what exactly this feature is. An Instagram carousel post is a post whereby you can upload up to 10 photos or videos (of maximum one-minute length each). A set of dots, one in blue color— indicating which of the photos or videos is appearing now on screen— and others in grey appear in the bottom informing users to swipe left to see more. An icon of white stacked squares also shows up on the top right of the post itself.

Stay tuned, and I will let you know how to create one.

How to Create Instagram Carousel Posts?

After opening the Instagram app, take below steps to build a carousel post:

• Tap on the plus sign in the bottom center and then on the stacked squares.

• Select the items you want to share (up to 10) and click “Next.”

• On this screen, choose filters that will be applied by default to the entire slideshow. For selecting a specific filter for a certain photo or video, simply click on it and choose its filter separately.

Note: To reorder the contents of a carousel post, don’t go back to start afresh. Hold on an image or video until a trash can icon appears and drag it to change the order. What’s more, dragging the file to the trash, will delete it.

• In this step, fill in the fields such as caption, location, or to tag people, just like what you do with posting one single photo or video. The caption is the same for all files since it is a single post. However, you can tag different people or brands in each of the images. It’s also possible to turn off commenting on your carousel posts.

Click “Share,” and you are done!

Go back to your profile to check how the new post looks like. As you see, there are dots below the post to indicate it’s a carousel one, and visitors have to swipe left to see all the files. You can also mention in the caption or the first media file that users should swipe left for more.

You can also create an Instagram carousel ad from Facebook if you have a business account on Instagram and a connected Facebook page. To do this, use the Power Editor tool, select a campaign and then click on “Create Ad Set.” From the placement section, choose “Instagram” and from the format section, choose “carousel.” Then your carousel post will be published on Instagram as a story or a regular post in your profile.

Creative Ways to Use Instagram Carousel Posts

The main purpose of carousel posts on Instagram is to create an album by combining up to 10 photos or videos. This way, your post becomes more interactive, and the message is conveyed more effectively.

I’ve put together ten creative ways that businesses, brands, influencers or even regular Instagrammers use carousel posts:

• Share achievements

When we get a positive result of hard work in the form of a prize, we feel proud and happy. It is always noteworthy to win an award, no matter how special it is or how many times you receive it. If you wish to share the joy with your audience, you may find that one single photo or video is not enough. That’s where the Instagram carousel post comes in handy. With having up to 10 photos or videos in one post, you are able to express gratitude, put photos of yourself, attendees or supporters and share your feelings.

• Show different moments in a single location

You may want to strike different poses in a similar scenery. Since it’s awkward to display them is separate posts (unless they match your profile theme or design,) make use of Instagram carousel post to put them all in one single place. Don’t forget to ask followers to swipe left to see more.

• Announce a product launch

To successfully market a new product, you need to clearly inform your audience online about its features, colors, types, etc. It seems more reasonable to put them into several posts to make sure not to overwhelm the followers with too much information on a single photo or video.

• Share testimonials

While many known brands use Instagram stories to show testimonials or customer reviews, the Instagram carousel post can also be to your benefit to show up to 10 of them in one post. This approach gives you credibility and sparks engagement while not overstuffing your followers’ feeds.

• Describe a process

As shown below, Amber Kemp-Gerstel is illustrating how to craft up a crown for Holloween in simple steps by one carousel post. You can also apply this practice for step-by-step tutorials on more complicated procedures to offer more value to your audience.

• Split video files

If you want to upload a rather lengthy video (maximum length: 10 minutes) on your Instagram profile, split it into ten separate files and upload it as a single post on your Instagram profile. It is worth mentioning that Instagram allows you to upload videos of up to one hour to its IGTV. Even in this case, you are able to upload the first 10 minutes as a regular post on your profile, and visitors are directed to IGTV to see the rest.

• Zoom in

It’s very common on Instagram to have a carousel post in which the first photo is the enlarged version, and the next ones aim to zoom in different parts to reveal more details. It may be a piece of art, a handy craft, your face makeup, a piece of cloth, etc.

• Tell a story

Storytelling accompanied by photos makes your followers to better relate to it. Reading the caption while swiping its carousel post, your audience absorbs the whole story with more enthusiasm. Give it a shot and watch receiving more social signals for these sorts of posts.

• Before and after shots

Posting before and after photos seems to be a trend which is here to stay. People are always curious to know what a person looked like before wearing makeup, getting their hair dyed, or losing weight. It can also apply to a product or any other object that you’ve crafted, made changes to, or produced.

1. Show behind the scenes

Yes! You can show your followers how you managed to deceive them! It sparks engagement when behind the scenes shots or clips since it is the topic people are always curious about.

Final thoughts

Sometimes a single picture will not do enough for advertisers to communicate their message. Combining multiple photos or videos as an Instagram carousel post is a no-brainer to produce in-depth contents and boost engagement. If you feel you have more control over uploading an Instagram carousel post from desktop than a mobile device, schedule post on Instagram in advance through the bigger screen of the PC. Feel free to share other smart ways to use Instagram carousel posts in the comments below. Some ideas are mentioned above; however the list is not exhaustive.