Instagram carousels: what are they and how to use them?

Instagram carousel posts are one of the most diverse ways to achieve your Instagram objectives. With the right strategy, you can improve interaction, reach new audiences, and even drive product sales. Carousel posts are a really simple concept. You can publish up to ten photographs and videos in a single post instead of just one. Swiping allows users to view each photograph in the collection. If you want to increase your Instagram views, you should start using carousel posts if you haven’t previously. What is an instagram carousel, and why should you utilize them?

 

What are Instagram Carousel Posts?

 

 

Carousel posts are a really simple concept. You can publish up to ten photographs and videos in a single post instead of just one. With the ability to swipe the contents, users can view each photograph in the collection. Because of their simplicity, carousel postings are handy. Carousels can be used to display product catalogs, press releases, and panoramic photos, among other things.

Carousel postings, however, had one fatal fault until recently. When you create a carousel post, all of the photographs contained within it are considered as a group. You had to update the entire post if you wanted to make changes. If you wanted to remove a photo, you had to remove the entire carousel. That has changed in November 2021. Instagram has added the ability to edit and delete individual photographs within a carousel post, making it more useful.

Instagram carousel postings let you publish up to ten separate photographs or videos. The social media advises that instagram full size image carousels be at least 1080 X 1080 pixels in size with a 1:1 ratio, although any size is acceptable. Photos should be in JPEG or PNG format and no larger than 30MB in size. Videos should be less than 60 seconds long and no more than 4GB in size.

Instagram carousel images and videos can be portrait, square, or landscape. The Carousel’s photos should all be the same size. When you use carousels, the Instagram algorithm presents your post to your online followers more than once. So, if a follower comes across your carousel post and skips it without swiping through, the second slide will be displayed the next time they see it in their feed.

 

What is a carousel on instagram post size requirements?

 

 

• Portrait – 1080 x 1350 pixels
• Square – 1080 x 1080 pixels
• Landscape – 1080 x 566 pixels
• Aspect ratio – landscape (1.91:1), square (1:1), vertical (4:5)

Why are the benefits of carousel posts for your business?

 

 

 

Instagram carousel postings allow all users to publish up to ten photographs or videos in a single post. This is fantastic for everyone, especially brands trying to increase their engagement. Carousels have the highest engagement rate of any post type on Instagram.

According to study, the average engagement rate for carousels was 1.92%, compared to 1.74% for static images and 1.45% for movies. Keep in mind that this study was conducted in July of 2020, thus we believe that this figure has increased in subsequent years.

Aside from engagement, marketers gain from appeasing the Instagram algorithm by combining a variety of post types. Despite this indication of success, carousel postings are only used by a limited fraction of users.

Carousels with 10 slides had the highest engagement rate, which may surprise some, especially given that users must complete more swipes to see all of the content. Despite their advantages, only 6% of carousels employ all ten slides.

Carousels, while Instagram refers to them as “many image postings,” can also blend photographs and videos. According to research, carousels that include both photos and videos yield greater engagement rates (2.33%) than video-only (1.86%) or image-only (1.80%) carousels. 

 

How to create an Instagram carousel post?

 

Here are a few things to consider before getting into the steps of how to create a carousel post on instagram. First, consider the multiple-image carousel post. Why did you choose a carousel instead of a video or a single image? Then, how do you want your carousel’s photos to be arranged? Create a concept before selecting photographs for Instagram. Do you want to create a continuous panorama that transitions from one image to the next? Do you want to share a story, make a point, or provide some fascinating statistics? Consider using Canva to create a one-of-a-kind design for your carousels. Make the text that will be shown on your photos. Add photographs from your carousel to your gallery.

There are numerous methods for creating and posting an Instagram carousel. We’ll go over the many alternatives with you:

 

1. Use the Instagram App

 

 

 

Launch the Instagram app and tap the Plus icon on the home screen. Then, below the post preview, click on the double-layered squares. Choose photographs from your gallery. The photographs will be shown in the order that you selected them. Select each image to apply filters such as ‘Moon,’ ‘Lark,’ and ‘Crema’ to change the look and feel of your photos. To modify the brightness, contrast, saturation, highlight, and other aspects of the photographs, select ‘Edit’. Then, to save the changes, click the ‘blue tick’ icon. Repeat this process for each image.

 

 

To proceed, click the blue arrow -> icon in the top right corner of your screen. You can enter a caption here that will appear beneath the carousel. You can also tag people, add a location, hashtags, and publish your carousels on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr. Please keep in mind that any URLs put in the description will not be hyperlinked. You can, however, direct your audience to your bio and include a link to your website. To share it, click the ‘blue tick’ symbol.

 

2. Create Instagram Carousels Using Canva

 

Canva is ideal for making carousels because it has a large number of imaginative and easily customizable template designs. Canva is also available on your phone and PC. First, go to Canva.com and create a Canva account if you don’t already have one. However, if you do, please sign in. Then, on your Canva dashboard, select the template icon. Flyers, frequent Instagram posts, social media ads, website banners, book covers, and other design templates will be available.

 

 

In the search box, type ‘carousel Instagram post‘. Carousel templates will be displayed. These templates have 2 to 10 images that you can customize by clicking on them. Canva’s dashboard lets you customize the text, color, images, themes, and video. You can also use elements to build one-of-a-kind creations. Canva offers several free features. Canva Pro users get access to more features. When you’re designing on Canva, you may save your work as JPEG or PNG pictures. Notice that Canva will help you on how to make a carousel on instagram even if you have zero competence in graphic design.

 

7 original ways to use Instagram carousel posts 

 

 

 

There are several ideas or ways you can put in creative ways to use carousel posts on Instagram:

 

1- Using your previous content

You may have previously published fantastic content on your blog that received a lot of engagement, and you want to recycle it or garner additional engagement. Instagram Carousels may assist you with this by displaying text pictures, quotes, multi-image series, and graphics.

 

2- Reviews

 

 

What did you do the last time you made an internet purchase? You may have read consumer reviews and comments before making a purchase. Before purchasing your product, people always want to know how satisfied your consumers are. Request feedback from your customers on your products or services. You may distribute videos and photographs of reviews with their consent. Use an Instagram carousel post to creatively group these reviews.

 

3- Content from behind the scenes 

 

 

It’s fun to showcase your workspace and the behind-the-scenes of your items or business with the end product every now and again. This allows you to interact with your viewers in person. They get to witness your imagination in action.

 

4- Storytelling

 

 

A carousel post can be used to present a story utilizing videos, photographs, and short text. Make your illustrations as clear as possible. Using Carousels to communicate tales allows you to share images of your ideal consumers’ pain spots and engage with them deeply. You can also demonstrate how your product or service solves their issues. Storytelling is an effective method for engaging customers and creating me-too moments.

Creating user-generated material is one easy approach to curate tales for your Instagram handle. Ask your audience questions about your service, product, or brand and invite them to share their tales. Remember that every follower is a person with a story to tell.

 

5- How-to content

You can effortlessly and graphically communicate how-to content with your followers using Instagram carousels. A food brand, for example, can share a step-by-step recipe creation process while tying that post to a blog with a more extensive description of the step-by-step recipe.

People want to know how to do something they are interested in, yet the process of learning how can be time-consuming and depressing. You may organize the procedure into photographs and short movies that summarize the process and urge visitors to learn more using Instagram carousel posts.

 

6- Before & after photos

 

 

Before and after photos are excellent for demonstrating the difference your service or product makes in the lives of your customers. You can make a slideshow of before and after photos or videos. What were your customers going through before they bought your products and services? What difference did your products and services make in their lives?

For example, say a consumer is trying to shed a few pounds and you offer weight-loss services or products. In such instance, you can publish the before and after photos in an Instagram carousel while conveying their story with text, images, and video.

 

7- Products for display

 

 

Using an Instagram carousel, creatively present multiple products in one post. You can show up to ten distinct photographs of your products to your audience, and you can link this post to your Instagram store or eCommerce sites. According to a Facebook survey, 83% of Instagram users discover new products on the platform. 81% use it to study products and services, and a staggering 80% use it to decide whether to buy a product or service.

Instagram is an excellent platform for promoting your products and increasing sales. Another option for displaying more than ten things is to produce short films showcasing various products on your Instagram Carousel post. We recommend combining movies and photos. Limit your audience to what they can see in 60 seconds or less.

 

How to use Instagram carousel posts for better marketing sales?

 

There is no secret sauce to creating the perfect carousel post, but there are some helpful hints you can utilize to boost interaction. The higher the level of engagement, the more likely they are to appear many times in Instagram’s feed.

The first image must be captivating

Put your most engaging photograph at the top of the carousel. Make certain that it is well-designed, intriguing, and eventually elicits curiosity. The greater the user’s curiosity, the more likely they are to swipe to see the other related images. Before and after carousel advertising are an excellent illustration of this. That will be covered later in the examples section.

 

Use all 10 photos for more engagement

As long as it’s relevant and captivating, and you have photographs to share, include as many images or videos as you can. As previously stated, only a few carousel photos make use of the full 10 image/video allowance. However, those who do see far more engagement than those who do not.

Do not push content that does not belong together, such as combining two different image types (like a before and after mixed with a behind the scenes).

 

Include a call to action in the caption

If you don’t trust your audience’s instinct to swipe left on your carousel content, make it known. Include a call to action (CTA) within the caption. “Want to see the finished product? Swipe left for the grand revel,” something like that. Then write a remark and tell us what you think”. This not only keeps people interested, but it also allows you to hear from your audience.

 

Include a CTA on your final slide

Take it a step further by including a call to action on the final slide. For example, in this message, a company encouraged users to DM them the term “ebook.” This brings up a whole new marketing avenue. When you ask a user to DM you, you can now utilize Instagram DM Automation via ManyChat to start a conversation in their DMs when they mention your keyword. Then you can direct them to things they might be interested in and request that their email address be synchronized to your email marketing platform.