How to Create a Seamless Instagram Carousel Post

Reel might be the hottest thing on Instagram right now. But the Instagram carousel is still flourishing on the platform. In fact, they may be the key to maintaining engagement as they tell people to stop and swipe.

In this guide, we give you a breakdown of why posting an Instagram carousel is a good idea for your social media strategy. We’ll also give you tons of tips, examples, and ideas to help you get started. Let’s dive

What is Instagram Carousel?

An Instagram carousel is a post containing more than one photo or video, which users can view through the phone app by swiping left on the post. Desktop users can view Carousel posts by clicking the arrow button to the right of a post. Think of it as a slideshow of posts that users can control manually.

Carousel posts are a great way to get people to stop and engage with your content, especially if the first slide is engaging enough. So it’s no surprise that Instagram carousel outperforms both photo and video posts in terms of engagement.

Socialinsider.io found that carousel posts garner a higher engagement rate than photos and videos. Depending on follower size, Carousel manages to hit engagement rates between 1.65% and 5.40%. This is higher than the average platform engagement rate, which is 1.22% according to the latest Instagram statistics.

When to Use the Instagram Carousel

The unique nature of Instagram carousels makes them a great choice for strategic Instagram content. Some of the best ways to use Instagram carousel posts are:

• educational material
• data and infographics
• tutorial
• brand storytelling
• before and after reveal
• photo dump
• Product Shows
• Product/Brand Update
• user generated content
• highlight the incident
• looks behind the scenes

Instagram Carousel Size Requirements

When creating a carousel post on Instagram, you’ll want to make sure it looks great on the platform. It is therefore important to comply with size requirements and specifications. Design and customize your posts with three aspect ratio options in mind:

• Category (1:1)
• Horizontal (1.91:1)
• Vertical (4:5)

For images, Instagram recommends a resolution of 1080 x 1080 pixels. Videos can have a minimum resolution of 600 x 600 pixels and a maximum resolution of 1080 x 1080 pixels.

how to make a carousel post on instagram

Once you have the right pictures or videos lined up, you can start creating an Instagram carousel post using the steps below:

step 1. Click the “+” button from the navigation bar at the top of your screen.

Phase 2. Select the option to create a new “Post”.

step 3. Tap on the option of “Select Multiple”.

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step 4. Select the photos or videos you want to upload as carousel posts. You can choose up to 10 photos or videos for your carousel. Then tap “Next”.

Step 5. Like creating single-image posts, you’ll get the option to edit your photos and videos by applying filters. To create a cohesive look as a whole, you can choose to apply the same filter to all images and videos. Once you are done, tap on the “Next” button.

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Step 6. Now add description to your carousel post. Make sure you include an appropriate and catchy caption that can inspire engagement. You can also include popular and relevant Instagram hashtags to improve the visibility of your posts. This is also the section where you can tag people, add locations, or add reminders similar to regular posts.

Step 7. Once you have everything sorted, tap the “Share” button and that’s it. You have created and shared your Instagram carousel post.

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How to Schedule Instagram Carousel Posts

The manual publishing process can be straightforward, but it can take time. As a social media manager, one of your main goals is to get your work done as efficiently as possible. This means scheduling content ahead of time so that you can maintain a consistent publication schedule.

And the same would be true for your Instagram carousel posts. Luckily, you have the option to schedule your Instagram posts using Facebook Creator Studio. Here are the steps to follow:

step 1. Log in to your Creator Studio account and select the Instagram button at the top.

Phase 2. Click the “Create Post” button from the left-hand panel and select the option to create a post for your “Instagram Feed”. This option is suitable for creating image carousel posts and sharing videos of less than 60 seconds.

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step 3. Click the “Add Content” button at the bottom of the Caption window and select the first image or video you want to upload. After the first content is selected, the “Add Content” button will move to the top of the caption window. Click this button to add all the photos and/or videos you want to include in the post.

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step 4. Once you’ve created the post and added all the information you want to include, click the drop-down arrow next to the “Publish” button. Select “Schedule” and choose the date and time you want the carousel post to exit and click the “Schedule” button. And that’s it—your Instagram carousel post is now ready to go out.

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While this is a useful tool, keep in mind that it can only be accessed on the desktop. This can be a little daunting if you’re used to managing everything from your phone or if you want to schedule carousel posts on the go.

If you’re using an all-in-one social media management tool like Sprout Social, you can publish and schedule Instagram carousel posts directly to your account. Sprout recently updated its ability to allow users to publish to an Instagram carousel directly from the desktop app instead of a mobile publishing workflow.

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How to make Instagram carousel post on Sprout:

step 1. Open Compose in the Sprout desktop or mobile app.

Phase 2. Select your Instagram business profile from the profile picker.

step 3. Add your own content to Instagram posts.

step 4. Select up to 10 images to include in your post. Note that images and videos cannot be added to your Instagram Carousel posts published through the Sprout app at this time.

Step 5. Personalize your post, be it a tag, a hashtag, an Instagram first comment or even a link post.

Step 6. Schedule when you want to publish your post.

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Step 7. Click Submit or Send.

For more information about publishing and scheduling Instagram carousel posts in Sprout, visit our Help Center.

Instagram Carousel Examples to Inspire You

Need some inspiration for creative ways to use carousel posts? Here are some Instagram carousel examples to inspire you:

1. Sprout Social: Answering the Burning Questions

Sprout used the Instagram carousel to share answers to important questions. This helped inform audiences and showcase the platform’s social listening potential.

2. Canva: The Bite-Sized Visual Guide

Canva makes great use of carousels to share short and actionable visual guides for its users.

3. ColourPop Cosmetics: Revealing a New Collection/Product Line

ColourPop Cosmetics used a carousel post to reveal all the products in their new In the Limelight collection.

4. Perception HQ: Event Highlights

NotionHQ shared a series of photos announcing a virtual conference.

7. Frank Body: Spotlighting Stuff

The Australian skincare brand used the carousel to highlight key native ingredients and their benefits.

8. Exist Green: Mini Store Tour

Exist Green shared photos from its redesigned eco-boutique section. It gave followers a short tour of their store to invite foot traffic.

Creating an Instagram Carousel Template

One of the best practices for following on Instagram is maintaining a consistent feed with high-quality images. This means that you should choose the visuals for your carousel posts carefully to ensure that your feed looks cohesive and on-brand. Instagram carousel templates can help with this.

Instagram carousel templates serve as an outline for your carousel posts. They use a consistent style of color schemes, fonts, and other design elements to ensure that each image comes together to create a unified look. Customize these templates with text, graphics, and photos to create a new carousel post.

You can find tons of stock templates on websites like Canva, PicMonkey and Adobe Stock. These templates are available to customize and download for free or for a small fee. Stock templates are a great option if you want to save time. They are also perfect if you don’t have a designing knack but still want professional looking templates.

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Alternatively, you can also design your own Instagram carousel template from scratch. This is a great option if you have a strong brand visual identity that you want to show through your Instagram carousel. This gives you more flexibility to create a template that suits your exact needs.

They Start Getting Swipes

The data doesn’t lie—there’s no doubt that Instagram carousel posts are highly engaging. So if you’re not already using them, you’re missing out on the opportunity to engage your audience. Make the most of the tips, ideas, and template resources above to design an eye-catching carousel that lets people swipe left.

In fact, according to 46% of consumers, engaging your audience is the key to becoming “best in class” on social media. Download Sprout Social Index Version XVII: Accelerate to get more insights into the social consumer.

 

The post How to Make a Seamless Instagram Carousel post first appeared on Sprout Social.