These have become so popular in 2020! Instagram Carousels are a series of 2-9 images that the user can scroll through by swiping right.

Make the Algorithm Your Friend

Like any social media platform, Instagram makes money from ads. They make money from showing ads to users who are on the platform. So, their goal is for the user to stay on the platform for as long as possible.  The algorithm tries to accomplish this by showing people what they want to see and what they’ve interacted with in the past. If you can get someone to interact with your post for a long period of time, the algorithm will reward you by showing the post to more people.

How to Make a Carousel

Carousels can be up to nine images long, but no more. They can be used as an interactive infographic to teach or to tell a story.  Telling a story in images can be very rewarding for keeping people’s attention, piquing their interest, and creating emotion.  Use your design knowledge to think about what layout you’d like. You can use separate images to tell a story, or keep one solid background color, letting your images flow as if they’re dancing across a stage.

Sometimes, you can take an image and copy it, crop each image in half, and use each half on separate images. This can give the illusion of a long graphic that continues as the user scrolls.

The Video Substitute

If you feel that you don’t have the resources to make the type of videos you’d like, carousel posts can be a viable substitute.  It will not replace the type of reach and engagement that videos get on  Instagram. But it’s a great way to experiment with content that people will spend time interacting with, while still maintaining high-quality images on a low budget.

This is not a replacement for video, but it is a great way to increase overall reach and engagement with low risk, on a low budget.

If you’d like someone to help you or give you some ideas about how to make carousel images, or you’d like some images made for you, feel free to reach out to me here.