Instagram carousel posts are one of the most compelling formats that brands can use on the platform. Hootsuite’s own social media team found that, on average, their carousel posts get 1.4 times more reach and 3.1 times more engagement than regular Instagram posts.
It seems hard to resist the temptation to swipe left, especially when there’s a compelling cover slide. Give your followers a chance to stop doom scrolling and start swooning with thumb-stopping carousel posts.
What is an Instagram post carousel?
An Instagram carousel is a post with 10 photos or videos that can be viewed by swiping left.
As with any other Instagram post, you can include a title, alt image text, geotag, and account and product tags for each image in the carousel. People can like, comment, and share your carousel post.
When a carousel is published, a small square icon appears in the upper right corner of the post. When someone navigates to the second image, the icon is replaced with a counter showing the number of frames. Small dots also appear at the bottom of the post to mark progress in the carousel.
Benefits of Instagram Carousel Posts
Including more images or videos in one post increases your chances of high engagement rates, but that’s not the only reason why carousels should be part of your Instagram marketing strategy.
Posting engaging carousels can help you get on the side of the Instagram algorithm. Due to the interactive nature of carousels, users on average spend more time on them than on traditional Instagram feed posts. This lets the algorithm know that your target audience finds your content interesting and valuable, and can lead to more people seeing your posts in their feeds.
Carousels are also great for simple sharing:
- different angles and close-ups of the product
- instructions and step by step instructions
- before and after transformation
For more specific use cases and examples, scroll down to the end of this post!
Instagram Carousel Sizes and Specifications
Just like a regular post, an Instagram carousel can be posted in square, landscape, and portrait formats.
But keep in mind that all posts should be the same. Whatever shape you choose for the first slide will apply to the rest of the frames.
Instagram carousel dimensions:
- Landscape: 1080 x 566 pixels
- Portrait: 1080 x 1350 pixels
- Square: 1080 x 1080 pixels
- Aspect ratio: landscape (1.91:1), square (1:1), vertical (4:5)
- Recommended image size: 1080 pixels wide, 566 to 1350 pixels high (depending on whether the image is landscape or portrait).
Instagram video carousel features:
- Duration: 3 to 60 seconds
- Recommended formats include. MP4 and. MOV.
- Aspect ratios: landscape (1.91:1), square (1:1), vertical (4:5)
- Maximum video size: 4 GB
Don’t be afraid to post a mixture of videos and images.
The latest social media image size requirements can be found here.
How to Create a Carousel Post on Instagram
When it comes to creating an Instagram carousel post, it’s best to start with a concept. Determine why a carousel is best for your Instagram content, rather than a standard Instagram post, collage, video, or story.
By answering this question, you’ll probably have a good idea of the type of content you’re planning to use. Draw a storyboard to get an idea of how many frames you will need. Decide if your carousel will jump from one image to the next, or if it will have a continuous panoramic effect.
Here’s how to make a carousel post on Instagram:
1. Add all relevant photos to your photo library.
2. Open the Instagram app and click the + icon in the navigation bar.
3. Tap the layered square icon right below the message preview.
4. Select up to 10 photos and/or videos from your photo library. The order in which you select media files is the order in which they will appear in your carousel.
5. Click “Next”in the upper right corner of the screen.
6. Apply filters to all your images/videos or edit each one individually by tapping the icon with two overlay circles. When you’re done editing, click Next.
7. Add a caption, geotag, account tags, and hashtags.
8. Click Share.
Advice. Double check that all frames are in the correct order before posting. You can’t change the order of slides after publishing. (However, you can delete individual slides after the carousel has been published.)
How to Schedule Instagram Carousel Posts
You can schedule Instagram posts (including carousels) using the web version of the Instagram app, Creator Studio, or Facebook Business Suite. (Detailed instructions for scheduling Instagram carousels using Meta’s own tools can be found here.)
If your brand has a presence on more social media platforms, it’s a good idea to use a social media management tool like Hootsuite to plan all your content ahead of time from a single dashboard.
With Hootsuite, you can create and easily post carousel posts (up to 10 images or videos) directly to Instagram. Here’s how.
1. Go to Planner and click New Entry to launch Write.
2. Select the Instagram account you want to post to.
3. Include a caption in the text field.
4. Go to the “Media Files”section and click “Select Files to Upload”. Select all the images you want to include in your carousel. All selected images should appear in the Media section.
5. Use the yellow “Post Now”button to immediately post the carousel to Instagram, or click “Schedule for Later”to choose a date and time for posting. Then click Schedule. The post will appear in your Scheduler at the time you scheduled it.
That’s all! Your post will be published on the date and time you choose.
Free Instagram Carousel Templates
Want to take your carousels beyond “ten photos from one vacation”? Get started by customizing one of our five free, professionally designed Instagram carousel templates in Canva.
16 Ways to Use Instagram Carousel Posts for Marketing
This is how brands use Instagram carousels to promote products or services on the platform.
1. Tell a story
Children’s publisher Random House knows a thing or two about making up a story. Here’s how they do it with the Instagram carousel post.
2. Reveal something
What is in the travel suitcase of the brand manager of jewelry designer Louise Damas? You’ll have to scroll to find out.
3. Recommend similar products or services
If you like the first band featured in the Coachella Instagram carousel, chances are you’ll want to see the musicians featured in it.
4. Show details
Explore the textures and fabrics of Cotna with this Instagram carousel. The Canadian brand uses this format to show off and advertise their clothes.
5. Illustrate Scale
Data journalist and illustrator Mona Chalabi uses an Instagram carousel to brilliant effect. In this example, the swipe effect conveys both scale and disproportion than any single image.
6. Showcase your process
Illustrator Kamway Fong shows you the final print and framed product and her process, bringing viewers closer to her art one slide at a time.
7. Share important information
Nothing but facts in simple and clear slides in this and several other Instagram carousels that Welfact has shared. To maximize sharing, treat each post as a self-contained unit. This increases the chances (up to 10!) that someone will share your post in an Instagram story.
8. Share the recipe (or any how-to)
Who needs a recipe book when you can follow Cleanfoodcrush’s Instagram carousel for instructions for her loaded bean soup.
9. Make a joke
The Chipotle Burrito Eating Timeline uses an Instagram carousel to create a comical and recognizable effect.
10. Share the tutorial
Adobe saves #TeddyBearDay with this Instagram carousel guide.
11. Share secret hacks
Wendy’s secret menu carousels keep you from clicking and unlocking “secret”cooking hacks.
12. Make a powerful statement
Celebrating Ben Simmons’ NBA Rookie of the Year win, this post from Nike shows how to use the Instagram carousel to make a statement and get noticed. As one commenter notes, “I love that the slide is used to change perception.”
13. Create engagement
Take a look at the McDonald’s India feed and it’s clear that the Instagram carousel has become a winning format for the account. This, among other things, is a good reminder that the “swipe left” call to action never hurts. It helps, actually. A Socialinsider study found that calls to action increase engagement.
14. Share feedback
You can break up interviews into “audio bites” using Instagram carousels. This can be a good way to share testimonials, staff as ambassadors, artisans, partners, or other interviews you would like to share.
15. Keep your feed aesthetically consistent
Patagonia creates a magazine spread effect with Instagram carousels. This example demonstrates how carousels can be used to maintain the aesthetics of the feed. If you want your feed to only contain images but also want to share text, here’s a good workaround.
16. Highlight Important Data
This Hootsuite Instagram carousel parses the results from the Q4 2020 Digital Statshot report into digestible statistics and conclusions.