Instagram Carousels are a format within the platform that enables users to share up to ten images within a single post. They could be described as visual album-style posts that stand out on users’ feeds. Instagram carousels have the power to capture users’ attention, get them engaged through their swiping feature, and keep followers invested in your content.
While Instagram Carousels are relatively simple to create, you should still put some thought into them before posting, particularly if you are a business that wants to heighten engagement levels. Captivating and consistent visuals and compelling captions all help sustain users’ engagement and attention. Your goal should be to ensure that users swipe to the end of your Carousel like, comment on, and share it with other users.
This guide will cover the best practices for creating Instagram Carousels to take your engagement rates to the next level. Let’s get started.
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The Power of Instagram Carousels
A study by Later found that Instagram Carousels have the highest average engagement rate of all feed posts. Research by Hootsuite also discovered that carousel posts get 3.1x more engagement than regular, single-image photos. This highlights and reinforces the power of the Instagram Carousel.
Social media, particularly Instagram, is becoming a highly saturated platform. Businesses need to find new ways to capture audiences’ attention through all the noise; this is where Instagram Carousels can help. Many studies have found that Carousels see higher engagement rates and more impressions than single-image posts. Instagram Carousels are engaging and visually-driven posts that help to stop users from scrolling further down their feeds. Are you looking to optimize your reach and engagement on Instagram? Consider leveraging the best time to post on Instagram for maximum visibility and impact.
Unlike traditional single-image posts, carousels offer a versatile platform to tell stories, showcase products, provide behind-the-scenes glimpses, and foster interactive experiences. By incorporating captivating visual content, engaging captions, and interactive elements, brands can transform their Instagram carousels into powerful storytelling tools, driving brand awareness, boosting sales, and building a loyal following.
Instagram Carousels get high levels of engagement
Crafting Compelling Instagram Carousels
By understanding the main components of effective Instagram Carousels content, businesses can elevate their Instagram presence and reap the benefits of this highly engaging format. Here’s how to craft compelling Instagram carousels:
Planning and Structuring: Like any Instagram format, planning your content well in advance is important, rather than just posting ad-hoc. You’ll want to develop a consistent posting schedule that integrates the use of Carousels. Planning your content enables your business to create a cohesive Carousel that features an engaging narrative. A well-structured Carousel guides viewers through a journey, fostering curiosity and encouraging them to swipe through the entire sequence.
Captivating Imagery: Like other Instagram formats, Instagram Carousels require high-quality images and videos that will resonate with users. To create and foster this sense of consistency, professionalism, and authenticity, you must ensure that your Carousels align with your overall brand image and the rest of your feed. You can craft captivating imagery through a consistent colour palette and branding.
Compelling Captions: Captions can be adapted to add context, depth, and personality to your Instagram Carousels. While visual content captures attention, captions provide the opportunity to engage audiences on a deeper level. You can enhance your captions by ensuring they are an optimum length (we recommend 2-3 lines), add personality through humour or emojis (if relevant, of course), and encouraging interaction (we recommend always adding some form of a call to action e.g. “comment below!”, or get interacting with your followers by asking them a question).
All of these elements combined will really help your business take your Instagram Carousels to the next level and help you achieve maximum engagement.
It’s important to employ a high quality camera or smartphone to ensure you get high-quality images
Creative Instagram Carousels Concepts
Now that you know how to craft compelling Instagram Carousels, it’s time to develop some ideas that work for your business. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered with some ideas:
Behind-the-scenes Carousels: Give your followers an inside look at your business that they can’t find anywhere else. For example, you could showcase a step-by-step guide to creating a product, packing an order, and preparing for a product photoshoot or show. You could also use this type of Carouse to give followers a sneak peek of your company’s culture. This type of Carousel narrative works well for businesses of all sizes and industries.
Before and After Carousels: Use a Carousel post to display a compelling glow-up. For example, if you’re a makeup artist, you could show a before and after shot; if you’re an accessories business, you could show an outfit before accessories and then after; or if you’re a furniture/interior design business, you could show a room or space before and after. The list is endless, and this will likely be another type of Carousel that works well with many different business types.
Countdown Carousels: Build suspense and engagement by documenting the lead-up to an exciting reveal, such as a new product launch, tour date announcement, store opening, and more. This helps build excitement amongst your followers, which, in turn, keeps them engaged with your page and your posts.
A Day in the Life Carousels: Business owners or team members can give their customers and followers an insight into their everyday lives. This kind of content fosters customer-brand relationships and creates authenticity, loyalty, and exclusivity. Choose key moments that encapsulate the daily experience from start to finish. It feels fun and relatable.
Animated Infographics: Create engaging infographics using animated elements, conveying complex information in a visually appealing and easily readable format.
Meet the Team: Create a slideshow of different team members working in your organisation. Depending on the size of your business, you could split this into different teams. This helps to show the human side of your business and enables followers to get to know your business more. It then helps to enhance user engagement through creating customer-brand relationships and connections.
Behind the scenes content works well for Instagram Carousels
Get creative with what stories or ideas you can split into engaging slideshow narratives. Brainstorm angles and hooks that fit the Instagram Carousels format—your followers will love getting a peek behind the scenes or coming along on the journey through these dynamic posts. Make sure to adapt these concepts to your own business identity and in a way that resonates with your audience, and this should really help drive engagement on Instagram.
Other Helpful Tips
We’ve compiled a quick list of essential tips you’ll need to know before you start adding Instagram Carousels to your social media marketing strategy:
Don’t add too many pictures—while you’ll want to encourage swiping, don’t add unnecessary photos.
Make your first image highly engaging – ensure the colours are visually appealing, ensure there is a focus/subject within your image, and add a bold statement.
Make sure your Carousel is not information-heavy – While you can add infographics and some text, remember that Instagram is a visual platform.
Key Takeaways on Instagram Carousels
Instagram Carousels are a handy tool on the platform that has the proven ability to boost engagement and capture your followers’ attention. Above simply driving engagement rates, Instagram Carousels will enable your business to connect with followers in a dynamic, visual storytelling medium that users feel necessary to interact with.
The main point is to ensure you craft carousels purposefully; this involves strategic planning and scheduling to ensure primarily consistent brand imagery but also a compelling narrative and cohesive images/videos.
So incorporate Carousels into your Instagram marketing strategy and watch your engagement rates ascend to the next level.
For more Instagram tips, check out our YouTube videos, like the one below:
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