How to Use Carousel Posts on Instagram to Grow Your Audience
Carousel posts featuring swipe graphics are all over Instagram and they are hot, hot, hot! Whether you’re using them to educate your audience or uplift your cause, I’m going to show you how to use carousel posts to grow your audience.
What’s a carousel post swipe graphic?
First things first: A social media graphic is simply a designed tile you can use on Instagram or another platform that uses words and other graphic elements, like icons or drawings, in place of a photo image. A collection of them gathered together in one post is considered a carousel. It allows your followers to swipe through a gallery of graphics to learn about a particular topic or see a series of messages.
Who should use carousel posts?
Anyone, really. But they’re especially effective for nonprofits, community organizations, or brands who want to educate their audience about a cause. They also work for small businesses, independent makers, or anyone who wants to draw attention to a particular set of values or an event. Carousel posts allow you to go into more detail about a social justice or historical event in a readable format.
What’s the big deal? Why are carousels so effective?
Because they’re interactive, carousel files encourage shares (they’re popular to share in Stories) and saves (which is the new “it” metric).
When people interact with your content in that way, it tells the algorithm that your content is valuable and elevates it so even more people see it. Because swipe carousels give you a chance to dig deeper into your values (and pleases the robots), it’s a win-win for you and your audience. (They get to learn about you and see more of your content. You grow your audience by reaching friends of friends and getting the real word out about how you do your work.)
How do I make my own swipe graphics?
Use Canva! This free platform is my #1 favorite way to create pretty graphics, even though I’m not a designer. Canva has beautiful fonts, allows you to use any color, and saves your work forever so it’s simple to make graphics that are consistent over time.
If you’re on a budget, you can use their free service or, for only about $10 a month, you can subscribe to Canva Pro. (I do this and it’s completely worth it!) The Pro service gives you access to swipe file templates created by professional designers that allow you to plug in your brand fonts, colors, and other elements from your style guide. If you’re not able to invest in a pro designer, this is a great option.
You can also check out Creative Market products. They also have some beautiful templates!
Can I just hire someone to make carousel swipes for me?
Of course! Graphic designers can make you something that’s 100% unique to your business. I refer people to Kaitlin of Inside Out Brands. She puts graphics packages together for clients to match their budget with their vision for their Instagram presence.
What should a carousel swipe post say?
First, don’t put too many words on one graphic. If you have a lot to say, put it in the caption. Or break it up into multiple tiles. Because most people are swiping through on their phones, small fonts and lots of words will make your graphics look cluttered, which will discourage people from reading, interacting and sharing.
That said, it’s fine to go into detail. That’s what these graphics are for! Use the swipeable format to give people more information than they would usually get in a stand-alone quote graphic. If you need more space, add another tile.
How many swipe graphics should be in my carousel post?
As many as you need to tell your story without making the graphics too cluttered. As you create them, you’ll find your ideal length. Here’s mine:
I like to create carousels that are 5 or 6 tiles:
My opening graphic includes a title, my logo and other branding elements.
The middle 3 or 4 graphics present the content in just a handful of sentences. (These are also branded, boss).
The closing tile includes an Instagram handle, a call to action, and a “bookmark” icon to encourage people to save it for later.
Remember to use a submark as a watermark on each tile. (People often steal them to share on their own pages, so make sure folks know it’s your work.)
I’m game but I don’t know what to post about!
Don't worry. I’ve got ideas. You can:
Answer FAQs from your website.
Offer advice or top tips.
How-tos that help everyone, such as “How to prepare for a branding shoot” or “How to set up a Google Sheet for your home budget.”
Make a tutorial or mini lesson that includes photos or pictures of each step.
Share resources around a certain need, like local organizations that help people find help with rent or housing.
List ways to take action for your cause.
Create a collection of graphs to educate your followers about a social issue or historical trend.
