Another day, another new Instagram feature. Last week, they launched Instagram Slideshows. Now you can include multiple photos or videos within a single Instagram post. Have three photos of your awesome new product but can’t decide which ones shows it off best but also don’t want to spam your followers with a stream of posts? Taken care of.
We’ve had a few days to play around with it and we’ve had a lot of fun in the office brainstorming ways that we can use Instagram slideshows for our clients. We thought we’d share a few of our tips to help you get the most out of this new Instagram feature.
Stick to One Theme
Within your slideshow, keep all of your photos and video relevant to each other. Nothing will turn people off faster than swiping right and seeing a completely unrelated photo. For instance, if you’re putting together a slideshow from your company golf tournament, don’t throw in a product sales image.
Be Mindful of Your Caption
While you can upload multiple photos, you only get to include one caption for your slideshow so it should be something that will work for all photos you have included. There’s no restriction to keep your caption short though. If you want to include multiple thoughts, you can visually break up the text in your caption using emojis or line separators. Keep in mind, if your caption is long people will need to scroll back up to your image in order to swipe to the next photo.
Ways to Use It For Your Business
1. Mini Blog Posts
You only get one caption for a slideshow but your pictures can tell a thousand words. Have an article that lends itself well to being broken up into bite sized pieces? Create an image for each of those pieces and link them up in a slideshow.
2. Before & Afters
Instagram slideshows are the perfect way to show before and after photos. No longer will you have to split your image in half, ending up with awkward rectangles. We can see hair stylists, contractors, designers, and more using the feature in this way.
3. Tutorials
Similar to the mini blog post idea, use a slideshow to walk your viewers through something. Whether it’s how to cook a healthy meal, install a plugin on their website, or change a tire, if you can show your viewer how to do something in under 10 steps, you can put it in a slideshow.
4. Whole & Details
Slideshows are a great way to show a whole and then also go into the finer details. Whether you’re a fashion blogger who wants to highlight the pieces in an outfit of the day or a car dealership who wants to show off the high quality interior of your newest vehicle, consider using an Instagram slideshow.
5. Panoramas
Using a slideshow does force you to only use square images but if you really need to show that amazing landscape photo you have, why not break it up and create a panorama-style slideshow? Realtors will like this one for showing off their property listings and tourism will love it for showing off great scenery.
Next level tip: take an actual panorama photo with your phone and then make a few duplicates of it. Select them all for your slideshow and position each one so that it picks up where the previous one left off. This will ensure that your faux-panorama doesn’t change angles or lighting shot to shot.
6. Events
It’s like Instagram slideshows were made for events. Gather up your best ten photos from your latest event, sort them in chronological order and make your viewer feel like they were there with you.
7. Day in the Life
Whether you’re a public figure or a brand, give your viewers an idea of what it’s like to be you or work at your company. You could take a photo an hour for 10 hours. People love feeling like they’re getting inside information or part of something exclusive.
8. Full Meal Deal
If you own a restaurant or a catering company, why not use an Instagram slideshow to walk someone through a delicious 3, 5, or 7-course meal? Use a photo for each course and by the end they’ll want to know how to make a reservation. Hint: the link is in your profile. 😉
These are eight topic ideas that we’ve come up with though there are endless ways that you can start including Instagram slideshows into your social media marketing calendar.
