The Easiest Ways to Plan & Auto-Post Instagram Carousels with PLANOLY

If you’re looking to drive engagement with your brand - you can count on Instagram Carousels to do so. According to Digital Information World, carousel posts for Instagram can increase engagement from 1.83% to 2%.

With Instagram Carousels, you have options to include static images & video to create a stronger story or message for your audience. Carousels allow you to create a sequenced narrative showing multiple screens. This type of post is the perfect place to tell your story in more detail, showcase multiple products, or explain how specific features work - all of this with more room for creativity by using up to 10 cards.

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Now that you understand some of the benefits of Instagram Carousels, let’s dive into a few ways PLANOLY can make Instagram Carousel posts easier to plan & manage. With PLANOLY, you can visually plan your Instagram content all in one place. Upload up to 10 images or videos within our Instagram planning space and create a Carousel post (Note: Video carousels are not eligible for auto-posting at this time). Within your Carousel post, you can add hashtags from the Hashtag Manager & add a first comment (on Web). Once you have your content drafted and ready to schedule, you can auto-post your content via PLANOLY. Keep in mind that with auto-posting, there are certain things that Instagram requires, detailed below.

‍Instagram Requirements

Auto-post is only available for Instagram Business accounts that are authenticated via PLANOLY with a Facebook account. The post must also be eligible and scheduled for auto-posting to In.

‍Image Requirements for Auto-Post

- Size Limit: 8MB Maximum

- Type Extensions: BMP, JPEG, PNG

- Ratio Specifications: Within a 4:5 to 1.91:1 aspect ratio range

- Minimum Resolution: 150x150 (lower resolutions will be scaled up to the minimum)

- Maximum Resolution: 1920x1080 (higher resolutions will be scaled down to the maximum)

If your carousel contains videos, you can schedule a reminder notification to alert you when it’s time to post manually from the PLANOLY Mobile App.

Carousels are one of the most popular formats to drive up engagement. Here are so many great ways to incorporate carousels into your feed and create more engagement with your followers:

1. Visual Storytelling: Showcasing a product or collaboration is easier than ever, as you can create mini-campaigns in one post.
2. Product Launch: Premiere a new product by highlighting its features through multiple photos and/or videos in one post.
3. Tutorials and How-To: Explain how to use a product or feature by displaying images and giving step-by-step instructions on each image.
4. Play with Video: Promoting a big event or new product launch? Incorporate teasers or clever videos to captivate your followers.
5. Throwback or Albums: Share an album of your favorite old photos or memories for a fun Throwback Thursday post. You can also bunch your favorite photos from your vacation in one post rather than spamming everyone by posting each one separately.
6. Ask Your Followers: Depending on your niche, you can post several images to get feedback from your followers on which one they like best! It's a great way to up your engagement and creates a dialogue with your audience.
7. Split an Image: If you have a photo that doesn't fit the size requirements of IG, you can split it into several images and share it with the multiple photo feature in one post!

‍Repurpose Your Instagram Carousels for Facebook & Twitter

If you’re looking to maximize content performance, we’ve got a content hack to share with you. Within PLANOLY, you can easily repurpose your Instagram Carousels for Facebook or Twitter. Simply click on the pencil icon next to the auto-post toggle from the scheduling page. From there, you’ll be able to customize your caption and adjust the carousel images you want for each platform. This is especially helpful since Twitter only allows up to 4 images per post. By repurposing this content for other social channels, you’re getting a larger bang for your buck. You spend time and effort creating this content, and now it’s going to be seen by a larger and potentially different audience.

Instagram Carousels are an important piece of your social strategy, and with PLANOLY, you can save time and maximize the performance of this content.