Instagram Carousel Post Guide: What It Is and How to Create One

ICYMI: You can schedule Instagram carousel posts with Later — and now, you can automatically publish them too!

Hello, screen-free weekends. 👋

Instagram carousel posts, also known as multi-photo posts, are a versatile way of sharing up to 10 photos and videos in a single Instagram post.

And with Later, you can prepare, schedule, and automatically publish carousels posts for Instagram via desktop or mobile, all from one super efficient workflow.

What Is an Instagram Carousel Post?

Instagram carousel posts can be used in a variety of creative ways — and with the right strategy, you can boost engagement levels, increase brand affinity, and even drive product sales.

In fact, Later's data shows that carousel posts typically outperform single image posts by 19% in terms of engagement rate, based on analysis of posts shared in the last 36 months.

Thanks to their scrollable format, carousel posts are perfect for sharing educational stories with your audience. This can be great for raising awareness about a social cause, or explaining the value of a product or service.

As a result, carousel posts are a super popular format on Instagram.

Instagram Carousel post scheduling is available on Later's social media management platform, and you can try it free for 14 days. You can plan your posts in advance, hit schedule, and let Later do all the work for you when it's time to post.

How to create and schedule carousel posts on Instagram

With Later’s scheduling tools, you can plan and prep carousel posts ahead of time via desktop or mobile.

Here’s how to get started with the Later desktop app:

Step #1: Select Your Images or Videos

1. Go to Later on the web

2. Go to the Calendar and make sure your Instagram profile is selected

3. In your Media Library preview, check off the images (or videos) you want to include in your carousel post

4. Drag the media items to your Calendar or click "Multi-Photo Post" at the bottom of the Media Library preview panel

Step #2: Edit Your Carousel Post

1. Choose the date and time you would like your carousel post to go live (you can select from "Auto Publish" or "Send Notification" here)

2. Write a caption for your post

3. Click "Change Media" to edit the order of your selected media

4. Hit "Edit Image" on individual media items to crop or add filter

5. Click "Save"

When it's time to post, your carousel post will be automatically published — unless you select the "Send Notification" option instead.

For Notification publishing, you will receive everything you need delivered straight to your mobile via the Later app, so you can publish your carousel post manually in seconds.

Instagram requires all photos and videos to be the same crop (square, landscape, or portrait). If they’re not the same, Instagram will automatically crop all photos to the ratio of the first image.

To schedule an Instagram carousel post on mobile (iOS or Android), follow our step-by-step guide available on our Help Center.

It’s that easy!

Level-up your Instagram strategy by planning, previewing, and scheduling your carousel posts in advance with Later – try it out for 14 days for free!