7 Very Clever Ideas for your Next Instagram Album

New feature on Instagram! You can post up to 10 photos or videos in one post = an album. Tell me in the comments: do you love it or hate it?

In all honesty, I have mixed feelings (but that’s a story for another blog post).
It’s not for everyone and certainly not for every post.
Having said that, I can still see how an account can use this new feature as a theme – all the time. Think about it: revealing the story behind a photo, one square at a time. That is pretty cool and very creative.

No matter what your feed is about, this album feature allows you to be as creative as you want.

Here are my 7 ideas to be creative with your Instagram album.

1. Event

The first one is obvious: one album = one event.

For example, you went to an amazing restaurant last night. You don’t have to spam your followers with the photo of your drink, entree, main, dessert and photo of your table, friends and beautiful interior design of the restaurant. Instead, you can create one album to share all the photos about your night.

Event examples:

• Concert
• Vacation
• Shopping spree
• A day at the markets
• A day in the life
• Follow me around

2. “Top 10”

How about you use the carousel as 10 opportunities to talk about a subject?

For example:

• Top 10 things you didn’t know about…
• 10 facts about me
• 10 things I love
• Top 10 best…
• Top 10 worst…

Note: it doesn’t have to be a “Top 10”. It can be “Top 3”, “Top 5” etc…

3. Q&A

Do your followers always ask the same questions all the time? Wouldn’t it be great if there was one place in your feed where they could get all their questions answered?

Take this opportunity with the album feature.

Answer the most frequently asked questions, one slide at a time.

4. Stop motion story

If you are going to try this idea. Please tag me in your post (@preview.app). I would love to see how it turns out!

It can be tricky to pull off because usually with stop motion you turn each photo into a video (which makes it look like the objects in the photos are actually moving – cool trick).

I think the carousel feature would be so fun to make a simple (yet captivating) stop motion story.

It doesn’t have to be a complicated stop motion. It can be one where you tell about your day (starting with a coffee, then adding your phone, then your laptop, your lunch, a cup of tea, a finally a soft blanket at the end the day). You know what I mean?

What I’m trying to say is that you encourage the viewers to find out more by swiping. It’s like a visual story.

Even better… You can end the carousel with a video of the actual stop motion.
Or begin with the video and continue with behind the scene shots.

Which leads me to the next idea.

5. Behind the scenes

Instagram is all about being human. It’s one big international community in one place (!!!).
Next time you reveal your big project, how about showing the rawness of your “behind the scenes”?

Behind the scenes of:

• One photo (we all know it can get messy, or it takes time to arrive to that one shot)
• A photo shoot
• Your new podcast
• The making of…
• A video message to your followers

6. Panorama

You can’t really post a panorama photo on Instagram. It would be too small to view and appreciate the beauty of the landscape in details.

The album feature can be pretty cool to show a panorama.

You will need to download a grid app to split your panorama in 3 or more squares. Then all you have to do is upload the individual squares to Instagram, as an album (or schedule your album in Preview app for later).

Why splitting a panorama, Alex?

You will keep the high quality of your image. And people can swipe through the square to reveal a whole landscape, right before their own eyes. I think it also leaves the viewer using his/her imagination even more: what’s next? What am I going to find at the end of the carousel?

Your turn to reveal the unexpected (like a surprise or gift).

7. A questionnaire / poll

Finally, I am a big believer in asking people for their opinion to improve our content.
The album feature can be used as a questionnaire where each of the slide is an option (option A, B, C etc…).

Here are my thoughts:

• In your caption, outline the options (but don’t give too many details – who wants to read a long caption?)
• Each slide is an option
• In your slide photo, provide more details about each option (to give people more information, if needed)

Examples:

• Making a logo? Show the different variations.
• Can’t decide which theme to stick with? Use the carousel to show screenshots of your different designs. Ask your followers which theme they prefer.
• Don’t know which dress to wear to that big event? Show your options and get help from your tribe (and the world).

The opportunities are endless

Recipes, tutorials, unboxing, games, jokes, quotes… So many creative opportunities in one feature!

How are you using the Album feature? Do you like it?

Until next time, see you all on Instagram!

Alexandra