How to Create a Carousel Story on Instagram

Telling a compelling story often takes more than a single 15-second slide. Instagram's Carousel Stories let you string together multiple photos and videos into one cohesive narrative, giving you a powerful way to hold your audience's attention and share more in-depth content. This guide will show you exactly how to create them, from the simple, built-in method to more advanced techniques for a polished, professional look.

What Are Carousel Stories (And Why They Work So Well)?

An Instagram Carousel Story is simply a sequence of up to 10 individual photos and videos that a user can tap through within a single Story post. Instead of disappearing after one slide, a carousel invites deeper engagement by encouraging viewers to keep watching until the end.

So, why should you go through the trouble of creating multiple slides? Because they are incredibly effective for:

• Deeper Storytelling: You have more room to build a narrative. You can show a process with a clear beginning, middle, and end, instead of trying to cram everything into one frame.
• Increased Engagement: Carousels get people tapping. Every tap is a sign of interest, and the more a viewer interacts with your content, the more likely Instagram's algorithm is to show them your future posts. It keeps them engaged with your account for longer.
• Versatile Content Formats: This format is perfect for a wide range of content, including step-by-step tutorials, before-and-after reveals, product showcases, listicles, and behind-the-scenes looks.
• Breaking Down Complex Information: Have a lot of info to share? A carousel allows you to break it down into digestible, bite-sized pieces, making it far less overwhelming for your audience.

The Quick and Easy Way: Creating with Instagram's "Select Multiple" Feature

The simplest method for creating a Carousel Story uses a feature built right into the Instagram app. This is perfect for when you're creating on the fly or want to quickly share a sequence of photos or videos you already have on your phone.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Open the Story Camera: Launch the Instagram app and swipe right from your home feed (or tap your profile picture with the plus icon on it).
2. Go to Your Gallery: In the bottom left corner, tap the square icon that shows a preview of your camera roll to open your photo gallery.
3. Enable "Select Multiple": Look for an icon that looks like layered squares, usually in the top right corner of the gallery screen. Tap it. It’s often just labeled "Select." This allows you to choose more than one piece of media.
4. Choose Your Content: Tap on the photos and videos you want to include in your carousel. A little number will appear on each one, indicating its order in the sequence. You can select up to 10 items. The order you tap them in is the order they will appear. Don't worry, you can reorder them in a moment if needed.
5. Tap "Next": Once you’ve selected your media, a "Next" button will appear at the bottom right. Tap it.
6. Edit Each Slide Individually: You'll now see your selected clips laid out at the bottom of the screen. You can tap on each thumbnail to edit that specific slide. This is where you can add text, stickers, location tags, music, GIFs, polls, or draw on each slide independently. This gives you the freedom to customize each part of your story.
7. Share Your Story: Once you've edited each slide to your liking, tap "Your Story" to publish the carousel. Instagram will automatically post them in the correct order.

This native method is fast and efficient, but for those wanting a more stylized or branded feel, you’ll want to move on to some planning and more advanced creation techniques.

How to Strategize Your Carousel Story for Maximum Impact

Just stringing together random photos won’t cut it. An effective Carousel Story feels intentional and guides the viewer on a mini-journey. Before you even start selecting photos, think about these strategic elements.

1. Start with a Strong Hook

The first slide is your headline. It has one job: convince someone to tap for more. If the first frame is boring, viewers will likely swipe away to the next person's Story. Grab their attention immediately with an intriguing question, a bold statement, a stunning visual, or a "can't-miss" opening shot of a video.

Example: A food blogger making a recipe might start with a final beauty shot of the dish and text that says, "Here's how to make the best-ever chocolate chip cookies."

2. Tell a Clear, Cohesive Narrative

Your carousel should have a logical flow. Think of it like a mini-presentation or a photobook.

• Problem & Solution: Start with a common problem your audience faces and use the subsequent slides to present the solution.
• Before & After: This classic format is compelling. The first slide shows the "before," and as the viewer taps through, they see the transformation unfold until the final "after" reveal.
• Tutorial/How-To: Dedicate each slide to a single step in an easy-to-follow process.

3. Guide the Viewer With Visual Cues

Don’t assume your audience knows to tap through. Gently prompt them to continue. You can add small design elements or text to encourage action:

• Use Instagram's built-in GIF library to search for "tap here" or "arrow" stickers.
• Add simple text like "Next step..." or "Keep tapping to see the final result."
• Design your graphics so an element from one slide continues onto the next, creating a visual curiosity that makes people want to see the whole picture.

4. Keep Your Branding Consistent

Whether you're using Instagram's native editor or a third-party app, stick to your brand identity. Use your brand's specific color palette, fonts, and logo (if appropriate). This visual consistency makes your content immediately recognizable and reinforces your brand’s personality.

Advanced Techniques: Using Third-Party Apps for a Seamless Look

For a truly professional carousel, you'll want to turn to graphic design apps. Tools like Canva, Unfold, Mojo, or even Adobe Express offer templates and features designed specifically for creating beautiful Instagram Stories.

Using these apps allows you to create what’s known as a "seamless" carousel, where design elements or images flow perfectly from one slide to the next. It’s a striking effect that looks highly polished and encourages people to tap all the way to the end.

Creating a Seamless Story Pano in Canva (or Similar Tools)

Here’s a simplified process for creating a story that looks like one long, panning image across multiple slides.

1. Create a Custom Sized Canvas: An individual Instagram Story slide is 1080 pixels wide by 1920 pixels high. For a seamless carousel, you simply multiply the width by the number of slides you want. For a two-slide carousel, your canvas would be 2160 x 1920. For three slides, it would be 3240 x 1920.
2. Turn on Guides: Most design apps have a "guides" or "rulers" feature. Turn them on to mark where each slide begins and ends. For a two-slide carousel, you'd place a vertical guide at the 1080-pixel mark. For a three-slide, you'd place guides at 1080 and 2160 pixels.
3. Design Across All Slides: Now is the creative part. Place your images, text, and graphic elements across the entire wide canvas. You can have text that a slide ends, or an image that begins on the first slide and completes on the second. The guides will help you visualize what each individual story will look like.
4. Download the Full Image: Once you're done, export the entire wide graphic as a single JPG or PNG file and save it to your phone.
5. Split the Image: You now need to cut that large image into individual 1080x1920 slides. There are many free apps and websites that can do this for you (search "image splitter" or "panorama crop"). Apps like Lightroom or Photoshop can also do this easily. Simply upload your image and instruct it to split vertically into however many pieces you designed for.
6. Upload to Instagram: Now you have perfectly sliced images. Open Instagram, go to your Story camera, and use the "Select Multiple" feature to upload your split images in the correct order. Since they were sliced from a single perfect source, they will appear flawlessly connected as viewers tap through.

This method takes a bit more effort, but the sophisticated result is often worth it for important campaigns, product announcements, or portfolio pieces.

Carousel Story Ideas to Get You Started

Still not sure what to create? Here are some proven concepts that work well in a carousel format:

• A day in the life: Show snippets of your day, your team, or your process.
• Client testimonials or reviews: Dedicate each slide to a different glowing quote. Add a photo of the client for better connection.
• Myth vs. fact: Use the first slide to present a common misconception in your industry and the following slides to explain the reality.
• Product tour: Show off multiple features of a product, with one slide per feature, complete with a screenshot or video.
• Answering a FAQ: Take one of your most frequently asked questions and create a detailed visual answer that you can save to your Highlights.

Final Thoughts

Carousel Stories are a fantastic tool for creators and brands to elevate their Instagram presence, encouraging deeper engagement and enabling more nuanced storytelling than a single slide allows. By mixing great content with a clear narrative structure, you can capture your audience's attention and keep them coming back for more.

At Postbase, we believe that great social media requires a great plan. Creating more involved content like Carousel Stories is much easier when you can see how it fits into your broader schedule. We built our visual calendar in Postbase specifically to help with this, allowing you to map out your content themes, plan campaigns in advance, and see at-a-glance where your multi-slide stories fit between your Reels, TikToks, and static posts.