How to Make a Slideshow on Instagram with Music

Creating a stunning slideshow on Instagram with the perfect soundtrack is one of the best ways to capture your audience's attention. This guide will walk you through exactly how to make a beautiful, engaging slideshow using Instagram's own features for Feed posts, Reels, and Stories, along with some pro tips to make your content truly unforgettable.

Why Instagram Slideshows Are a Content Game-Changer

Before we get into the step-by-step methods, let’s quickly cover why slideshows, also known as carousels, are so effective. In a sea of static images and fast-moving videos, a well-crafted slideshow serves a unique purpose.

• Increased Engagement: The simple act of swiping keeps users on your post longer. This extended "dwell time" signals to the Instagram algorithm that your content is valuable, which can lead to better reach.
• Powerful Storytelling: One photo can say a lot, but a sequence of photos can tell a complete story. You can show a step-by-step process, recap an event, showcase a product from different angles, or reveal a transformation.
• Emotional Connection with Music: Adding music isn't just a background detail - it sets the entire mood. The right song can turn a simple collection of photos into a powerful, emotional, or exciting experience for your viewer, making your content more memorable.
• Versatility Across Formats: Whether it's a permanent Feed post, a discoverable Reel, or a casual Story, slideshows work beautifully across all of Instagram’s key surfaces, making it a flexible content format for any strategy.

In short, slideshows stop the scroll, hold attention, and give you a creative canvas to share more with your followers without overwhelming them.

Method 1: The Classic Slideshow Feed Post

This is the most straightforward method and what most people think of when they hear "Instagram slideshow." It involves creating a carousel post with up to 10 photos and videos. This is perfect for things like photo dumps, event recaps, or featuring a collection of products.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Start a New Post: Open the Instagram app and tap the plus icon (+) at the bottom of the screen. Select Post from the menu.
2. Select Multiple Photos: In your photo gallery, look for the "Select Multiple" icon (it looks like two overlapping squares). Tap it. This activates the carousel mode.
3. Choose Your Photos/Videos: Tap on the photos and videos you want to include in the order you want them to appear. You can select up to 10 media files. A number will appear on each one indicating its position in the slideshow.
4. Proceed to Editing: Tap Next. On this screen, you can apply a single master filter to all your images at once for a consistent look, or you can tap individual images to edit their brightness, contrast, and other settings separately.
5. Add Music: Tap Next again to arrive at the final caption screen. Here you'll see an "Add Music" option with a music note icon. Tap it.
6. Select Your Song: You can browse through the "For You" recommendations, explore genres under the "Browse" tab, or use the search bar to find a specific artist or song. If you have a business account, your audio choices may be limited to royalty-free music.
7. Customize the Audio Clip: Once you've chosen a song, a slider bar will appear at the bottom. Drag this bar left or right to select the exact segment of the song you want to play. You can also tap the number icon (which will show '30' by default) to adjust the total duration of the music clip, from 5 seconds up to 90 seconds. Tap Done.
8. Finalize and Post: Write your caption, add relevant hashtags, tag any accounts, and add a location. Once you're ready, tap Share to post your slideshow to the world.

Method 2: Create a Dynamic Video Slideshow with Reels

Creating a slideshow within a Reel opens up more creative possibilities and significantly boosts your potential for reach, as the Instagram algorithm heavily favors Reels. This method essentially turns your photos into a video clip, allowing you to sync them to the beat of an audio track. It’s perfect for engaging before-and-afters, trending formats, and quick, eye-catching showcases.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Open the Reels Creator: Either swipe right from your Home feed or tap the plus icon (+) and select Reel.
2. Access Your Photo Gallery: Tap the blue plus icon in the bottom-left corner of the screen to open your phone's camera roll.
3. Select Your Photos: Choose all the photos you want to feature. Instead of putting them in individual slides like a Feed post, Instagram will stitch them together into a single video clip.
4. Add Your Audio First: While you can add music at the end, it’s much easier to add it now to sync your photos to the sound. Tap the musical note icon to open the audio library. Search for and select your desired song or trending audio clip.
5. Time Your Photos to the Beat: This is the most important step for a professional-looking Reel. Instagram will initially give each photo a default duration. To edit this, tap the "Edit video" button in the bottom-left corner.
6. Adjust Clip Timings: In the editor timeline, you’ll see each of your photos as a separate block. Tap on a photo block, and you can drag the edges to shorten or lengthen its on-screen duration. Play the audio and try to time the photo changes to align with the beat of the song for a polished effect. You can also long-press and drag a block to reorder your photos.
7. Add Creative Elements: While still in the editor, you can add text overlays, stickers, filters, and effects. For example, you could add text that appears perfectly timed with a lyric in the song.
8. Finalize Your Reel: Tap Next. Now you can write your caption, choose an engaging cover photo from your video (or upload your own), and add hashtags. Make sure the "Also share to Feed" option is toggled on for maximum visibility, then hit Share.

Bonus Method: A Slideshow-Style Instagram Story

Sometimes you want to create a quick, fun slideshow that disappears in 24 hours. Stories are the place for this. While it's less of a "slideshow" and more of a series of connected slides, adding a single music track can tie it all together beautifully.

How to do it:

1. Open the Story Camera: Swipe right from your home feed.
2. Select Multiple Photos: Swipe up to access your camera roll. Tap the “Select” button at the top right, then pick the photos you want to share. When you’re done, tap “Next.”
3. Add One Story with Music: Instagram will lay out your selected photos as individual Story posts. On the very first Story post in the series, tap the Sticker icon (the smiley face square) at the top of the screen.
4. Choose the Music Sticker: Select the "Music" sticker and find your song. You can customize how it appears on the screen - as animated lyrics, a small album art box, or a simple tag.
5. Post Your Stories: Once you add music to the first slide, Instagram will automatically continue playing that song seamlessly through all the subsequent photo Stories you're posting in that sequence. This creates a cohesive, slideshow-like experience for anyone tapping through. You can now add other elements like polls, quizzes, or text to individual slides before posting.

Tips to Make Your Instagram Slideshow Shine

Knowing the "how" is just the start. Here are some quick tips to elevate your slideshows from good to great.

• Start with a Strong "Hook." Your first photo is your headline. Make it attention-grabbing and beautiful to entice viewers to swipe and see the rest.
• Tell a Cohesive Story. Don't just throw in random images. Think about a narrative: a beginning, a middle, and an end. For instance, show the ingredients, the cooking process, and then the finished meal.
• Establish a Consistent Visual Style. Use photos with similar colors, lighting, and mood. Applying the same minor edits or filter to all your images in the slideshow helps create a clean, professional look.
• Mind Your Pacing. In a Reel, the rhythm is everything. Use quick cuts for high-energy songs and let images linger for slower, more emotional tracks. For a Feed post, put your strongest images first and last to start and end with a bang.
• End with a Call-to-Action (CTA). Your last slide is valuable real estate. Use a text overlay or your caption to ask a question ("Which outfit is your favorite?"), encourage a save ("Save this location for your next trip!"), or direct them to your website.

Final Thoughts

Creating an engaging slideshow with music on Instagram is a powerful way to tell your story, captivate your audience, and boost your engagement. Whether you opt for a classic carousel Feed post, a dynamic Reel synced to a beat, or a series of connected Stories, the platform's built-in tools make it simple to combine your best visuals with the perfect soundtrack.

Once you’ve started creating these amazing slideshows, you'll want to plan where they fit into your overall content calendar. I know firsthand that scheduling video-centric content like Reels felt challenging with older, clunkier tools, which is exactly why we built Postbase. We designed it around a modern, visual calendar that lets you easily drag and drop your polished Reels, Stories, and posts to map out your entire strategy. It helps you schedule everything confidently, so you can focus more on creating great slideshows and less on the backend logistics of posting.