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Build Your Tribe | Grow Your Business with Social Media
8 VIRAL Instagram Carousel Ideas to Boost Views and Followers
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Reels this, reels that post more reels. The reality is reels are overhyped. Yes, reels can help you get more views. Reels can go viral. But guess what? Everyone's been posting so many reels that carousels have been totally forgotten about. And carousels are arguably just as powerful for reaching a new audience, serving your existing audience, and increasing your engagement. And so, in today's episode, I'm going to be sharing with you eight viral carousel ideas that you can recreate your own versions of. I'm not going to waste any time. In today's episode, we're going to get right to it. But before we do, I'm going to ask you to consider hitting that subscribe button. Because every single week I put out some sort of video. Helping you grow on social media, helping you get more views on Instagram, helping you go viral on TikTok, coming up with post ideas letting you know about the latest strategies and updates. And all you gotta do is hit that subscribe button. Totally free. But let's get into it. The first viral carousel idea that I have for you is the what you see versus what you don't carousel. This carousel is similar to carousels that I've talked about in the past, where you are comparing or contrasting two things in each slide. This sort of dynamic visual gives the average viewer more to look at when we're scrolling through Instagram and when we're looking at carousels. We're used to only having to look at one thing per slide, but when the slide is cut in half or when we're comparing a before and after this versus that, it gives our brain more visual input. It kind of feels more like a game to kind of compare the two images and what we're going to specifically be doing in the what you see versus what you don't carousel style is splitting the image in half, making one image in color and the other half of the image in black and white. And this carousel could easily fit into any niche because no matter what industry you are in, there are likely things that everyone sees that are outward facing, that seem positive, happy, successful. And there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes. There's plenty of work that you do that people don't realize gets done. There's plenty of challenges and struggles that you face that people don't even realize. And so this carousel is a great opportunity to A, show people behind the scenes, B, allow them to generate trust with you, and C, allow allow people to really connect and relate with you on a deeper level. The more honest and authentic you can get with this style of carousel, the more viral potential it has and the greater people will really feel connected with you and feel seen because of this carousel. Carousel idea number two is the celebrity quotes carousel. These style of carousels work really well because they are borrowing someone else's credibility, status or fame. The reality is, like it or not, people pay more attention when celebrities say things, and I'm willing to bet that that there is a celebrity who has said something about your niche. No matter how niche down you get, no matter how specific of an industry, a subcategory within a subcategory you post about on Instagram, I bet there is some celebrity out there who has talked about that or has talked about something similar enough that you can find a way to creatively relate it back to your niche. Some of my most viral carousels in the history of my Instagram are when a celebrity makes a quote about creativity or the creative process, or they make a quote about being cringe or overcoming perfectionism. Even though these things don't directly relate to growing on Instagram, which is most of what I post about, I can find ways to relate these topics back to growing and posting on Instagram, and thus these are potentially very viral. I will say the more niche you try to find a quote for, the harder it will be. So I typically find ChatGPT to be a very helpful research tool for finding quotes from celebrities that relate to pretty much any topic. In terms of formatting for these celebrity quotes carousels, I wouldn't suggest doing the kind of outdated, bland, boring, professional headshot of a celebrity with some cursive fancy font quote next to their head. And I would instead format it almost as if it's breaking news. And typically on Instagram, the breaking news format is you have a photo of someone, in this case the celebrity who said the quote. But it's not like the generic stock image headshot photo. It's a photo of them kind of in the act of saying the quote. So if you can, instead of grabbing an image of a celebrity from the red carpet, grab an image of them from an actual interview so that it looks like they're talking about. And then on the bottom half of the screen I put a little black bar and then a fade to black, kind of transparent. So kind of like, you know, ombre effects, gradient effects, I guess is the way to say it. From the black bar into the actual image of the celebrity saying the quote. And then you put the quote in big, bold, easy to read text down at the bottom. Idea number three is the your birth month equals your blank. This is not necessarily new. These are super popular and they've been around pretty much since the dawn of Instagram. But it's something that I really only see meme pages or really popular Instagra Instagram accounts doing. And I don't see enough of the average Joes like you and I actually taking advantage of. For this style of carousel, you basically just finish the second sentence with something that relates to your niche. So your birth month equals the kind of content creator you are. Your birth month equals your rock climbing habits. Your birth month equals the kind of cake that you bake. And to be honest, these carousels don't have a super strong, like, educational value or a super big, like, point that is being made because it's just kind of a game, it's kind of like a guessing game to see, like, oh, hey, my birthday's in July. Let me swipe to July and see what I got. Oh, hey, my wife's birthday's in March. Let me see what marches. It's like those online quizzes that you would take in the early 2000s to figure out which Hogwarts house you're in. It's not really all that serious, but our human nature and psychology makes us curious to figure out what we are, even if there's no basis to it. So for this one, have a little bit of fun with it. And if you want to use ChatGPT to create the images for each month, you could totally do that. Now, those first three carousel ideas were on the easier side to actually create. This fourth carousel idea is not. The fourth carousel idea is what I'm going to call the mixed media carousel. And these ones can get real creative. Most carousels that you see when you scroll through Instagram are generic and they look like the pamphlets that you get at the hospital. They're filled with clip art stock images. And the graphic design feels just kind of stale. And I would be willing to bet that over 95, if not 99%, of the carousels that you see on your Instagram are just still images, even if it's super dynamically elite and really visually interesting. And it's usually just a still image. What this carousel idea does differently is it combines still images with a cutout and then layers that on top of a moving video that relates to the image. If you're in something like the real estate niche or the interior design niche, or anything related to travel or exploring, or if you're a photographer or videographer or a wedding creator. This kind of carousel would absolutely crush for you. If you're someone who's just an online educator like myself, or whose content doesn't really interact with nature or the real world or photography all that much, then it wouldn't be as applicable. But if you do interact with nature, if you do ever go out, if you're a hiker, if you're someone who does outdoor content creation, this will absolutely crush for you. And it's actually not that hard to create Are you ready to take your business marketing to the next level? Meet Brevo, the all in one marketing and CRM platform built to connect you with your customers, build, boost engagement and grow your business smarter. With Brevo you can manage all of your customer interactions in one place, nurture leads with their built in CRM, reach your audience through email and SMS and keep them coming back with powerful automations. But here is where it gets really exciting. Meet Aura, Brevo's AI Assistant. 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Go to hellofresh.com by T10FM to get 10 free meals plus a free Zwilling knife which is a $144.99 value on your third box. This offer is only valid while supplies last. Free meals applied at discount on your first box for new subscribers only and varies by plan. Carousel idea number five is the blurry reveal carousel. And it relies on a little trick that we've talked about in some of our previous carousel idea episodes where if the viewer holds their finger down on those little dots at the bottom, they can actually drag their finger to the right and the left and it will quickly flip through the carousel, kind of like flipbook style, and it will make a seamless transition between each slide. Most people, when they're consuming carousels, just kind of swipe on through, but if you encourage your audience to hold their finger down and drag back and forth, it can actually create some really cool effects. And like I just mentioned, I have done some previous carousel idea episodes. I think this is actually the third or fourth iteration of carousel ideas, so I'll link up a few more of those in the description below. Because if you haven't watched those already, there are some really creative carousel ideas in those episodes as well. But back to the current one at hand. Basically each image in the carousel is getting slightly less and less blurry. And this is a really creative way that you could reveal something like a new logo, a product that you're launching, a sale, a discount code, an image that you kind of want to create some mystique around. Basically anything that would benefit from having a grand reveal and have people anticipate the launch of this would work really well for. And this is also something that is relatively simple and easy to create in just Canva. Carousel idea number six is the this Exists carousel. Basically you want to grab a photo of yourself in a cool environment, like on a hike at the top of a mountain in front of a big ocean. Basically any photo that would remind us of the bigger picture and the perspective that we need to have. And like I said, ideally you would be in the picture or you would be the one who has taken the picture. But I guess theoretically, if you don't have any photos of yourself in impressive environments, or if you haven't taken any cool photos of the ocean recently, then you could use some sort of stock images for this. But just make sure that they're not like generic, overused cookie cutter stock images. Make sure that they're actually the images that are visually impressive. And basically each slide has text that says this exists and and after the word and you insert something that is a common source of stress, frustration, worry, concern, doubt, in your niche. So you could say this exists. And I'm worried about my waist size. This exists. And I'm worried about keeping up with fashion trends. This exists. And I'm worried if I have the coolest new pair of shoes, this exists. And I'm worried about how many likes I get on Instagram. This exists. And I'm worried about my over baked cake. This exists. And I'm worried about keeping up with the pro rock climber at my gym. And while this trend usually uses grand beautiful photos of the earth, it doesn't have to just be for travel creators or outdoor vloggers or anything like that. You don't have to be in an outdoor related niche in order to use this trend. Idea number seven is Day in the Life carousels. Now, Day in the Life vlogs have become super popular and I've seen a ton of different styles and iterations, but I haven't seen very many people do Day in the Life carousels. I have seen people do here's what my morning routine looks like as a seven figure entrepreneur and then they talk about their ice baths and whatever. But for this specific style of carousel, you're going to actually use screenshots from your phone's calendar. And then you have one of two options as to how you can use these screenshots. Option number one is to take a photo that represents what you're doing from 7am to 8am, let's say. And then you're going to include the screenshot as an overlay to kind of describe what you're doing in the photo in the background. And then you're going to Repeat this from 8am to 9am, et cetera, et cetera. Taking people through a day in your life, or what your perfect day looks like, or even just what your normal Thursday looks like. The other way that you can do this is to flip which photo is in the background in the foreground, so that in the background is your day's calendar so that people can kind of see a screenshot of what you're doing, what's on the calendar from 7am to 8am and then in the foreground, kind of overlaid on top of that screenshot is a little photo of you doing that thing. And then the eighth and final carousel idea is the one that looks maybe the most unique and it can be applied to both carousels and just normal photos. And I will say this does probably require you to have an iPhone or the latest iPhone in order to make this effect happen. But I'm sure It could be done through some sort of third party editing software. I'm just not sure which editing software that would be. But carousel idea number eight is what I'm going to call the gyroscope carousel. And according to Google, a gyroscope is a device that measures or maintains orientation and angular velocity using the principle of conservation of angular momentum. That is an absolute flipping mouthful. I promise it won't be that hard to make. This carousel would be perfect for anyone who has a physical product. So if you're a part of a direct sales company, or you have merch, or you really have any sort of physical product that you are selling, or even if you're someone who doesn't necessarily sell a physical product, but you interact quite often with physical products in your niche. Like let's say you are a cake baker. Well then you're going to interact with cakes and a cake knife and an icing pipette. Is that the right word? Or if you're a fashion creator, you might not necessarily sell the clothes that you are styling, but you are interacting heavily with the physical good that is the clothing. And so this style of carousel would absolutely work for you. Creating this style carousel is really only two steps. Step number one is you want to take a photo of yourself, preferably on the wide angle lens and kind of from a higher up angle. Although if you did a normal angle lens and you did a little bit lower, it would still work, but it just, it looks better when it's wide angle and when it's kind of a top down look. And then using whichever editing tool you like, you want to add the physical products into the space around you. So you can use the cutout feature in Canva, you can use the cutout feature on your Instagram camera roll and then paste the cutout images onto your photo right on Instagram Stories, you could use Adobe Photoshop. There are a lot of different ways that you can achieve this, but that's really step one is you just want to get this image of yourself with the products kind of around you in space. Then here we are viewing it in my camera roll. Once again, this is being done on the latest iOS operating system. I'm going to do is tap on this little button in the top right, right below those three dots. And then it will analyze the space and put it in this sort of like 3D mode. And then all you have to do to achieve the effect is move your phone around, tilting it back and forth, up and down and kind of rotating it. And while you're doing that, do a screen recording and it will record this little effect. Then once you're done doing this effect for a few seconds, stop the screen recording and then trim the video to make sure that the moment where I am actually starting and stopping the screen recording isn't in the video. And then before I hit save, I will hit the crop button in the bottom right and I will just crop out the black area. Now when I play it, it creates a rectangular image that I could put into a carousel of me doing this gyroscope effect. Super cool. Super unique. At the end of my last Carousel idea videos, I shouted out one of my favorite carousel creators of BYOB who creates awesome, inspiring carousels. Definitely check them out. Super creative. But in addition to them, I also want to shout out Teresa Notes who creates some super cool interactive, whimsical as she likes to call them, carousels that are dynamic and unique and just super creative. So definitely check her out as well if you want some more inspiration. Thank you so much for watching today and as always, happy networking. It.