The average engagement rate for Instagram carousels are higher than single videos and images, according to new research by SocialInsider.
Based on an analysis of over 22 million posts and 2 million carousels, when using all 10 slides, the average engagement rate was above 2%.
Carousels that mixes images with videos saw some of the highest engagement rates per post at 2.33%
Carousels now make up roughly 20% of Instagram posts and boast some of the highest average engagement with the majority of them having two slides (33%). That’s up from 4% in 2017.
Image carousels are the most frequently used (89%) but those.
Around 5% of carousels include messages that aim to encourage users to swipe left at an average engagement rate of 2%.
According to Jenn Herman, a social media strategist:
“If you upload a normal post to Instagram, that post appears in the feed of each of your followers based on the algorithmic ranking for each of them. If a follower scrolls past your post, it won’t resurface for them to see it again. However, if you use a carousel post, and a follower scrolls past the post with the first image, Instagram will show them the same post a second time (only a second time, not more than that) with typically the second photo or video from the carousel. This gives you double the exposure opportunities to your followers and a second chance to connect with them if they didn’t react to your first post image or video.”
What’s more, carousels also attract way comments than normal image-only posts. Indeed, carousels saw 8 comments per posts compared to images (6), but videos attract even more comments (11).
