If a picture tells a thousand words then ten pictures will tell ten thousand words, right? That’s not just a story, that’s a novel! This is the door that Instagram has recently opened by releasing Galleries – the ability for users (and brands) to upload 10 images at a time, creating a swipeable art gallery with one caption that encompasses the entire set. You’ll know there’s more photos to swipe through because there will be multiple dots located under the main photo.
Before this, Facebook was the main place for users to upload numerous photos about an event, experience or product, but even then, users have to go into a friend’s album to flip through the photos of their life. The way I see it, Instagram has created an almost classier place for people to upload albums because they limit it to ten photos. Do people really have time to be looking at more than 10 photos anyway? Not really. There’s so much content happening on social these days that we barely have time to keep up on all our different platforms, but if I can easily and quickly swipe through my friends’ key photos of an event, then I can get a better picture of what they have experienced rather than guess by looking at one solo photo.
Instagram Has Become the New Scrapbook for Life
Ten years ago, people used to print photos and hand craft scrapbooks to tell a story of a vacation or experience. Then, as digital grew, users started creating digital scrapbooks with stickers, quotes, emojis and the like. But that takes time, and even then, the digital stickers almost bring about a silly, or childlike feel. With the various filters on Instagram, one can customize their Gallery in a more chic manner than those old school scrapbooks. These beautifully crafted albums are the ultimate art gallery for users, and even more importantly, brands.
Reasons Brands Should Be Celebrating Galleries
Yes, users are excited to be able to upload multiple photos at once, but brands are really the ones who can take full advantage of the new Instagram Galleries. Whether your brand focuses on fashion, beauty, travel, culinary, music, or entertainment, Galleries allow you to highlight an entire product line, event, or campaign in one easy swoop.
Prior to Galleries, brands would often turn off users by spamming too many photos in multiple, individual posts. Not only that, but Instagram’s algorithm lowered these types of posts on users’ feed so as to not take it over. As a user, I’m very pleased that Galleries has come about because now I can choose to swipe through a brand’s carousel rather quickly if I think there’s something else in that gallery I might enjoy.
With ten photos, a brand can now tell more than a story if they have the content for it. Galleries allow a story to be told from different angles within one post. The main photo may resonate for User A, but the second or third photo in the gallery could resonate with User B.
Not only that, but influencers can maintain more authenticity by merely incorporating a paid-for placement shuffled within other natural ones in a single Gallery post. Influencers often have a challenge promoting a brand when they have no way of blending with their own true content, but Galleries makes this seamless so it should create a stronger message when speaking about a brand or product. This means that influencers can now create multiple digital scrapbooks, or art galleries, on Instagram to highlight various interests with brands sprinkled within them.
Flickr / Photo by Herry Lawford.
