Photo, video or carousel: what to post on Instagram

This article was written before Instagram had Reels, so its conclusion that video underperforms photos described the old feed. Reels launched in August 2020, and short vertical videos now have their own feed and ranking rules.

How Instagram decides what to show

In 2023 Instagram published an explanation of its ranking. In Feed, the system predicts whether someone will spend time on a post, comment, like it, share it or open the profile. People who engage more with photos see more photos. For Reels, the key signals are complete watches, reshares, likes and visits to the audio page. Low-resolution reels, reels with watermarks from other apps, borders or no sound are shown less often.

Which format to use

• Photo: news, announcements, a close-up of a product, a customer quote.
• Carousel: step-by-step guides, comparisons, round-ups, case breakdowns.
• Reels: reaching new people, showing a process, a short answer to a common question.
• Stories: time-sensitive updates, polls, links to your site.

How to test on your own account

Compare formats against one goal: reach, saves, profile visits or enquiries. Publish the same topic in two formats, measure both over the same period and review the numbers in the professional dashboard. Video quality and the first few seconds affect completion more than the format itself.

Sources

• Instagram: Instagram Ranking Explained (2023)
• Meta: Introducing Instagram Reels (2020)