Instagram has been on a roll lately?stealing innovating new ideas. From the awesome Stories feature (which now lets you save live broadcasts btw), to the new multiple photos selector (or album feature) it can be hard to keep up with their progress.
It can also be hard to think of creative new ways for your church to use these new features to reach people and engage with your followers.?Churches shouldn?t be afraid to try new things. Don?t wait until everyone else is doing it. Just give it a try and have fun.
Here?s a few ideas to help inspire you to use the new album carousel feature in creative ways:
Post a Longer Video
One of the cool things about the album feature is you can select both photos and videos to put into the same post. It gives you the option to select up to ten. Awhile ago Instagram increased its video length from 30 seconds to 1 minute, but with the new album feature you could technically post a 10 minute video by splitting it up into ten segments and posting them together.
Create one long video and cut it into multiple segments, taking into account the pause that will occur as people swipe between videos. Or post 10 individual short videos that tell a longer story. I?d love to see someone do something fun and creative with this.
Try posting a series of quick interviews with volunteers or church members, or a series of baptism videos. Or at the end of a sermon series, post a short clip from each sermon as a way for people to catch up on what they missed or replay their favorite moments.
Create One Very Long Image
Take a panoramic shot or one large photo and split it into multiple photos that flow into each other. Because there is no space between photos as people swipe in an album, it creates a really cool effect that can keep users engaged with your post.
I love this collage example from Elevation that celebrated an album launch party with multiple photos.
Celebrate a Big Event with One Post
Before the album feature was released if you wanted to share multiple photos from a single event, you ended up flooding your Instagram feed with photos. This can be annoying to some people when their feed is nothing but photos from your church every Sunday.
Now you can pick up to ten of your favorite photos from the day and share them in a single post. You still get to share all the different elements of the day, without bombarding people with your message. This is great for big events, baptism Sundays, launch parties and more. Pick up to ten of the best photos and share them together in one post.
Share a Time-Lapse Story
The photos you choose to include in an album post don?t need to come from the same day. Tell a story that occurs over time. Maybe its the progress of a new building project, starting with photos of the ground breaking and progressing to the final photo or video of the finished building.
Take it Step by Step
With up to ten spots, you can easily create a post that walks the user step by step through a process.
Have your worship leader teach a new song, chord by chord. Did you release a cool video for Easter? Show some behind the scenes footage and photos of how it was made, ending with the final video.
Did the kids do a cool craft project during Sunday school? Show how to recreate it at home, step by step.
This also works great for recipes. Share a recipe one step at a time through photos and videos.
I tell churches all the time that they shouldn?t be afraid to post content that isn?t necessarily church related. Bring value to people?s lives and create content that interests them. It doesn?t have to promote an event or even invite them to church. If they like the content and engage with real people because of it, then there will be plenty of opportunity for invitation and promotion – for your church and for the gospel.
What are some creative ways you are using the new Instagram feature? Share a link in the comments.
