How to Create a Carousel on Meta Business Suite

Carousel posts let you share up to ten images or videos in a single post, giving you more creative space to showcase products, tell a story, or share detailed information. Instead of being limited to one piece of media, you can guide your audience through a swipeable experience. This article will show you exactly how to create carousel posts and ads directly within Meta Business Suite.

What Exactly is a Carousel and Why Should You Use One?

A carousel is an interactive format that displays multiple images or videos - known as "cards" - that users can swipe through horizontally. It's available on both Facebook and Instagram for organic posts and paid advertisements. Think of it as a mini-photo gallery or slideshow packed into a single post.

So, why are they so effective? Carousels consistently generate higher engagement rates than single-image or single-video posts. They capture attention because they are inherently interactive, prompting users to swipe to see what's next. This active engagement keeps people looking at your content for longer.

Here are a few practical ways to use carousels:

• Product Showcases: Display multiple products from a collection, each with its own link to a different product page. This is a game-changer for e-commerce brands.
• Feature Highlights: Break down the features of a single product or service, dedicating one card to each benefit. For instance, a software company could use a carousel to explain five key features of its app.
• Step-by-Step Guides: Create a "how-to" tutorial, with each card representing a step in the process. This is perfect for recipes, DIY projects, or educational content.
• Storytelling: Build a narrative across several cards. You can tell a brand story, share a customer testimonial, or reveal behind-the-scenes content in a sequential format.
• Before-and-After Shots: Showcase a transformation, whether it's a home renovation, a fitness journey, or a product's impact.

Planning Your Carousel Content for Maximum Impact

Before jumping into Meta Business Suite, a little planning goes a long way. Well-thought-out content is what separates a good carousel from a great one. Don't just throw ten random photos together - have a clear strategy.

1. Define Your Goal

Start by asking yourself what you want to accomplish with this post. Are you trying to drive traffic to your website, generate leads, increase brand awareness, or announce a new product? Your goal will inform the entire creative process, from the images you choose to the copy you write.

• Goal: Drive Sales. Your carousel should feature multiple products, each with a clear headline, price, and a direct link to the purchase page.
• Goal: Educate Your Audience. Your carousel should break down a complex topic into simple, digestible steps.
• Goal: Tell a Story. Your carousel should have a clear beginning, middle, and end, creating a cohesive narrative.

2. Gather Your Creative Assets

Once you know your goal, collect the perfect images and videos. Visual consistency is important, so ensure your assets share a similar style, color palette, and branding.

• Image/Video Specs: While you have some flexibility, square (1:1 aspect ratio) assets with a resolution of 1080x1080 pixels are the most versatile and work seamlessly across both Facebook and Instagram feeds.
• The First Card is Everything: The first image or video in your carousel needs to stop the scroll. Make it bold, intriguing, and engaging enough to make someone want to see the rest.
• Connect Your Visuals: A clever tactic is to create a panoramic effect where the image appears to extend from one card to the next. You can also use graphic elements like arrows or lines to visually guide the user's eye across the swipe.

3. Craft Compelling Copy

Each carousel card has several text components you can customize, especially for ads. Prepare your copy in advance to save time.

• Primary Text (Caption): This is the text that appears above the carousel itself. Use a strong opening hook to grab attention and explicitly encourage users to "swipe left" or "swipe to see more."
• Headlines for Each Card: For ads, each card gets its own headline. Keep it short, direct, and focused on the key benefit or a compelling detail of what is shown on that specific card.
• Descriptions for Each Card: The description text appears below the headline and gives you a little extra room for details, like product specs or a price.
• Links (URLs) for Each Card: The ability to use a unique URL for each card is one of the most powerful features of carousel ads. This allows you to direct users to specific product pages, blog posts, or landing pages relevant to that individual card.

How to Create an Organic Carousel Post in Meta Business Suite

Creating a carousel for an organic (non-paid) post is straightforward. Meta Business Suite centralizes this process so you can post to both Facebook and Instagram at the same time.

Follow these steps:

1. Log in to your Meta Business Suite account and navigate to the Planner or Home section.
2. Click the blue "Create Post" button.
3. In the post composer, select which placements you want to use under "Post To" - your Facebook Page, Instagram account, or both.
4. Look for the "Media" section and click "Add Photos." You can also choose videos by clicking "Add Video."
5. Now, select up to 10 photos or videos from your computer that you want to include in the carousel. Hold down the Ctrl (PC) or Command (Mac) key to select multiple files at once.
6. Once your files are uploaded, you can drag and drop them to rearrange their order. The first one in the list will be the first one people see.
7. Write your main caption in the "Text" box. This text will appear across all platforms by default. You can use the options to customize the text for Facebook and Instagram separately if you wish.
8. On the right side of the screen, you will see a preview of how your carousel will look in the Facebook and Instagram feeds. Take a moment to swipe through it to ensure it looks exactly as you intended.
9. When you're happy with your post, you can either "Publish" it immediately, "Schedule" it for a future date and time, or "Save as Draft."

How to Create a Carousel Ad in Meta Ads Manager

Creating carousel ads offers more customization, including unique headlines, links, and descriptions for each card. This is done through Ads Manager, which is accessible directly from Business Suite.

Here's the step-by-step process:

1. In Meta Business Suite, navigate to the "All Tools" menu (it looks like a grid of squares) and select "Ads Manager."
2. Click the green "+ Create" button to start a new campaign.
3. Choose a Campaign Objective that supports the carousel format. Objectives like Sales, Traffic, Leads, and Engagement are all excellent choices.
4. Configure your Campaign and Ad Set details (naming, budget, schedule, target audience, and placements). Click "Next" after each step.
5. You'll now be at the Ad level. This is where you build the carousel itself. Under "Ad Setup," choose "Create Ad," and then for the "Format," select "Carousel."
6. Scroll down to the "Ad Creative" section. This is where you'll build your carousel cards one by one. You can manually add up to 10 cards.
7. For each card, you'll need to:
8. As you add more cards, you can reorder them by dragging them into position.
9. You'll also see some optimization checkboxes, such as "Automatically show the best performing cards first." If you are not telling a sequential story, enabling this option allows Meta's algorithm to reorder the cards for each user based on what's most likely to get a click.
10. Now, write your Primary Text. This is the main caption that appears above your ad.
11. Select a Call To Action button from the dropdown menu (e.g., "Shop Now," "Learn More," "Sign Up").
12. Finally, review your ad in the preview pane on the right. Check how it looks on all key placements like Facebook Feed, Instagram Feed, and Stories. Once you're satisfied, click the green "Publish" button.

Tips for Better Performing Carousel Posts & Ads

Just knowing how to create a carousel isn’t enough. Here are a few tips to make sure your audience actually engages with them.

1. Unite It With a Single Idea

The best carousels follow a single, cohesive theme. Whether it’s “5 Ways to Style Our New Scarf” or “A Look Inside Our Latest Project,” a unified idea helps your audience understand what they’re looking at and why they should care.

2. Tease the Swipe

Your first card is an advertisement for the rest of the carousel. Use text overlays like "Swipe for a Special Offer" or ask an intriguing question that makes users curious to see the next slide for the answer. Using a panoramic image that gets "cut off" on the first card is a visual trick that almost guarantees a swipe.

3. Don't Go to Ten Just Because You Can

While you can use ten cards, you don’t always need to. If you can tell your story or showcase your products effectively in three to five cards, stick with that. A shorter, more focused carousel is often more impactful than a long one that loses a user's attention mid-way through.

4. End with a Clear Call to Action (CTA)

The last card is your final opportunity to make an impression. Use it to reinforce your message and give a clear directive. This could be a summary of the carousel’s main points, an invitation to shop the collection, or a branded graphic that simply tells people where to find you. Reinforce this with the CTA in your ad copy.

Final Thoughts

Carousels are a versatile and powerful tool for telling deeper stories and showcasing more of what your brand has to offer in a single post or ad. By planning your content strategically and following the steps in Meta Business Suite, you can create interactive experiences that captivate your audience and drive real results.

After you’ve published your carousel ads, the next step is analyzing what's actually working. Figuring out which campaigns are driving revenue versus just clicks in Meta's native reporting tool can feel like wading through endless spreadsheets. We made Graphed to cut through that complexity. Once you connect your Meta Ads account, you can simply ask questions in plain English, like "show me my carousel campaigns with the highest ROAS" or "what's the cost per conversion for my video carousels this month?" Graphed turns your questions into real-time dashboards instantly, so you can stop manually pulling reports and get back to creating content that converts.