How to post a TikTok photo carousel
TikTok is not only video. A set of still images, swiped one by one, often travels further than a cut of the same pictures.
A TikTok photo carousel is a post made of still images instead of a video. People swipe through them sideways, at their own pace, with a sound playing underneath if you add one. For work that is better looked at than watched, finished projects, a series, a before and after, it is often the right format on TikTok.
The basics
- Up to 35 images in one post.
- Vertical, 1080 by 1920, fills the screen. Other shapes are shown with bars around them.
- A sound is optional but common; the post plays it while people swipe.
- A title and a caption, both read over the images.
How it differs from an Instagram carousel
An Instagram carousel is usually 4:5 and seen in the feed among other posts. A TikTok carousel is full screen, so a 4:5 set made for Instagram looks small with bars above and below. If the images matter, export a 9:16 set for TikTok, with any text kept away from the bottom and the right edge where TikTok places its buttons.
What makes people swipe
- The first image is the cover. It decides whether anyone swipes at all.
- Each image earns the next. A sequence, a story or a reveal keeps people going; ten similar pictures do not.
- Fewer is usually better. Six to ten strong images beat thirty-five.
Scheduling one
Listo posts TikTok photo carousels on any date you choose, publicly, with your title and caption. From an agent: Post the ten suit photos to TikTok as a photo carousel on Thursday at 18:00, titled The lime suit, in ten frames.
