Instagram’s Photo Dumping Trend Guide

You likely spend a lot of time curating your Instagram feed, ensuring that each photo and video fits into your account’s overall theme. While that’s important most of the time, you can throw curation out the window when engaging in the new photo dumping trend. It’s so popular that everyone from celebrities to brands has joined in, so you don’t want to miss out. However, it’s not just jumping on a hot trend. It’s also one of the top strategies for boosting engagement on Instagram. Thus, let’s dive in so you’ll be ready to post your first photo dump.

What Is a Photo Dump?

Content creators and brands upload photo dumps via Carousels on Instagram. Users choose up to 10 photos that tell a story or convey a mood. Even though there’s an overall theme, the images are loosely connected instead of part of a single shoot.

For instance, you can create a photo dump that details a day in your life. It might start with a snap during your morning walk, followed by a picture of you enjoying coffee. Then, you can include an image of you reading a book and yet another image of you playing with your dog. Finally, you can cap it off with a snap of the sunset.

This is just one example of how you can participate in the trend. You can get more ideas by searching for #photodump on Instagram.

Stay Authentic When Posting Photo Dumps

Creators generally filter and edit photos, but that’s not necessary when creating a photo dump. Instead, you want to give people an authentic look at your life or brand. In order to understand the difference, let’s look at two examples.

First, consider this Carousel that Kim Kardashian posted. Each photo looks professionally taken, and it’s clear that she hired a photographer instead of handing her phone to a friend or family member. Thus, this is not considered a photo dump.

Compare that to this Carousel posted by Dua Lipa. She took many of the photos herself, and they all look candid. In fact, the photos are so authentic that you can’t help but feel like you know her better by the time you reach the last slide.

Thus, if you want to take part in the photo dump trend, you have to be willing to upload unfiltered, raw photos. That can include a blurry photo or two if you wish.

Choosing a Theme

Before you can create a photo dump, you need to choose a theme. Some examples include:

• Behind the scenes

• Sneak peeks

• A day, week, or month in the life

• Selfies you hadn’t posted before

• Favorite outfits

• Events or celebrations

These are just some examples of themes. You can choose any theme you want and then select photographs that are connected to it.

Selecting the Content

Even though it’s called a “photo dump,” you can include other types of content as well. For instance, Dua Lipa’s photo dump had a video at the end. You can also include memes and GIFs when creating a photo dump.

How Many Images and Videos Should You Use?

Many people agree that you need to include at least five photos and videos to create a photo dump. Additionally, you can use all 10 slides for the photo dump if you would like. This is preferable if you have enough content. Your engagement rate will likely increase if you use all 10 slides, so it’s worth the extra effort.

Creating the Carousel

After you choose the content, you’ll create your Carousel. Even though you have an overarching theme, the Carousel should look random. For instance, let’s say you create a photo dump of a wedding. You can move back and forth from exchanging vows to dancing, meaning the photos won’t be in order. That’s the beauty of a photo dump. You can toss the images and videos together without having to tell a story from beginning to end.

Captioning a Photo Dump

You will also need to include a caption when posting the photo dump. First, craft a short message for your followers to read. It should be a sentence or two so the photos and videos can do the rest of the talking.

Also, add the #photodump hashtag to let people know you’re participating in the trend. Some Instagram users search for photo dumps, so this will help you connect with new audiences.

How to Increase Engagement

Brands and creators like creating photo dumps due to the high levels of engagement they provide. Carousels already offer a higher-than-average amount of engagement, and photo dumps provide an additional boost.

However, you might run into some problems getting people to view and like your photo dumps. This is especially true if you have a newer account or have yet to accumulate many followers.

Unfortunately, Instagram will bury your Carousel if you don’t get lots of engagement out of the gate, so you need to come out strong to reach your marketing goals.

Fortunately, there’s an easy solution to this problem. You can buy Instagram likes with instant delivery to build engagement immediately. That will send a signal to Instagram’s algorithm that you’ve created a popular post. Then, it will show your Carousel to your followers, as well as people who have yet to interact with your account.

You can double the interaction by purchasing Instagram views as well. That will send yet another signal to Instagram so it will increase the exposure even more.

Pull Back the Curtain With Photo Dumps

Photo dumps are an excellent way to pull back the curtain and let your followers see the person or people behind your account. Since people crave authenticity on social media, this can help you take your account to the next level. Plus, photo dumps are fun, so you will enjoy taking part in the trend.

Remember that it can be hard to get engagement at first, even if you upload an amazing photo dump. Thus, consider buying Instagram views and likes to increase your exposure. Then, you’ll open your account up to a whole new audience.