What’s the deal with photo dumps?

If you spend any time on Instagram or Facebook, then you’ve probably seen a “photo dump.”

If you’re unfamiliar with the idea of a photo dump, here is the definition, courtesy of ChatGPT:

*Note: Any Instagram post with more than one slide is technically a carousel, but not every carousel is a photo dump.*

A few years ago when I first started seeing photo dumps, I think it was from ~younger~ folk. The photo dump posts I saw looked very haphazard and slightly unhinged. They seemed to be mostly poor quality and blurry photos with maybe a single emoji in the caption. It felt very much like vaguebooking.

I said something to a young family member about this type of post (she was maybe 18 years old at the time) and I was like, “So, is this just a bunch of random photos?”

And she said “Yeah… Or is it?” 😏

Sigh.

Fast forward to present day: Photo dumps have officially hit the mainstream. Well, when I was your age (yes, this phrase has popped out of my mouth more than once, to my horror )... we spent a lot of time curating our Facebook photo albums and our Instagram posts. These photo collections were often heavily curated, and in fact, if you didn’t edit something, you might feel compelled to add a #nofilter hashtag, so everyone would know that this—unlike perhaps other heavily edited photos on the app—was "authentic."

Personally, I love a good photo dump. Although many photo dumps are perhaps anything but spontaneous, I do feel like the format alleviates some of the pressure of posting just the perfect pic. I love posting my own photo dumps (which are 100% thoughtfully curated but still feel chill to post) and I love swiping through photo dumps posted by others.

This format also seems to get great engagement on social media. Even TikTok has jumped on the photo dump bandwagon—you can now post photo dumps on TikTok with up to 35 (!!!) slides.

(Sidenote: Ain’t it funny… With TikTok’s rise in popularity, Instagram tried to compete by introducing and pushing Reels. Then Instagram added more photos to carousels, and now TikTok is following suit. We are caught in a cycle of a snake eating its tail, and who can keep up? It’s why I don’t recommend jumping on every social media trend… but I digress.)

Several articles I’ve read also point to the fact that photo dumps are getting increased engagement. FWIW, Hootsuite is the only place where I could find a real stat, but it was from 2022:

“At Hootsuite, we found that carousel posts get 1.4 times more reach and 3.1 times more engagement than regular posts. Users spend more time looking at carousel posts, which then favors those posts in the eyes of Instagram’s algorithm.” (What is a Photo Dump and Why Should Marketers Care?)

However, I think the fact that Instagram just expanded carousels to include 20 photos (vs. the 10 it was before) is a good indication that this feature increases engagement.

We also know that if Instagram releases a new feature, they want you to use it. And again, while I don’t recommend jumping on trends, I think that this particular trend is pretty easy to implement and you don’t really have to learn anything new.

Now, realtors, here is something to keep in mind if you are posting a photo dump:

While many photo dumps leave a single emoji, a cheeky phrase, or a simple hashtag in the caption, I highly recommend you use this type of post as an opportunity to share more about yourself and your business. Put some more thought into the caption, and I would argue that the caption should be longer. This is an opportunity for you to connect with your audience, inspire conversation, give an inside look at your business, etc. There are a ton of different directions you could take this in!

Here is an example of a photo dump I did on my own Instagram + Facebook accounts. If you want to see more examples, just type “photo dump” into Instagram’s search, or look up #photodump.