Magic Trick #35 for you -

People keep asking me what sort of content does best on LinkedIn.

Text-based? Video-based? Picture-based? Carousel?

I’ll break it down for you.

Before that - I’ll make it clear to all of you -

A. Yes, the algorithm reads all your post
B. Yes, the engagement+impression is dependent on the reader’s behaviour on post

1. Text-based post

→ The algorithm goes through the post and decides on a reading time
→ It checks on your first 50-100 readers’ reaction to the post and their reading time and accordingly decides to push your post
→ Your post if has more reading time before scrolling, you get an upvote; then if there’s a reaction, another upvote; finally if there’s a comment or repost; more upvotes

This is why hooks and CTAs play an important part in a text-based post.

And so does having a post under 300 words. Less means chances of poor engagement. More means people might not engage or read completely.

2. Video-based post

→ The algorithm goes through the text + video. Videos are hard to interpret so it carefully calculates reactions.
→ Again, the post engagement and impressions are dependent on the first 50-100 readers’ reactions. Also, keywords on comments. If there’s a positive conversation about the video - it pushed outside
→ Your average view number decides on your upvotes up front, and then comes the number of engagements.

This is where the hook of the video plays a vital role. If the hook is not captivating, the post has no chance of performing well.

Your audience will not read the caption since they know the post is about the video and the video never looked attractive to them.

3. Picture-based post

→ The algorithm reads the text & picture, but mostly the texts and decides on a reading time. It does a background check on the picture to see if it does not contain something that might be offensive to someone.
→ Here’s the real hack, most people react to the picture because they recognise you. This makes the algorithm feel that your post is valuable. For every person who reads the post and does not react, there is someone who immediately reacts after seeing your post - this balances things.
→ Cleaner picture works the best because it is easier to recognise and has the most chances of engagement. Like how you get better engagement on Instagram if your picture is of the utmost quality.

This is where having a backing community is the biggest help.

Your hooks and your content do not matter if you have people who react to your post no matter what.

This is where you see posts go viral too. Because on somedays the first few people that the post gets pushed out to for the algo to adjust your reach are your loyal audience.

Their engagement boosts the post’s overall performance.

4. Carousel

→ The algorithm acts very similar to the video-based post. It goes through the text + carousel and decides on a reading time.
→ This is where if your text-based post + carousel is equally captivating and catches attention, it improves the reading time. If there’s an engagement, this doubles your chances of doing well
→ Your swipes on the carousel are also calculated imo. If someone is not going to the end or leaving the carousel in between, it probably is not a carousel that needs to be read by everyone.

Your post hooks need to be as engaging as your carousel hook.

My suggestion would be not to exactly copy-paste the same content in both places but be a little different, yet on the same lines.

This encourages readers to spend more time on your post.

And the chances of engagement increases.

So, in my opinion, this is the order of post-working that’ll bring you engagement + impressions.

Picture > Text > Carousel > Video

P.S. - What do you think of this analysis?