📈 LinkedIn Content Strategy in 2025: What 1 Million Posts Reveal About Engagement, Growth & What Actually Works

Over the past year, LinkedIn has undergone a quiet transformation—from a networking platform to a content-rich environment where brands can build influence, educate audiences, and spark meaningful conversations.

And as traditional platforms like Twitter/X become more fragmented, many B2B brands, thought leaders, and marketers are turning to LinkedIn as their primary channel for professional engagement.

But if you're going to invest in LinkedIn in 2025, it helps to know what actually works.

Thankfully, Socialinsider recently released a deep-dive analysis of 1 million posts across 9,000 LinkedIn company pages, offering us a rare, data-driven look at which content formats are performing best—along with insights on follower growth, post frequency, and format engagement.

Let’s explore what the numbers reveal—and how to apply these findings to your content strategy moving forward.

🧩 1. Carousels Lead in Engagement (and It’s Not Even Close)

One of the most striking findings: Carousel posts (uploaded as PDFs) generate the highest engagement rate across all company page content types.

📊 Carousels receive more clicks, saves, and time-on-post than single-image or text posts.

Why does this format work so well?

• Swipeable storytelling: Each slide gives the audience a reason to keep going, creating a natural form of content retention.
• Educational value: Carousels are ideal for breaking down complex topics into easy-to-understand, visual takeaways.
• Saves and shares: People love saving value-packed slides for future reference, which boosts long-tail reach.

✅ Use case examples:

• "5 Leadership Lessons from Our Q1 Expansion"
• "A Step-by-Step Guide to Planning Your 2025 Marketing Strategy"
• "Before/After Results from Our Product Redesign"

Pro Tip: Your first slide is everything. Treat it like a headline—it should hook attention and clearly promise value. Use clean visuals, minimal text, and consistent branding.

📄 2. Document Posts Are a Close Second in Performance

Document uploads—such as whitepapers, reports, toolkits, or slide decks—are also top-tier performers, especially for brands positioning themselves as thought leaders.

They offer more than just engagement—they signal authority.

In fact, document posts:

• Keep users on LinkedIn (a win for the algorithm)
• Are often downloaded or shared, extending post lifespan
• Work well for gated content previews (“Download the full report via link in comments”)

Ideal use cases:

• Executive summaries
• Product one-pagers
• Annual or quarterly insights reports
• Research previews

If your marketing team is already creating long-form content, this is a great way to repurpose and squeeze more value out of your assets.

🎥 3. Video Content: High Potential, Variable Execution

Socialinsider places video content just behind carousels and documents in terms of engagement on company pages.

However, LinkedIn’s own internal platform data suggests that video posts generate 1.4x more engagement than other formats—especially when looking at all users, not just businesses.

Why the discrepancy?

Socialinsider's study is based solely on company pages, where video is often underused or inconsistently produced. On the other hand, personal posts featuring native video often go viral because they feel more authentic and less corporate.

Still, the value of video can’t be denied.

Best practices:

• Keep it short (30–90 seconds is the sweet spot)
• Use captions (many users watch with sound off)
• Optimize for mobile viewing
• Focus on people-first content: behind-the-scenes, culture moments, leadership insights

🎬 Pro Tip: Start by interviewing your team or customers. Even informal video clips can build trust and visibility if they’re authentic and informative.

📊 4. Polls = Big Reach, Lower Depth

Polls continue to drive the highest number of impressions on LinkedIn—even if they don’t always spark rich discussion.

Why do they work?

• They’re lightweight, easy to vote on, and feel interactive.
• LinkedIn’s algorithm favors polls because they typically have high participation.
• They invite engagement without a huge time commitment.

Use polls to:

• Validate an idea or direction
• Spark discussion on industry trends
• Segment audience preferences (e.g., “Which topic should we cover next?”)

Note: To get quality insights, avoid clickbait-style questions. Make your polls relevant, thoughtful, and aligned with your brand values.

🖼️ 5. Static Image & Link Posts Are Most Common—but Not Most Effective

Despite lower engagement compared to carousels or video, image and link posts remain the most frequently used formats across company pages.

One likely reason? LinkedIn’s link preview update in 2023, which reduced the size of preview images for organic link posts. This made them less visually appealing, and likely impacted performance.

To counteract this, many companies are now:

• Posting a full-size static image with an attention-grabbing caption
• Placing the link in the first comment, not the caption

While this isn't officially endorsed by LinkedIn, anecdotal evidence suggests that it helps regain some visibility and click-through rate.

🚀 6. Follower Growth Trends: Small Pages Are Winning

Another encouraging insight: Smaller LinkedIn company pages (under 50K followers) are currently experiencing the fastest follower growth rates.

This suggests:

• The LinkedIn algorithm is surfacing quality content from pages of all sizes
• Newer or niche brands still have plenty of room to grow
• Consistency and content quality matter more than vanity metrics

If you're just getting started or haven’t seen much growth in the past, now’s a great time to test new formats, post more frequently, and engage actively in your niche.

📌 Summary: How to Apply These Insights to Your 2025 LinkedIn Strategy

🧠 Final Thoughts: Format Is Just the Starting Point

This research confirms what many savvy marketers already sense: LinkedIn rewards value-driven, engaging, and format-optimized content.

But remember—no format will save a post that lacks substance.

The best-performing LinkedIn content in 2025 will be:

• Relevant to the audience
• Rich in insight or emotion
• Delivered in the right format for the message

Start experimenting, track performance, and lean into what resonates with your audience. Your ideal mix of formats will evolve over time—but now, you’ve got the data to back every decision.

Source:

Report Looks at Best-Performing LinkedIn Post Types for 2025 | Social Media Today

Tej Yale is the Founder/CEO of ThinkImpact Inc, a Marketing Company based in Rochester Hills, Michigan. They offer Social Media Management, Content Management, Graphic Design, Event Promotion, Website Development, Marketing Consulting, Project Management, Business Support.

You can learn more at www.thinkimpact1st.com