Every LinkedIn creator has the same question: what format should I post in?

Some people swear by text. Others say carousels are the only way. Video is supposedly the future. And polls... well, we'll get to polls. (Spoiler: it's not good news for polls.)

The format debate has been raging in LinkedIn comment sections for years, mostly fueled by anecdotal evidence and survivorship bias. "I posted a carousel and it went viral, therefore carousels are the best format" is roughly the level of analysis most people are working with. That's like saying umbrellas cause rain because you see them together a lot.

We have actual data on this. Our dataset covers 10,222 LinkedIn posts from 494 creators, with full engagement metrics across every format. Here's what each format delivers, when to use it and the framework for choosing.

The Head-to-Head Numbers

Let's start with the raw comparison from our data. No editorializing, just numbers:

Image Posts (Includes Carousels and Document Posts)

Engagement rate: 0.93%
Average likes: 468
Average comments: 85
Average shares: 16+
Viral posts: 142
Top post: 11,576 likes (startup funding announcement)

Text Posts

Engagement rate: 0.50%
Average likes: 191
Average comments: 33
Viral posts: 79
Top post: 8,106 likes (marketing video announcement)

Poll Posts

Engagement rate: 0.07%
Average likes: 25
Average comments: 23
Viral posts: negligible

The headline: image posts outperform text posts by 87% on engagement rate. They get 2.45x more likes and 2.6x more comments.

Polls are essentially nonfunctional. A 0.07% engagement rate means the algorithm barely distributes them at all. To put that in perspective: if images are a sports car, text posts are a reliable sedan, and polls are a shopping cart with one broken wheel.

Pro tip: Save these numbers somewhere you can reference them. When you're deciding between formats for your next post, this comparison is your cheat sheet. Default to images unless you have a specific reason to go text (and there are good reasons, which we'll cover below).

Why Images Dominate

Images win for three connected reasons. Understanding the "why" matters because it helps you create better image posts, not just more of them.

They stop the scroll. A visual element catches the eye faster than a paragraph of text. In a feed full of text posts, an image stands out. In a feed full of images, a well-designed image still stands out. The visual contrast with the surrounding LinkedIn UI creates an attention advantage that text can't match.

Here's the thing about the LinkedIn feed: it's mostly gray and white with blue accents. Everything looks the same. A colorful image or infographic breaks that visual monotony, and your brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text (that's a real neuroscience stat, not a made-up LinkedIn stat). By the time your conscious mind has decided whether to read a text post, your visual cortex has already processed the image post next to it.

They generate dwell time. This is the bigger factor. When someone looks at an infographic, reads a data chart or swipes through a carousel, they spend more time on your post. LinkedIn's algorithm uses dwell time as its primary quality signal. More time on post = better content = wider distribution.

Carousels amplify this effect dramatically. Each slide swipe registers as engagement. A 10-slide carousel where someone reads every slide generates far more dwell time than a text post of equivalent word count. You could write 500 words in a text post or spread those same 500 words across 10 carousel slides, and the carousel version would generate roughly 3-5x more dwell time because of the swipe mechanic.

They invite different types of engagement. People react to visuals differently than text. A framework diagram might prompt someone to tag a colleague. A data visualization might prompt a question about methodology. A before/after comparison might prompt a story about their own experience. The visual format creates more "entry points" for engagement.

Text posts tend to generate either agreement ("Great point!") or nothing. Images generate more varied and more thoughtful responses. And varied, thoughtful responses are exactly what the algorithm rewards.

Pro tip: You don't need to be a graphic designer. A clean screenshot, a simple chart from Google Sheets or a Canva template with your key points is plenty. The bar for "good enough" image quality on LinkedIn is much lower than on Instagram. People aren't judging your design skills. They're consuming your content. A slightly ugly infographic with great insights will outperform a beautiful infographic with generic advice every time.

The Viral Rate Gap

This might be the most telling statistic in our entire dataset.

Out of all image posts in our dataset, 142 went viral. Out of all text posts, 79 went viral. Text had 1.8x more total posts in our dataset, yet images produced nearly double the viral hits.

If we normalize for volume, image posts go viral at roughly 3.2x the rate of text posts. That means any given image post has 3.2 times the odds of breaking through compared to a text post. Over the course of a year of posting, that difference compounds significantly.

The most-liked image post in our data hit 11,576 likes, a startup funding announcement with a visual. The most-liked text post reached 8,106 likes, a marketing video announcement (ironic that a text post about video was the top performer for text format).

Both are exceptional outliers. But the consistently higher viral rate for images means your odds of breaking through are significantly better with visual content. It's like the difference between a 2% chance and a 6.4% chance. Neither guarantees anything, but over 50 posts, the higher probability starts to matter a lot.

Why Visual Posts Go Viral More Often

The mechanism is straightforward. Viral posts need to pass through multiple distribution tiers in the algorithm. At each tier, the post needs to generate enough engagement to advance to the next one. Images generate more engagement at each tier (87% more, remember), which means they clear each hurdle more easily.

Think of it as a tournament bracket. Image posts win more first-round matches (initial test audience). More first-round wins mean more second-round appearances. More second-round appearances mean more third-round appearances. By the time you reach the "viral" bracket, images have had more chances to get there.

Pro tip: If you have a post that you think has viral potential (a genuinely surprising data point, a controversial take, an incredible personal story), always pair it with a visual element. Put the key stat in a designed graphic. Add a photo. Create a quick carousel. Don't give a potentially great post only a 2% chance when you could give it a 6.4% chance.

When Text Posts Win

Images dominate on average. But text posts still have clear advantages in specific situations. Blindly converting all your content to image format would be a mistake, because some content types genuinely perform better as pure text.

Hot Takes and Opinions

When you want to take a strong position on something, text often works better than an image. The format signals "this is me talking to you" rather than "here's a polished asset." There's a rawness to text that designed graphics can't replicate.

Hot takes rely on the writer's voice and personality. A text post saying "I think cold email is dead and here's why" hits differently than a designed graphic making the same argument. The text version feels more personal, more immediate, more debatable. The image version feels more... corporate. Like it went through an approval process. That's not the vibe you want for a hot take.

Our data supports this. The ex-LinkedIn employee post about algorithm changes was text-only and generated 2,144 likes with 688 comments. It didn't need a visual. The insider knowledge and provocative claim were enough. Adding a designed graphic would have actually weakened it by making it feel less like a genuine insider leak and more like a marketing asset.

Pro tip: For hot takes and opinion posts, use text format but apply visual structure: short paragraphs, line breaks, numbered lists if appropriate. You can create visual interest within text format without adding an image. The "wall of text" is what kills text post performance, not the text format itself.

Personal Stories

When you're sharing something vulnerable or deeply personal, text creates intimacy that images can't replicate. A founder writing about almost going bankrupt, a career change story, a family moment that changed their perspective on work. These stories work because the reader feels like they're reading a private letter, not viewing a branded content piece.

Personal Development posts in our dataset average 1,222 likes. The highest of any category. Most of these are text-based personal stories.

Adding an image to a deeply personal story can actually hurt it. The design element creates distance. It introduces a layer of polish that undermines the vulnerability. Text puts the reader directly in the writer's head. That intimacy is what drives the massive like counts on personal stories.

The one exception: a genuine photo from the story. If you're telling a story about your startup's early days and you have a real photo from that era (messy office, your team of three, the whiteboard where you mapped out your first idea), that adds to the intimacy rather than detracting from it. Authentic photos enhance personal stories. Designed graphics dilute them.

Quick Insights and One-Liners

Short, punchy text posts (under 500 characters) average 376 likes. That's surprisingly high. Quick insights, relatable observations and one-line takes perform well as text because they're fast to consume and easy to react to.

The "Classic" post in our dataset (essentially just a word and an emoji) got 2,965 likes. "I can retire now" got 2,415. These are text-only, ultra-short and they work because they don't need anything else. The content is the punchline. Adding a visual would be like explaining a joke after you've already delivered it.

Pro tip: The sweet spot for quick-hit text posts is under 280 characters (roughly a tweet's length). Any longer and you lose the punchy, rapid-fire quality that makes these work. Any shorter and there's not enough substance for the algorithm to evaluate. One strong sentence with a clear opinion or relatable observation is the target. "Every founder's first hire should be a therapist" is the right length and tone for this format.

When News Breaks

If you're reacting to an industry development, text wins by default because speed matters. Taking 20 minutes to design a carousel about today's AI announcement means you miss the window. A text post published 30 minutes after the news breaks will outperform a beautifully designed carousel published 4 hours later, because the algorithm boosts timely content and the audience engagement peaks in the first wave of reactions.

Carousels: The Power Format

Within the "image" category, carousels (LinkedIn document posts) deserve their own section because they're in a league of their own.

Industry data shows carousel/document posts generate 596% more engagement than text posts and 11.2x more impressions. Those are staggering numbers. Not "slightly better." Nearly 6x better.

Why carousels work so well:

Multiple engagement touchpoints. Each slide is a chance to hold someone's attention. A 10-slide carousel creates 10 moments where the algorithm sees the user actively engaging with your content. Each swipe is a micro-engagement that the algorithm counts.

The "swipe" mechanic. People who start swiping tend to finish. It's the same psychology behind TikTok scrolling or reading the next page of a book. Once someone invests in the first two slides, they feel compelled to see the rest. Psychologists call this the "sunk cost" effect: having already invested 10 seconds, the viewer doesn't want to "waste" that investment by not seeing how it ends.

Information density. A carousel can deliver the equivalent of a full blog post in a digestible, visual format. Framework breakdowns, step-by-step guides, data comparisons: these all work better as slides than as a wall of text. The format forces you to distill each point to its essence, which makes the content clearer.

Save-worthy content. Carousels get saved and bookmarked at a higher rate than any other format. Saves are a strong algorithmic signal. When someone saves your carousel, LinkedIn interprets it as high-value content. And saved content gets resurfaced to the saver's network through the "Your connection saved this" mechanic, giving you a second wave of distribution.

Best Carousel Formats

Not all carousels are created equal. Here are the structures that consistently perform well:

Step-by-step frameworks (5-10 steps, one per slide): "How I structure a cold email that gets 40% open rates"
Data breakdowns with one stat per slide: "7 LinkedIn stats that will change how you post"
Before/after comparisons: "Your LinkedIn headline before vs. after this framework"
Listicles with visual examples: "10 landing page designs that convert at 5%+"
Quick-reference guides people want to save: "The complete guide to LinkedIn post formatting"
Mini case studies (problem, approach, result): "How we doubled reply rates in 3 weeks"

The optimal length is 8-12 slides. Enough to deliver real value. Not so long that people drop off before the end. We've seen creators post 20-slide carousels that get high engagement on the early slides but significant drop-off after slide 12. The algorithm can detect that drop-off pattern.

Pro tip: Your first and last slides are the most important. The first slide is your hook: it appears in the feed and determines whether someone starts swiping. Make it bold, specific and curiosity-driven. The last slide should contain a CTA (ask a question, invite comments, tease your next post) and a reminder of who you are (your name, what you do). Many carousel viewers swipe all the way through but don't scroll up to check who posted it. The last slide is your billboard.

The Carousel Creation Process (For Non-Designers)

You don't need Figma or Photoshop. Here's the minimum viable carousel process:

Write your content as bullet points first. One main point per slide. 8-10 points total.
Open Canva. Search "LinkedIn carousel" for templates. Pick one that's clean and readable.
One point per slide. Big text. Minimal decoration. Dark background with light text works well.
Export as PDF. Upload to LinkedIn as a document post.
Total time: 20-30 minutes once you've done it a few times.

The "I'm not a designer" excuse doesn't hold up in 2026. Canva and similar tools have made basic carousel creation accessible to anyone. The content matters more than the design. A perfectly designed carousel with generic content will underperform a basic-looking carousel with genuinely useful insights.

Video: The Platform's Bet

Our primary dataset focuses on image and text posts, but video is impossible to ignore in 2026. LinkedIn is pouring resources into video, and that investment creates algorithmic opportunities for creators willing to show their face.

LinkedIn video views grew 36% year-over-year. The platform launched a dedicated vertical video feed, modeled after TikTok and Instagram Reels. LinkedIn is making a significant investment in video content. When a platform invests this heavily in a format, they typically boost that format in the algorithm to justify the investment. Smart creators pay attention to where the platform is investing.

Here's what we know about LinkedIn video performance from industry data and creator reports:

Short-form video (under 2 minutes) is getting preferential treatment in the feed. LinkedIn's vertical video tab surfaces this content to people who might not follow you, similar to a TikTok For You page. This is the only LinkedIn format where you can reliably reach people completely outside your network without going viral.

Talking-head videos where someone shares expertise directly to camera perform well for establishing authority. They create a parasocial connection that text can't replicate. When someone watches you talk about your expertise for 60 seconds, they feel like they know you. That feeling of familiarity makes them significantly more likely to follow, engage with future posts and eventually reach out for business.

Tutorial and how-to videos generate high save rates. Someone showing how to use a tool, do an analysis or build something gets saved for later viewing. These saves are algorithmic gold, and tutorial videos get shared more than almost any other format because people want to be the hero who shares something useful.

Behind-the-scenes content works when you have something genuinely interesting to show. Office tours, product demos, conference moments, team celebrations. The key word is "genuinely interesting." Walking around a generic office saying "this is where the magic happens" is not interesting. Showing the actual whiteboard where you mapped out a strategy that generated $2M in pipeline? That's interesting.

The Video ROI Challenge

The challenge with video: production effort is significantly higher than text or images. A text post takes 10 minutes. A quality video takes hours. The per-post ROI can be lower even if per-view engagement is strong.

Here's the honest math. Let's say you spend 15 minutes writing a text post that gets 200 likes. That's about 13 likes per minute invested. Now you spend 3 hours on a video that gets 500 likes. That's about 2.8 likes per minute invested. The video got more total engagement, but the efficiency was 4.5x worse.

This math changes if:

You batch-produce videos (record 4 in one session)
You repurpose content (turn a podcast clip into a LinkedIn video)
You have a team member who handles editing
Your videos generate leads that text posts don't (the parasocial connection factor)

Pro tip: Video is best used as a complement to your primary format, not a replacement. Post carousels and text 3x/week. Add a video 1x/week or biweekly. This gives you the reach benefits of images/carousels for your core content while building personal connection through periodic video. Don't try to become a full-time video creator on LinkedIn unless you have the production capacity and genuinely enjoy being on camera.

The Vertical Video Opportunity Window

LinkedIn's vertical video feed is still relatively new, which means the competition is thin. Far fewer creators are making vertical video for LinkedIn than for TikTok or Instagram Reels. This creates an opportunity window: early adopters of LinkedIn video are getting disproportionate reach because the platform needs content to fill the new format.

This window won't last forever. As more creators enter the video space on LinkedIn, the competition will increase and the algorithmic boost will normalize. If you're going to try video, now is better than six months from now.

Polls: Just Stop

We've buried polls at the end because that's where they belong. Consider this section less of an analysis and more of a public service announcement.

0.07% engagement rate
25 average likes
23 average comments

For context, the overall average across all formats is 0.50%+ engagement. Polls perform at one-seventh that rate. If polls were a student, they wouldn't just be failing: they'd be failing so badly the teacher would schedule a parent-teacher conference.

LinkedIn probably downranked polls after they were massively overused in 2022-2023. Every other post was "What's your biggest challenge? A) Time B) Budget C) Both D) All of the above." The collective quality of poll content was so low that LinkedIn's algorithm learned to associate the format with low-value engagement.

Polls generate surface-level engagement at best. Someone taps an option and scrolls past. No dwell time. No meaningful interaction. No reason for the algorithm to show it to more people. A poll vote takes less than a second. The algorithm registers that as roughly zero engagement.

If you're posting polls, replace them with a text post asking the same question. You'll get actual written responses instead of a tap. The algorithm will distribute it 7x more effectively. And you'll get richer, more useful feedback from your audience in the process.

Pro tip: If you genuinely want to survey your audience (which is a legitimate need), use LinkedIn's polling feature only for internal research purposes, not as a content strategy. Accept that the post will get minimal reach. Alternatively, just ask the question as a text post: "I'm curious: do most of you struggle more with time or budget? Tell me in the comments." Same question, 7x better distribution, infinitely more useful responses because people explain their reasoning instead of tapping a radio button.

The Graveyard of LinkedIn Features

Polls aren't the first LinkedIn feature to rise and fall. Remember LinkedIn Stories? Launched in 2020, killed in 2021. LinkedIn audio rooms? Launched to compete with Clubhouse, now a ghost town. The platform experiments with features, some stick (newsletters, carousels) and some don't (stories, polls).

The lesson: don't build your content strategy around any single LinkedIn feature, especially new ones. Build it around the fundamentals (great content, right format, consistent posting) and use features as they prove their value over time.

The Decision Framework: Which Format to Use

Picking a format shouldn't be random. It also shouldn't be "whatever performed best last time" or "whatever I saw a viral creator use." Match the format to the content type.

Use Image/Carousel When:

You're sharing a framework or process (step-by-step carousel)
You have data to present (chart, graph, comparison)
You're teaching something with multiple components
You want maximum algorithmic reach
You're building a save-worthy resource
You have a strong visual element (screenshot, before/after, diagram)
You want the highest probability of any individual post performing well

Use Text When:

You're sharing a hot take or strong opinion
You're telling a personal story
You have a quick insight (under 500 chars)
The post is time-sensitive (reacting to news, trends)
Your voice IS the content
You want to build intimacy and authenticity
You're responding to something specific in your industry

Use Video When:

You're demonstrating something visual (tool tutorial, process walkthrough)
You want to build personal connection and authority
You're sharing behind-the-scenes content
You're repurposing longer content (podcast clips, talk excerpts)
You want exposure through LinkedIn's vertical video feed
You have a strong on-camera presence (or want to develop one)

Never Use:

Polls (0.07% engagement, algorithmically dead)
LinkedIn Stories (discontinued, so you literally can't)

Pro tip: When in doubt, default to carousel. It's the format with the highest floor (worst case is still decent) and the highest ceiling (best case is exceptional). If you can't decide between formats for a specific post, carousel is the statistically safest bet.

The Mixed Format Strategy

The best-performing creators in our dataset don't stick to one format. They match format to content type and rotate. This isn't just good strategy: it also keeps their audience from getting format fatigue.

Think about it from a follower's perspective. If every post from a creator is a 10-slide carousel with the same template, it starts to blur together after a few weeks. Mixing formats keeps your content visually fresh in the feed and signals to the algorithm that you're a diverse content creator (which LinkedIn's system tends to favor).

A practical weekly mix for creators who post 3x/week:

Tuesday: Carousel with a professional framework (highest engagement day + highest engagement format = maximum performance)
Wednesday: Text post with a hot take or story (gives your audience something different, builds personal connection)
Thursday: Image with data or an insight graphic (maintains visual engagement while varying the format)

If you're adding video:

Tuesday: Carousel (your heavy hitter)
Wednesday: Short video (60-90 seconds, talking head, one key insight)
Thursday: Text post (opinion or personal story)

If you post 5x/week:

Monday: Text post (observation or industry reaction)
Tuesday: Carousel (main educational content)
Wednesday: Short video (tutorial or behind-the-scenes)
Thursday: Image post (data visualization or framework graphic)
Friday: Text post (personal story or lighter take, since Friday engagement is lower)

This approach gives you the reach benefits of images/carousels while maintaining the authenticity of text posts and the personal connection of video. It also gives you data. After a month, you can compare: which format generated the most engagement for your specific audience?

Pro tip: Keep notes on which format works best for which content type in YOUR niche. The averages in this article are platform-wide, but your audience might differ. Maybe your followers love text-based hot takes more than the average LinkedIn user. Maybe they save your carousels at a higher rate. The only way to know is to test all formats, measure results and adjust. Generic advice gets you to average. Personal data gets you above average.

What the Top Posts Tell Us

The highest-performing posts in our dataset across formats:

Post	Likes	Format	Content Type
Startup funding announcement	11,576	Image	Business milestone
Marketing video announcement	8,106	Text	Industry news
"Classic" with photo	2,965	Image	Relatable humor
"I can retire now"	2,415	Text	Personal milestone
Ex-LinkedIn employee on algorithm	2,144	Text	Insider knowledge

The top image post (11,576 likes) beat the top text post (8,106 likes) by 43%. But both formats can produce massive hits. Format gives you better odds, but content determines the ceiling.

What these posts have in common isn't format. It's emotional impact. Funding announcements create excitement and social proof. Humor creates connection and surprise. Insider knowledge creates a sense of getting something exclusive. The format amplifies the emotion. It doesn't create it.

This is the most important insight in this entire article: format is a multiplier, not a generator. Great content in the wrong format underperforms. But mediocre content in the "right" format still underperforms. You need both: content worth engaging with AND a format that optimizes the algorithm's response to that engagement.

The Emotion-Format Matrix

Here's a practical way to think about the relationship between content emotion and format choice:

Excitement (milestones, wins, announcements): Image works best. The visual element amplifies the excitement and makes it shareable.
Vulnerability (failures, struggles, personal moments): Text works best. The rawness of text matches the emotional tone.
Curiosity (frameworks, data, surprising insights): Carousel works best. The swipe mechanic leverages curiosity across multiple slides.
Humor (relatable observations, industry jokes): Either text or image. Short humor works as text. Visual humor works as image.
Authority (expertise, demonstrations, tutorials): Video works best. Seeing someone demonstrate expertise builds trust faster than reading about it.

Match the emotion to the format. That's the real framework.

The Bottom Line

If you want the highest probability of strong performance: post images and carousels. The data is clear. An 87% engagement rate advantage is too significant to ignore. Default to visual formats and you're already starting every post with better odds.

But don't abandon text. The best personal stories, opinions and quick insights still work better as pure text. And video is a growing channel worth experimenting with, especially while LinkedIn is boosting it to fill their new vertical feed.

The real answer isn't "which format wins." It's "which format wins for this specific piece of content." A framework works best as a carousel. A rant works best as text. A demo works best as video. A poll works best as... actually, a poll doesn't work best as anything. Just skip polls.

The worst strategy is forcing every piece of content into the same format because you read somewhere that carousels get the most engagement. They do, on average. But a forced carousel built around content that should have been a text post will underperform a good text post every time. Nobody wants to swipe through 10 slides of what could have been said in three sentences. That's not a carousel: that's a hostage situation for the reader's thumb.

Match format to content. Let the data guide your defaults. Use your judgment for the exceptions. And when you're genuinely unsure, go with the carousel. The odds are in your favor.

These benchmarks come from ViralBrain's analysis of 10,222 LinkedIn posts across 494 creators. ViralBrain shows you which formats work best for your specific audience, so you can stop guessing and start posting with data behind every decision.