What Type of Content Works Best On Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn?

At its core, social media is about being social with other users. But for businesses, posting strategically and effectively means understanding that one post can’t do the same job across Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Each platform has different audiences, different algorithms, and different definitions of what makes for good content. When you treat one post the same across platforms, you’re almost guaranteed to get average results back. The question is how to treat the platforms differently without letting social media content creation consume your life.

Why Do I Have to Post Different Content on Every Platform?

Every social media platform runs on an algorithm. Those algorithms are constantly deciding what to show audiences in their feed and burying posts that it doesn’t like.

Those decisions aren’t random. The platforms reward content that users respond to the most, and every platform prioritizes different signals and audiences. A funny Reel that does well with Facebook audiences may get ignored by the more work-focused audience on LinkedIn.

While creating a single piece of content and publishing it everywhere may feel efficient, the reality is that it’s working against you on the platforms where that content doesn’t belong.

Figuring out how to efficiently focus your energy comes down to one question: Who are you trying to reach?

How Do You Identify and Find Your Target Audience on Social Media?

To decide which platform(s) you should prioritize for your business, you need to consider who you’re trying to reach with your messaging. Your platform choice should ultimately follow the audience, not the other way around.

Think about your ideal customer:

• What is their age and gender?
• What’s their occupation?
• What does their daily life look like, broadly?
• What problem(s) does your business solve for them?
• How are they finding your brand?

The answers to those questions can help clearly point you toward the social media platforms they’re using, and where your content can best reach them.

Your industry also matters. A landscaping company and a healthcare company may both have social media accounts that thrive, but there’s a good chance their content and strategy are different and include different platforms.

Choosing where to spend your time and energy posting is about making sure you show up in front of the right audience with the right message consistently.

Now that you’ve got a good grasp of who your audience is, the next step is to understand what kind of content works on each platform you want to post on.

What Content Works Best on Each Platform?

What Content Works Best on Facebook?

A little more than 70% of users are primarily on Facebook to connect with friends and family, which means that when your business appears, it lives in a personal, trust-driven feed that other social media platforms can’t replicate. That makes Facebook a powerful tool for local businesses.

The catch here is that organic reach for businesses on Facebook is notoriously low, with between 1-2% of followers seeing a page’s content on average. That means your Facebook content needs to work hard to build engagement.

Successful Facebook posts start conversations, are highly relatable to everyday people, and spark emotional reactions that get people to stop scrolling. Posts that feature a business’s team being relatable are more likely to outperform content about sales and products. Facebook rewards content that garners comments, shares, and reactions, so it’s crucial to focus on engaging content, not promotional messages.

What Content Works Best on Instagram?

Instagram has always been a visual-first platform, which is why it should come as no surprise that Reels are the most effective type of content to help businesses reach new audiences.

Users spend more than half of their total time each day viewing Reels. To put that into perspective, people are viewing almost 139 million Reels each minute.

As a business, that means Reels are your best friend. The good news is that they don’t need to be perfect and highly polished. In fact, they shouldn’t be.

The content that tends to stop people from scrolling should feel authentic and unique to your brand. It should be your people, in your spaces, doing your work, and telling your story. Instagram also generally has a younger audience who like to discover new things. That’s great for businesses, because your Reels can create an opening to introduce your brand to people who have never heard of you before.

What Content Works Best on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn isn’t the right platform for every business.

But for brands that work in professional services, financial services, healthcare, and B2B sales, it’s the perfect place to build credibility.

Content that resonates most on LinkedIn for brands focuses more directly on your team, processes, wins, and company culture. A look behind the scenes at a problem your business solved or a shoutout to a colleague for an achievement reminds your audience that there are real people behind your logo. On LinkedIn, your content could help you reach other businesses or prospective employees. The stories those people care about most should dictate your content strategy.

How Do You Get Someone To Stop Scrolling?

People scroll through hundreds of posts each day. Getting them to stop, even for a second, requires authentic, eye-catching content.

“Authenticity is the biggest driver in stopping the scroll, and it’s not something you can fake,” says Krystal Vivian, the director of client services at Federated Digital Solutions. “People can spot stock photos and stock videos a mile away.”

That recognition happens in an instant, and they keep scrolling past.

A better approach is to use content that’s specific to your brand. Photos of work in progress or your team interacting. Videos of your employees having fun, or showing how things work behind the scenes. That kind of content builds trust by creating familiarity, and familiarity builds trust.

You also want to make sure your content sparks an emotional reaction in the first 3 seconds when someone sees it, especially in a video, photo, or graphic. Surprise, curiosity, nostalgia, and hope are some of the most powerful emotions that get people to stop scrolling.

In fact, 78% of consumers say they’re more willing to buy from a business after they’ve had a positive experience with them on social media. Businesses know that word of mouth has always been powerful marketing. Now it lives on social media.

Who Should Be Creating Content For Your Social Media?

It should be clear that managing your social media accounts isn’t a task to be casually handed off. People who post for a brand need to understand platform algorithms, be able to write for different audiences, identify what content will perform, and have the experience to plan and execute the strategy.

“Social management, to me, is two main things: expertise and your time,” says Shannon Allen, Chief Revenue Officer at Federated Digital Solutions. “Both matter.”

That rules out a few common shortcuts businesses make. Handing your accounts off to the youngest person simply because they use Instagram isn’t a strategy. Personal and professional social media management are completely different skill sets.

The same goes for well-meaning relatives or friends with no real-world marketing experience. Your brand’s social media presence is the first impression that many people have of your business, and first impressions are hard to undo.

Trusting your social media management to someone with experience means you get the time back to spend on the parts of your business where your expertise makes a meaningful impact.

Social media management at Federated Digital Solutions covers Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram, or any combination that makes sense for your business. Our team will plan, design, and write content that is specific to your audience and industry.

A crucial part of working with FDS is our Media Day, where we send a team to your location to capture original photos and videos of your business, your people, and the work you do. In a single visit, you have enough brand-specific content to fuel months of posts.

Reach out to FDS today, and we’ll help you figure out which platforms make sense for your business and what a social media strategy built around your goals and audience could look like.

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