What Content Performs Best on Social Media? - Episode 47

Welcome back to SMM - the newsletter that supports your social media growth, one week at a time.

Today’s topic is all about:

What Type of Content Performs Best on Social Media?

This might be one of the broadest questions we’ve ever tried to answer.

Before I give you a clear direction, it’s important to say this upfront:
any type of content can perform well on social media - if it’s packaged correctly and genuinely engages the viewer.

Social media platforms reward one thing above everything else: attention.
If your content keeps people watching, reading, or interacting, platforms will push it further. It’s that simple.

But that still doesn’t fully answer the question… so let’s break it down properly.

Content Performance Depends on the Platform

Before deciding what type of content works best, you need to decide where you’re posting. Each platform rewards different formats.

• YouTube & Instagram are heavily incentivising high-quality video content.

• TikTok is moving in the same direction, although it still rewards raw and fast content more than polished production (for now).

• LinkedIn is still primarily a text-first platform, but strong video or image content can perform extremely well - even if the caption isn’t perfect.

• Instagram & TikTok carousels (multiple images or videos in one post) are also very effective, especially for education-based content.

• Facebook currently rewards single-image posts more than almost any other format. If the image is engaging and relatable, reach can be huge.

The key takeaway here is this: the same content will not perform the same way on every platform.

So What Type of Content Has the Highest Growth Potential?

This comes down to subject matter.

Broad topics like tech, sport, entertainment, politics, and finance have massive audiences - which means massive growth potential. But they’re also extremely competitive.

More niche subjects have:

• Less competition

• Smaller audiences

• But often higher-quality engagement

Neither approach is “better”. It depends entirely on your goals.

If your ambition is to become a large, well-known creator, broader niches give you a much bigger ceiling. A great example of this is IShowSpeed, who leaned heavily into football content and grew exponentially. If he had focused on something hyper-specific, that level of growth would’ve been almost impossible.

On the flip side, a business selling screwdrivers has no reason to compete in the sports niche. They would benefit far more from dominating a much smaller, highly relevant niche - where attention directly leads to sales.

How Do You Actually Get Content Seen?

Regardless of platform or niche, the structure remains the same:

Hook → Story → Call to Action → Payoff

This framework works across almost every platform when executed correctly.

If you don’t want to create content in this style, the alternative is simple:
find formats that already perform well and adapt them to your niche.

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel - just make it relevant.

Final Thought

There is no single “best” type of content on social media.

The best content is the one that:

• Fits the platform

• Matches your niche

• Grabs attention

• And keeps people engaged

Get those right, and the algorithm will do the rest.

Make sure to subscribe, and remember - “Growth comes faster when your message has a clear audience.”

- Jacob

If you’re interested in growing your social media presence in 2026 - press here