10 Best Practices for Creating LinkedIn Carousels That Get Engagement

LinkedIn carousels have become the go-to format for creators who want to share valuable content in a digestible, engaging way. With carousel posts achieving 1.6x more reach and a 24.42% engagement rate (compared to just 6.67% for text posts), mastering this format is crucial. Here are 10 best practices to help your carousels perform better.

1. Start With a Hook That Stops the Scroll

Your first slide is everything. It needs to grab attention in the crowded LinkedIn feed. Use a bold statement, an intriguing question, or a surprising statistic. Make people curious enough to swipe.

2. Keep One Main Idea Per Slide

Don’t overwhelm your readers. Each slide should communicate a single, clear point. If you find yourself cramming too much onto one slide, it’s time to split it up.

Think of each slide as a billboard—you only have seconds to get your message across.

3. Use Visual Hierarchy

Large headlines draw the eye first, followed by supporting text. Use font sizes, weights, and colors strategically to guide readers through your content in the right order.

The hierarchy should be:

1. Main headline (largest, boldest)
2. Supporting points (medium size)
3. Details and context (smaller, lighter)

4. Design for Mobile First

Most LinkedIn users scroll on their phones. Make sure your text is large enough to read on a small screen, and leave plenty of white space around elements.

5. Be Consistent With Your Branding

Use consistent colors, fonts, and styling across all your carousels. This builds brand recognition and makes your content instantly identifiable in the feed.

Your audience should be able to spot your carousel before they even see your name.

6. Number Your Slides (Sometimes)

For list-based content, numbering slides (1/10, 2/10, etc.) creates curiosity and encourages people to swipe through to see all points. It also sets expectations for how much content is coming.

7. Use High-Quality Visuals

If you include images, diagrams, or code snippets, make sure they’re crisp and clear. Blurry or pixelated images signal low-effort content.

Format matters: Vertical carousels outperform square formats by 20% and horizontal by 35%. The optimal carousel length is 12-13 slides with 25-50 words per slide.

For code specifically:

• Use syntax highlighting
• Choose readable font sizes (16-18px minimum)
• Highlight the important lines
• Remove unnecessary boilerplate

8. Write a Compelling Post Caption

Your carousel doesn’t exist in isolation. The caption should complement your slides, provide context, and encourage engagement with a question or call to action.

Caption structure that works:

1. Hook that mirrors the first slide
2. Brief context or story
3. What readers will learn
4. Question to encourage comments

9. End With a Clear Call-to-Action

What should people do after viewing your carousel? Follow you? Comment their thoughts? Visit a link? Make it explicit on your last slide.

Effective CTAs:

• “Follow for more tips like this”
• “Comment ’🚀’ if you found this helpful”
• “Save this for later”
• “Share with someone who needs to see this”

10. Post at the Right Time

LinkedIn engagement peaks during specific windows based on 2025 data analysis of over 1 million posts. While testing for your specific audience is important, these times consistently show the highest engagement:

Best times to post (based on 2025 data):

• Tuesday: 6–8 AM ⭐ (Best overall day)
• Wednesday: 9 AM ⭐ (Best overall day)
• Thursday: 2 PM (Afternoon peak)
• Monday: 11 AM
• Friday: 8 PM (End-of-week check-ins)

Avoid: Weekends typically see 40-60% lower engagement as LinkedIn is viewed as a professional platform.

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Quick Recap

1. Hook them with slide one
2. One idea per slide
3. Clear visual hierarchy
4. Mobile-first design
5. Consistent branding
6. Number your slides
7. High-quality visuals
8. Compelling captions
9. Clear CTAs
10. Optimal timing

Now go create something amazing!