I create LinkedIn carousels every week, but I still don't think I've hit the ceiling on them.

So I did what my curious brain does with anything I want to get better at. I went deep.

This month, I spent 17 hours reverse-engineering 25 of my favorite carousels, the ones I keep saving because the people behind them know how to make the format work.

Sara Hart. Devin Reed. Amy Watts. A few others that made me stop the scroll.

I wanted to know what they all had in common.

Because if you've ever built one, you know a carousel is SUCH a heavy lift. If you're going to put in the hours, you want to know the juice is worth the squeeze.

Turns out it was. I came out with a system I could actually repeat, and it even led to a brand-sponsored carousel along the way.

A few patterns kept showing up. The one I kept circling back to was pacing.

Pacing is what gets someone to slide eight. The best carousels all ran on a system the reader picked up almost immediately. Once they had the system, they could focus on the idea.

Which is exactly why I wanted to talk to Amy Watts.

Amy's a B2B social strategist whose whole thing is "B2B marketing, but make it fun." She makes around ten carousels a week, all in Canva, for brands like Semrush and Slate. And she's refreshingly honest about her early ones.

She pulled one up. Something like "The five tools I'd use if I could only pick five." It looked fine. It just didn't work.

"What is this actually giving my audience? How many posts about someone's favourite tools have you already seen?"

That's the gap.

Most of us sit down and ask, "What do I want to say?"

A better question is, "What does the person scrolling need from me right now?"

That one question changes the carousel (and your content strategy).

Amy splits content into two buckets. I've started using the same language with clients.

Thin content is broad. Memes, relatable moments, quick takes, light commentary. It reaches a lot of people because almost anyone can see themselves in it. Most of those people will never buy from you.

Thick content is specific. Frameworks, real examples, niche lessons. The questions your buyers keep asking. It reaches fewer people. Those are the people who save it, trust it, and eventually reach out.

You don't have to pick one.

Know what job the post is doing before you make it.

Some posts are there to get seen. Others are there to build trust.

Fifty saves from the right people is a post doing real work.

Here's one of mine.

A client once asked me, "What kind of selfie should I use on LinkedIn?"

I'd never have put that on a content calendar. I spend so much time thinking about LinkedIn that it barely registered as a content idea.

For her, it was a real question.

So I built a carousel around it. What makes a good LinkedIn selfie, what to avoid, and which photos actually work in the feed.

Then I posted a version on my own page.

It became one of my best-performing carousels.

That's happened enough now that I pay attention when someone asks me a question that feels obvious.

Your best content usually isn't sitting in a brainstorm doc.

It's buried in the conversations you're already having.

Client calls. Sales calls. The question you've answered three times this month. The thing you explain so often you've forgotten other people don't know it yet.

That's usually where the carousel is.

After pulling apart those 25 carousels and talking to Amy, these are the five I keep coming back to.

1. Lock the system before you build the slides.

A carousel shouldn't feel like eight separate graphics. Keep the frame, type hierarchy, and rhythm consistent. The design gives the idea somewhere to run. If every slide introduces a new layout, the reader has to learn the interface all over again. That's usually where they leave.

2. Make the cover direct, not mysterious.

The cover has one job: make the promise obvious, fast. Clear beats clever.

Nobody's studying your carousel. They're skimming between meetings, notifications, and the next post. If they have to work out what they're getting, they'll keep scrolling.

3. Give every slide one job.

One idea. One visual anchor.

Most carousels fall apart because every slide is trying to do everything at once. A screenshot. A pull quote. A sticker. A transcript. A reaction bubble.

Leave some room.

White space is doing a job. It tells the reader where to look.

4. Add personality through annotation.

The best carousels have a human layer. Circle the important bit. Add a handwritten note. Point to the thing you want people to notice. Highlight key words.

That's usually enough.

More than that and it starts feeling busy.

5. Teach inside the carousel.

This was Amy's strongest point.

The reader should reach the last slide with the full idea. They shouldn't need to click somewhere else to understand it. Zero-click marketing.

You can still end with a CTA.

Just make sure you've earned it first.

The full conversation with Amy Watts is live on Marketers Do Coffee.

We get into:

👉 Watch the full episode.

Keep those ideas flowing,
Christine

P.S. This is the same system I use with clients at Orchard Strategy.

We start with real conversations. We work out what each piece of content needs to do.

Then we choose the format that gives the idea its best shot at the right kind of attention. The kind that turns into leads.

Sometimes that's a text post. A carousel. Or an infographic.

The format is the easy part.
Thinking is the job.

If your posts get engagement but the right people still aren't reaching out, there's usually a gap between the two.

I'd love to hear what you're working on. Just reply to this email.

Catch Marketers Do Coffee on: YouTube | Spotify | Apple Podcasts

You can learn more about my work at Orchard Strategy.