Types of Popular Memes Comparing: A Guide to Engaging Social Media Content

Content is the cornerstone of any robust social media strategy. It serves as the initial handshake and lasting impression for brands navigating the digital landscape. A deep understanding of the most impactful content formats across diverse platforms is not just beneficial—it’s essential for forging genuine engagement and fostering meaningful connections with your audience. Knowing which content resonates where ensures that every post contributes to a cohesive and effective social media presence.

This article dives into the realm of social media content, spotlighting the formats that marketers find most effective in today’s dynamic digital environment. While various content types vie for attention, we’ll particularly explore the engaging power of memes, especially those that leverage comparison to create relatable and shareable moments. Understanding the nuanced types of popular memes comparing trends will equip you to inject humor and relatability into your social media strategy, ensuring your brand stays relevant and captivating.

Unveiling the Most Engaging Social Media Content in 2023

In the ever-evolving world of social media, staying ahead requires constant adaptation. Platforms morph, features are updated, and algorithms refine their processes, making it challenging to pinpoint consistently effective strategies. To navigate this complexity, resources like The 2023 Content Benchmarks Report are invaluable. These reports analyze vast datasets—in this case, data from 729,000 public social profiles in 2022—to discern trends that highlight which content formats are most likely to captivate audiences and drive meaningful interaction with brands.

By examining these trends, we can identify the content types that not only grab attention but also encourage engagement and build stronger connections between brands and their followers. Let’s explore the hierarchy of engaging content formats, recognizing the rising prominence of visual and dynamic content while also acknowledging the enduring appeal of formats like memes and text-based communication.

1. Short-Form Video

Short-form videos have surged to the forefront of social media content, largely because of their ability to convey information rapidly and succinctly. In a digital age where attention spans are fleeting, the under-one-minute format is perfectly designed for shareability and immediate consumption. This brevity caters to today’s on-the-go audiences who seek quick, impactful, and easily digestible content.

In a world saturated with information, short-form videos cut through the noise by delivering instant gratification. They provide entertainment and key messages in a format that respects the viewer’s time, making them incredibly effective for social media engagement.

The Social Magnetism of Short-Form Video

Approximately 66% of consumers identify short-form videos as the most engaging content type on social media, demonstrating their widespread appeal. Contrary to the misconception that high production value is essential, successful short-form videos often thrive on authenticity and relatability rather than expensive equipment or elaborate editing.

Research indicates that short-form videos are 2.5 times more engaging than their long-form counterparts. This engagement isn’t necessarily driven by high-gloss production, but more often by humor and relatability. The 2025 Sprout Social Index™ underscores this, revealing that consumers highly value authenticity from brands on social media. Short-form video excels at delivering this authenticity in a snackable format.

Moreover, the versatility of short-form video makes it suitable for a wide array of social media post ideas. From quick product demos and service explanations to influencer collaborations and behind-the-scenes content, the possibilities are virtually limitless.

Optimal Platforms for Short-Form Video

The dominance of platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts is a testament to the effectiveness of short-form video. These platforms are built to support and promote this content type, offering a plethora of free tools for creation.

Both TikTok and Instagram provide users with intuitive tools to record, edit, and enhance short videos with soundtracks, filters, and effects, aligning with current social media trends. Furthermore, these platforms offer native advertising options to amplify content reach.

Despite being a relatively recent addition from YouTube, YouTube Shorts have rapidly gained traction, boasting 15 billion global daily views, illustrating the format’s explosive growth and broad appeal.

Short-Form Video in Action: Last Crumb’s Strategy

Last Crumb, a luxury cookie company based in LA, exemplifies effective short-form video marketing. Their distinctive sassy and seductive brand voice resonates strongly with their target audience.

Last Crumb leverages short-form videos across TikTok and Instagram to generate cookie cravings through:

Holiday-Themed Content: Aligning their cookie promotions with popular holiday celebrations, Last Crumb taps into timely trends and conversations, encouraging content sharing and broader audience reach.
Influencer Taste Tests: Collaborating with influencers for cookie unboxing and taste-test videos. This strategy leverages influencer trust and reach to tap into new audience segments through credible “reviews.”
“Destruction Collection” Demos: Creating entertaining “demo” videos where they playfully destroy their cookies to showcase texture and deliciousness, maintaining viewer engagement and interest.
Sandwich Collection Recipes: Sharing recipes for luxury ice cream sandwiches using their cookies, fostering customer engagement by providing added value and encouraging repeat purchases.

2. Images

Images remain a powerhouse in social media content, ranking as the second most valuable type among popular formats. They are also among the most frequently shared content types of social media across all networks.

The immediacy of images is their strength. Colors, composition, text overlays, and overall visual details deliver instant brand impressions. In a scroll-heavy environment, a compelling image can stop users in their tracks and communicate brand essence in seconds.

The Visual Allure of Images on Social Media

Approximately 61% of consumers find images to be the most engaging type of in-feed social content. The preference for visual content over text-heavy posts is clear – a picture truly can be worth a thousand words in capturing immediate attention.

The ubiquity of high-definition smartphone cameras and user-friendly, free editing tools has democratized visual content creation. Social media marketers can now produce high-quality images for their content strategies without needing extensive resources or specialized teams.

Best Platforms for Image-Centric Content

Instagram and Pinterest are naturally suited to image-based content. These platforms offer unique features like filters, effects, and editing tools that enhance visual appeal and user engagement.

Instagram, originally built as an image-sharing platform, remains heavily visual. Despite platform evolution, 87% of content on Instagram is still image-based, highlighting the enduring power of visuals.

Pinterest thrives as a platform for inspiration and discovery. Remarkably, 97% of searches are unbranded, creating a fertile ground for brand discovery and purchase consideration.

Both platforms also offer social commerce capabilities, allowing for product tagging and turning static images into directly shoppable content.

Image Post Mastery: Williams Sonoma’s Approach

Williams Sonoma, renowned for kitchenware, home furnishings, and gourmet foods, effectively uses vibrant imagery to maintain a strong, reputable brand identity and “shoppable” presence across social media.

Pinterest Trend Utilization: Leveraging trending themes to create visually appealing Pins and carousels of colorful dishes and recipes. These images attract their target audience, driving clicks and website traffic.
Instagram Shopping Integration: Enhancing the shopping experience on Instagram with product tags and captivating visuals, enabling seamless purchases directly from image posts.
Cross-Platform Organic Engagement: Using compelling captions and clear CTAs to their blog or online store across platforms, maximizing the impact of image content and guiding users through the purchasing journey.

3. Live Video

The ongoing digital transformation has reshaped how businesses approach real-time customer engagement. Live video emerged as a standout medium during the 2020 pandemic, with viewership soaring to 152.5 million, a 20.4% increase from 2019.

The Real-Time Connection of Live Video

Approximately 37% of consumers find live video to be the most engaging type of social media content. It provides a platform for businesses and creators to host interactive conversations, webinars, Q&A sessions, and virtual events. Unlike static text or image posts, live videos encourage immediate, real-time audience interaction.

The synchronous nature of live viewing fosters a sense of community and shared experience. Furthermore, repurposing livestream video content extends its value. Livestreams can be segmented into short clips or transcribed into text snippets for broader content distribution.

Prime Platforms for Live Video Broadcasts

While many platforms support live video, Facebook Live, Instagram Live, YouTube Live, and LinkedIn Live are particularly effective.

YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn Live experienced significant growth during the pandemic. YouTube and Facebook Live served as entertainment hubs, while LinkedIn Live became a vital tool for professional networking and communication. LinkedIn live videos, on average, achieve 7x more reactions than standard native videos.

Statista data indicates that 43% of US social media users aged 18-34 watched Instagram Live in 2021, partly due to the platform’s prominent placement of live content at the forefront of Instagram Stories, enhancing discoverability.

BuzzFeed’s Live Video Engagement Strategy

BuzzFeed, a prominent news and entertainment company known for viral content, effectively uses live video through its BuzzFeed Video branch to bring blog content to life.

From testing viral TikTok products to exploring home decor and easy meal preps, BuzzFeed Video engages a broad audience interested in pop culture. They leverage Facebook Live to extend their blog content and actively participate in social conversations. By tapping into viral trends and directly addressing audience interests, they maintain real-time relevance and serve as an engaging source of information that encourages repeat viewership.

4. GIFs/Memes

GIFs and memes are a unique form of social media content, particularly favored by younger demographics. They excel at conveying complex emotions and relatable experiences that words alone often fail to capture. Memes inject humor and cultural relevance into brand communication, making brands more approachable and understandable.

These content types ensure messages are not only received but also felt, helping brands connect with their audience through shared laughter and everyday relatability. They are particularly effective at comparing relatable situations or contrasting expectations with reality in a humorous way.

The Viral Power of GIFs and Memes

Beyond being easily shareable and enjoyable, GIFs and memes achieve a level of personalization through relatability. This is crucial, as 71% of consumers expect personalized experiences from brands.

When content feels personalized, the immediate response is often to interact and share it. This is how memes achieve virality—by tapping into widely shared feelings and experiences and often by comparing common scenarios. GIFs offer similar benefits but with added dynamism due to animation, making them excellent for initiating conversations and leaving lasting impressions beyond static text or images.

Platforms Optimized for GIFs and Memes

Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are ideal for meme sharing. For GIFs, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are particularly well-suited. While Instagram supports GIFs, they are typically converted to short video formats upon upload.

Memes are engagement drivers. Instagram users share over one million memes daily, and a study by Social Media Today demonstrated a 12% increase in website traffic from meme posting on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn over a month.

Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn offer integrated features for GIF sharing. Twitter and LinkedIn simplify the process with a dedicated “GIF” icon, while Facebook’s boomerang feature allows users to create their own looping GIFs. These features make sharing and using memes and GIFs seamless and encourage their integration into content strategies.

Types of Popular Memes Comparing:

Memes often utilize comparison to generate humor and relatability. Here are a few popular formats that inherently involve comparison:

Drake/Hotline Bling Meme: This meme format typically features two panels. In the top panel, Drake looks displeased or dismissive towards something, while in the bottom panel, he looks pleased or approving of something else. It’s used to compare and contrast preferences or choices, often highlighting a smarter or more desirable option over a less favorable one.
Distracted Boyfriend Meme: This meme shows a boyfriend walking with his girlfriend but turning his head to look at another woman walking by, much to his girlfriend’s dismay. It’s used to compare and satirize situations where someone is tempted away from their current commitment or focus by something new or more appealing.
Two Buttons Meme: This meme presents a character with two buttons, each leading to a different and often undesirable outcome. It humorously compares two difficult choices or dilemmas, often highlighting the absurdity of the situation where neither option is good.
Expanding Brain Meme: This meme illustrates levels of intellectual understanding or enlightenment. It starts with a small brain making a simple statement and progresses through increasingly larger brains making more complex or “woke” statements. It’s used to compare different levels of thinking or awareness about a topic, often satirically.

These meme formats, and many others, rely on the comedic effect of comparison to resonate with audiences, making them highly effective for social media engagement.

ProWritingAid’s Meme-Centric Connection

ProWritingAid, an AI writing assistant software, effectively uses memes to connect with its audience of writers. Their Instagram profile is filled with engaging memes tailored to writers’ experiences.

They use memes to illustrate common writer struggles, such as outlining books or facing writer’s block, and to deliver encouraging messages. This relatable content builds a strong community by addressing audience pain points with humor and understanding. By comparing the often-frustrating realities of writing with humorous outcomes, they create a bond with their users.

5. Text-Based Posts

While visual content dominates social media, the power of words should not be underestimated. Approximately 32% of consumers still find text-based posts to be highly engaging. Written content, when crafted thoughtfully, remains a vital tool for communication and connection.

Developing a distinct brand tone and voice that complements visual identity is crucial for written content to stand out in the crowded social media landscape. Consistent, creative, and brand-aligned text posts can be incredibly effective.

The Enduring Relevance of Text Posts

Recent reports indicate a shift from overly polished content to a preference for relatability. Text posts are the most direct way to showcase brand voice and build authentic connections. While short-form video and images are powerful, text-based content excels at initiating conversations and fostering deeper engagement.

Text posts are particularly valuable for starting dialogues, soliciting feedback, and understanding customer perspectives. They provide a space for nuanced communication that can be challenging to achieve with purely visual formats.

McDonald’s Text-Based Engagement Strategy

McDonald’s, a global fast-food giant, uses text posts on Twitter to communicate with fans in a relatable, casual, and humorous tone, humanizing the brand. They use text posts to define brand values and initiate conversations through:

Question-Based Engagement: Asking questions and encouraging participation in trending topics to spark interaction.
Feedback Solicitation: Using Tweets to gather and respond to community feedback directly.
Active Response Strategy: Engaging with nearly every response they receive, fostering a sense of community and dialogue.
Cross-Platform Promotion: Repurposing successful Tweets across other social platforms using graphic elements to extend their reach.

McDonald’s examples highlight how text-based content can build community, foster engagement, and create a perception of approachability and trust.

6. User-Generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) is created by fans and consumers and then repurposed by brands. It serves as social proof and authentic testimonials. UGC leverages the community aspect of social media, making customers feel valued and part of the brand narrative.

UGC showcases real-life applications of products or services, increasing consumer trust and willingness to try them. It’s a powerful form of content that taps into the credibility of peer recommendations.

The Trust Factor of User-Generated Content

UGC is the most trusted form of social media content. Consumers value seeing genuine customer experiences, considering them more authentic than brand-created advertising.

Approximately 39% of consumers appreciate seeing testimonials and customer demos from brands they follow, as this content is perceived as authentic and relatable. Relatability and authenticity are consistently ranked as top traits consumers seek from brands, as highlighted in recent Index data.

UGC also offers cost-effective marketing. When users create content featuring products, their followers are more likely to engage and potentially create their own content, creating a ripple effect of organic reach. Despite its effectiveness, over 93% of marketers underutilize UGC, indicating significant untapped potential.

UGC-Friendly Platforms

Instagram and TikTok are the primary platforms for sourcing UGC, particularly due to their visual and short-form video focus. Video UGC is especially effective for product showcases, making these platforms ideal. In 2023, 79% of marketers plan to increase investment in video, leveraging authentic UGC, according to the SOUGC report.

L’Oreal Paris USA’s UGC Campaign on TikTok

L’Oreal Paris USA effectively used UGC on TikTok with a contest encouraging users to create 15-second videos featuring their telescopic lift mascara for a chance to win $25,000.

This campaign generated a vast amount of UGC, significantly boosting brand awareness and virality for the mascara, leading to increased sales. It also provided L’Oreal with a library of product demos for future marketing campaigns.

7. Long-Form Video

Long-form video serves a distinct purpose in social media content – providing in-depth educational and informative content. While short-form videos excel in grabbing attention, long-form videos cater to audiences seeking deeper engagement and detailed information. They are essential for building authority and trust through comprehensive content.

The Value of Depth in Long-Form Video

Long-form videos are excellent for nurturing audience relationships and demonstrating expertise. Approximately 24% of consumers find long-form video content to be the most engaging type on social media, indicating a significant audience segment that values detailed content.

They are particularly effective for educational topics. 93% of viewers use YouTube for educational purposes, spending considerable time per session—averaging 29 minutes and 36 seconds per visit as of March 2021.

Best Platforms for Long-Form Video Content

YouTube and Facebook are the leading platforms for long-form video. YouTube is inherently designed for videos of all lengths, optimized for discovery and extended viewing times.

Notably, long-form video is also emerging on platforms like Threads and TikTok, as highlighted in The 2024 Social Media Content Strategy Report, indicating its growing versatility across platforms.

TED’s Long-Form Video Engagement

TED Talks, known for discussing world-moving ideas, utilize long-form video to present “Ideas Worth Spreading.” Speakers share innovative research and insights, aiming to inspire and provoke thought.

TED’s long-form video content has become a global phenomenon due to its engaging storytelling. Each TED Talk is rich in knowledge, incorporating rhetorical questions, pauses, and humor to captivate listeners. YouTube provides the perfect platform for TED Talks to connect with audiences through education and entertainment.

8. Audio

Social audio focuses on voice-based communication, moving beyond text comments and emojis. Podcasts are the quintessential format for social audio, allowing for in-depth discussions and personal connections through voice.

The Conversational Appeal of Audio Content

Approximately 32% of people in the US listen to podcasts while driving, making it a convenient way to learn and pass time. Audio content provides information without requiring constant screen engagement.

Podcasts often feature genuine conversations and personalities, fostering a strong listener connection. While planning is essential, the authentic delivery and quality content drive audience loyalty and repeat listens.

Platforms for Audio Content Distribution

Podcasts are primarily found on platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts. However, they can be repurposed for social media platforms to broaden reach.

TikTok and YouTube are increasingly accommodating podcasts, supporting long audio recordings alongside visual elements. Adding a static image or filming podcast recordings allows for visual content creation alongside audio distribution.

HerFirst100k’s Audio Content Strategy

HerFirst100k, focused on women’s financial education and community building, uses their podcast, The Financial Feminist, to align with their mission. They repurpose podcast content on social media to enhance visibility:

TikTok Teaser Videos: Creating short, engaging teaser videos to promote their podcast and attract new subscribers.
YouTube Repurposing: Using YouTube to address key audience questions and expand podcast reach beyond traditional audio platforms, tapping into YouTube’s search engine visibility. HerFirst100k’s YouTube channel exemplifies this strategy.

9. URL/Links to Other Content

URLs and links are crucial for driving traffic to websites and external content. They provide a direct pathway for social media audiences to explore deeper information and extend their brand interaction.

Links in social media posts offer immediate access to relevant content, bypassing character limits and platform constraints. They are essential for directing users to detailed product information, blog posts, or e-commerce pages.

Driving Traffic with URLs

Including website links in social media posts is a direct method to increase website traffic. Promoting new products or services with links to checkout or pricing pages streamlines the purchase process and boosts sales conversion.

Links reduce friction in the user journey, facilitating seamless transitions from social media engagement to website interactions and transactions.

Platforms for URL Sharing

LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook are ideal platforms for sharing URLs. These platforms simplify link integration within posts.

Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter enhance link visibility by displaying thumbnail images in posts. Pinterest allows for customized thumbnails, titles, and descriptions, further optimizing link presentation.

Sprout Social’s URL Content Strategy

Sprout Social strategically uses different platforms to amplify the reach of their website content, tailoring content format to platform preferences. They meet their audience where they are and in the format they prefer. Examples of URL content strategies from Sprout Social include:

Sharing blog posts on LinkedIn for professional audiences.
Using Twitter to link to quick insights and data reports.
Creating visually rich Pins on Pinterest that link to guides and templates.

Discovering Your Ideal Social Media Content Mix

The diverse range of social media content types offers numerous avenues for expressing brand voice and building meaningful audience connections. While best practices provide a solid foundation, understanding your unique audience and brand is key to optimizing content strategy.

Experimentation is essential to discover what content resonates most effectively with your specific audience. Leveraging a mix of content types, including the engaging power of memes and comparative formats, will create a dynamic and impactful social media presence.

To identify the optimal content mix for your brand, consider utilizing resources like the social media content mix quiz to gain personalized insights. Once your ideal content mix is defined, mastering social media content creation management across networks will streamline your content strategy and maximize its effectiveness.