LinkedIn Carousels Are Dead. Long Live The LinkedIn Carousel!

Back in June, LinkedIn quietly announced that they’d soon be dropping a number of creator features including native carousel posts, in-image linking, and profile videos. By the end of the year, these types of posts will be dead.

Considering the huge success of carousel posts on LinkedIn over the years, this seemed to be a worrying development for marketers. However, all is not as terrible as it seems…

Skip to the instructions for creating a LinkedIn carousel post →

In their original announcement (emails sent to creators who’d been Beta testing the functionality), LinkedIn said: “We’ve learned that some of our creation tools aren’t facilitating your ability to share all of your amazing experiences and expertise with your community. This includes carousels, profile video, and the ability to embed clickable links within the image or video of your posts. So, starting June 26th, we’ll be removing these tools, though your current posts will still be viewable.”

Now, it has been revealed that LinkedIn intends to remove all carousels and profile videos posted via their tools, as well as deactivating any links embedded in pictures or videos. The removal will begin on 14^th December 2023. Creators on the platform have been given until 11^th December to contact contentsupport@linkedIn.com and request copies of their profile videos and carousel content before they are gone forever.

The decision to kill native LinkedIn carousel posts came as a bit of a surprise to content creators. While profile videos and those clickable link stickers in videos and images never really took off, carousels have been known to generate three times more clicks than other content shared on LinkedIn. That’s massive!

The good news is that we can still post carousels to LinkedIn. While the native function is being removed, the ability to create and share carousel posts on LinkedIn has always been there in another format. In fact, most of us LinkedIn veterans never changed how we did it.

I’m glad you asked. It’s quite simple really; the key thing to remember is that you can’t post a series of images to make a carousel on LinkedIn like you can on other platforms. Instead, you’ll need to use their document upload function to share a PDF file. On LinkedIn posts, PDFs serve as clickable slide shows (or carousels) that catch the eye and encourage engagement.

To create a carousel post for LinkedIn, you’ll need some design ability. While you could do this in Microsoft applications like Word or PowerPoint *shudder*, it probably won’t look great. Instead, you should consider using design software like Canva or Adobe InDesign or hiring a graphic designer to get the job done beautifully.

Assuming you have the software you need to make gorgeous designs, these are the 6 steps to making a carousel post and sharing it on LinkedIn:

1. Choose the image size you prefer*.
2. Design a series of graphics with eye catching colours and graphics that draw attention to your content.
3. Save your attention-grabbing images into a single PDF file, not as PNGs or JPGs.
4. Start writing a post on LinkedIn and click the ‘Add a document’ button.
5. Upload your PDF which will magically become a clickable slide show for viewers.
6. Click ‘post’ and share your awesome content with the world!

A standard LinkedIn post size is 1200px x 1200px. This size works well for a carousel post and is the natural choice for many. However, if you want to repurpose your content for other social channels with minimal effort, you might want to go with 1080px x 1080px instead.

1080px x 1080px is the standard size for an Instagram grid post but it looks just as good on a LinkedIn carousel. This size also works beautifully on Facebook. To use the same design across LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram all you’ll need to do is save one version as a PDF (for LinkedIn) and then save each ‘slide’ as individual PNG or JPG images. Now you have content for sharing on three social channels without any additional design work. Nice!

It can be hard to know where to begin with social media marketing, even for established brands. With so many channels out there, it’s too easy to spend time (and money) in the wrong places. If you need support with building a  social media strategy that aligns with your business goals, writing posts that target your ideal customers, or creating shareable content that generates engagement, we’re here to help.

Whether you know exactly what support you’re looking for or need guidance on the best options for marketing your business, get in touch. You can send a message to holly@trythisagency.com, or call us on 0330 127 0485. We love to chat!