Publish Document Posts on LinkedIn with SocialPilot

Introduction

Since 26 June 2023, LinkedIn has discontinued the functionality to create image and video carousel posts. So now, the only type of carousel posts users can share on LinkedIn are documents or PDF carousel posts, as they are popularly known. And these document carousel posts are very popular on LinkedIn and bring high levels of engagement to the page.

Can Users Publish PDF Carousel Posts on LinkedIn Using Socialpilot?

Yes, absolutely. Along with many other LinkedIn features, SocialPilot enables its users to share documents as carousel posts on the platform. You can create a carousel post directly from the SocialPilot platform by uploading the document from your local device or from cloud storage on Google Drive, Dropbox, or Box. Adding a caption, hashtags, and other LinkedIn post customizations are also provided by SocialPilot.

You can also create carousel posts from multiple images with SocialPilot. All you have to do is upload the images, and the tool will combine them and convert them into a PDF document, which will then be published as a carousel post.

You can then take the following actions:

Save the post as a draft,
Publish it,
Save it to your content library
Schedule it to be posted at a later date and time.

You can schedule one PDF carousel post for multiple LinkedIn pages at the same time with SocialPilot’s advanced scheduling features.

Here are the specifications you have to keep in mind while creating your document carousel post on SocialPilot:

Document formats supported: PPT, PPTX, DOC, DOCX, PDF
Document title character limit: 58 characters
Maximum file size: 100 MB or 300 pages
Only one file is supported for a single LinkedIn post

These criteria have to be met for your LinkedIn document posts, otherwise, the post will not be accepted on the platform.

📋 Note: Users cannot upload documents that are password-protected.

Now, let's look at the process of creating and scheduling a PDF carousel post for LinkedIn using SocialPilot.

In this article, we will go through the process of creating both types of possible carousel posts for LinkedIn: A Document Carousel and A multi-image Document Carousel.

How Do I Schedule a LinkedIn Document Carousel Post?

Follow these steps to easily publish a document post on LinkedIn:

Open the SocialPilot dashboard and go to the ‘Create Post’ section.
Switch to the ‘LinkedIn’ tab from the ‘Original Draft’ tab.
Navigate to the ‘Add Media’ button on the bottom-left of the dashboard and select the source from which you want to upload your content from. This can be your local storage, Google Drive, Dropbox or Box. This is an important step because the document post type is supported only for LinkedIn.
Now, select the document you want to post from your device and upload it. Once that is done, you will be able to see the doc thumbnail below the description window, along with the original title of the file.
The thumbnail that you see is automatically generated by SocialPilot. But you can change or edit the document title through the field beside the doc thumbnail. Remember to keep the title within 58 characters.
Now, you can add a caption to your post if you want from the description field given for it. There are several other LinkedIn post customizations that you can apply. You can tag LinkedIn pages, add hashtags and emojis, and select from specific audience segments to target. You can also add the first comment for your LinkedIn post.
If you want to delete the document you have uploaded, simply click on the ‘X’ sign on the right side of the thumbnail. To replace the document in case you have uploaded the wrong document, just upload another document from the ‘Add Media’ button, and the first document will be replaced with the second one.
If you want to check the document, you can hover over the thumbnail to see the page count or click on it to see a horizontal scroll view of the whole document.
A pop-up will open up to show a scrollable expanded view of the the carousel document.
You can also see the document in a carousel format as it will appear on LinkedIn through the post preview pane on the right side of the screen.
Now, to schedule your post, select the LinkedIn accounts on which you want to publish your carousel post. After that, click on the dropdown beside the ‘Add To Queue’ button to access the different scheduling options. The options available are ‘Add To Queue,’ ‘Share Now,’ ‘Share Next,’ ‘Schedule Post,’ and ‘Repeat Post.’ You can use any of these options to have your post published on your desired date and time. To learn more about each of these scheduling options, click here.

This way, your document will be scheduled as a carousel post and published to the LinkedIn accounts you selected.

You can create and save a LinkedIn document post in the Content Library as well. All you have to do is:

a. Navigate to ‘Content’ in the left menu bar on the dashboard and select ‘Library.’

b. Click on ‘Add New Content’ and select ‘Add Post.’

c. Add the necessary name and tag to the post, as required for any Library content.

d. Now create the post following the above-listed steps and save it to the Library.

📋 Note: Remember always to switch the tab from ‘Original Draft’ to ‘LinkedIn.’ Without this step, you will not be able to create a LinkedIn PDF carousel post. This applies whether you are creating the post using the post-composer feature or the Content Library.

How to Create a LinkedIn Carousel Post with Images

Users can also create LinkedIn carousel posts out of images, even if these images are not in a PDF format. All you need to do is upload the images, and SocialPilot will combine them into a PDF document and publish it as a carousel post on the platform.

LinkedIn does not allow users to create image carousel posts natively, but you can easily do so using SocialPilot as a document carousel post with images.

Album Posts vs Carousel Posts

Two types of image posts can be created using SocialPilot- album posts and document carousel posts with images.

Album (Image) Posts	Carousel Posts
A normal image post can contain from 1 to 9 images.	Carousel posts can contain from 2 to 30 images or a PDF document.
The post will be published as a single image or album post with multiple images.	The post will be published in the form of a PDF carousel document.

LinkedIn carousel posts made of images can also be saved to the Content Library from the content queues under Manage Posts.

The maximum size of an image allowed by LinkedIn to be published on the platforms is 6024 pixels. So every image you add to the carousel post should be within that limitation.

Now, let's see how to create a LinkedIn carousel post from combined images with SocialPilot:

Go to Create Post and switch to the LinkedIn tab.
Add the media files from any available including Google Drive, Dropbox, local storage or from the external media source within SocialPilot.
When you upload more than one image, a toggle appears, which is by default on Image Post. Move the toggle switch to Carousel PDF. Doing so will allow you to add up to 30 images at a time.
Now, add the title to the carousel post in the Document Title field, which must be under 58 characters. The post will not be published without this title.
You can edit every individual image and change their order according to you. The first image in line will become the thumbnail of the post.
Add the caption to your post in the description field, along with emojis, custom fields, UTM parameters, and hashtags. You can also use audience targeting options and add the first comment in the given field.
You can switch to the Post Preview tab to LinkedIn to see exactly how the document carousel post will appear on the platform. Inside the preview frame, if you click on the fullscreen icon, your carousel document post will open up in a full-screen preview.
Select the LinkedIn accounts you want to schedule the post for and choose the scheduling option. Note that it might take a while for the post to be successfully queued if the number of images or their size is large.
Remember, if the PDF carousel post exceeds the size of 100 MB, then the post will go into error.
You can edit every separate image in the carousel post after it is scheduled until before it is actually published on LinkedIn.

📋 Note: Even if you have set up a brand watermark for your LinkedIn accounts, the images in the document carousel post will not have the watermark on them. Only the normal image posts will bear these watermarks.

When the document carousel post made of images is published on LinkedIn, it is converted into a PDF document. Hence, if you go to the carousel post in the Delivered Posts, you will not be able to see separate images. You will find a single document carousel post with images in it.

Manage LinkedIn Document Carousel Posts

You can distinguish between carousel posts created by uploading a document or multiple images from other posts in the tabs of the ‘Manage Post’ sections and in the LinkedIn analytics report, where data on each post is shown and indicated by the distinct document logo beside it.

Like any other post, you can edit, reschedule, duplicate, or reshare document posts for LinkedIn from the ‘Manage Posts’ section and the content calendar. You can also save them to the Content Library, from where you can schedule them as per your requirements.

LinkedIn Document Posts Analytics

The analytics for LinkedIn document posts are reflected in the LinkedIn analytics section along with other posts. In the ‘Post/Update Analytics’ section, you can see the likes, comments, and exact publishing date and time of the post.

Know more about how to create customized LinkedIn posts with SocialPilot.