How to Use LinkedIn Carousels to Build Your Audience

If you’ve scrolled your LinkedIn newsfeed lately, chances are you’ve come across a carousel post. Carousels are visually popping PDF documents you can upload to LinkedIn along with the usual text content.

Carousels break the monotony of vertically scrolling through walls of text. They carry more information than you could possibly accommodate in the 3,000-character text-only post. Did you know you can add as many as 300 pages to your carousel document?

Carousels aren’t just pretty to look at. LinkedIn carousel posts achieve higher impressions, so you can reach new audiences with powerful content.

Carousels differentiate your LinkedIn content, attract ideal prospects to your profile, and create a distinct brand image for you on LinkedIn.

6 LinkedIn Carousel Ideas for Freelance Writers

1. Create a Case Study

Case studies show what you do for your clients, how you do it, and the positive impact of your work on your clients’ businesses.

I recently created a case study carousel to share my latest website content revamp project for a client.

A few things to notice and replicate in your case study carousel:

• Design the carousel using your brand’s colors and fonts.
• Add your headshot to the cover slide.
• Include the client’s testimonial.
• Elaborate your process of delivering this service.
• Add a call-to-action and highlight other services you offer the same audience.

Here’s the link to the post.

2. Visualize a Process

Your process shows your prospects what they can expect while working with you and how you approach a project.

In this 24-page carousel, Ben Goodey shares his six-step process for writing SEO blog posts that rank at the top of the search results. Even though the carousel is long, it’s easy to navigate. If you’re going to have a 24-page carousel, ensure individual pages aren’t information-dense.

Notice how Ben’s text caption for the post hooks you in by poking at a pain every SEO writer experiences. Then, in subsequent sentences, Ben elaborates on the pain and what may be causing it.

The solution? That’s in the carousel.

Here’s the link to the post.

3. Show the End Product

You can also use carousels to show the sparkling end result of your sweat. Notice how John Harrison’s carousel highlights the various elements on the landing page copy, which shows how much strategy and expertise went into creating it.

This is an excellent way to draw attention to your services. A prospect looking for a landing page copywriter may look at this carousel and think, “That looks good. I want that.”

Here’s the link to the post.

4. Share Examples

Carousels are a great way to share examples of anything. Not to get meta, but this article here would make a good carousel sharing all the kinds of carousels to create on LinkedIn.

In this carousel, Cassandra Naji shares five prompts she uses to uncover interesting opinions from executives to create thought leadership content. Notice that Cassandra uses her company’s name on the cover page and adds a call-to-action to the last slide with some social proof.

Here’s the link to the post.

5. Share Authoritative POVs

Carousels can help you visually share authoritative how-tos, tutorials, and tips on LinkedIn. In this carousel, Salah D. shares how E-E-A-T and SEO can help content folks drive results.

Notice the flow and structure of the carousel:

• Salah starts by laying down the what — what’s been happening in the SEO space.
• Then comes the how of executing an E-E-A-T strategy.
• The slide titled “So What” summarizes the previous slides.
• The carousel ends with the company’s tagline, “Imagine Better” instead of a hard CTA.

Here’s the link to the post.

6. Share a Bunch of Pictures

When you add multiple images to LinkedIn, it looks cluttered at best and uninteresting at worst. The solution is to add all your pictures to a Canva design and turn them into a PDF.

When I attended the Eras Tour in Singapore, I wanted to share my amazing experience on LinkedIn along with some pictures of the beautiful sights I saw in Singapore. I did this with a simple carousel.

Companies may want to share their events/celebrations pictures on LinkedIn in this way. Feel free to share memes using carousels. Why not?!

Here’s the link to the post.

Bonus Tips for LinkedIn Carousels

• Apply succinct copywriting to your LinkedIn carousels. Make the first slide attention-grabbing. Write an interesting hook in the text. Make sure the design doesn’t interfere with the content but enhances it.
• Don’t repeat what your carousel says in the text post. Add to it. Build the context.
• Follow the basic design principles, such as following a visual hierarchy and adding ample white space.
• Make your carousel document no more than 30 pages long. Convey one idea or process. Avoid tangents.
• Ensure the design (color, pattern, structure) is uniform across all pages.
• You don’t have to create LinkedIn carousels from scratch. If you’ve been posting on LinkedIn for some time, I bet you already have a few text posts that you can easily turn into carousels.
• Your audience can download your carousels directly from LinkedIn. So, treat them like lead magnets that you get to share with your ideal prospects. Enrich them with valuable information that your readers will download and save for later.
• Add a call-to-action or your brand’s tagline when direct CTAs aren’t in your brand.
• Use one design template for all your carousels to make them easy to create. The design stays the same, but the content changes.

 

Here’s a step-by-step on how to design your carousels in Canva.

Well-crafted LinkedIn document carousels can boost your brand awareness, educate your audience, attract your ideal clients, promote your services, and drive leads to your business. Repurpose an old text post into a carousel and post it today!