LinkedIn carousels are an effective way to share engaging visual content with your network. Carousels allow you to showcase multiple images, videos, PDFs, and more in a scrollable post. Creating carousels on LinkedIn can help boost engagement, increase clicks, and drive more traffic to your website or landing pages.
While LinkedIn has its own carousel creation tool, you can also use Canva to design visually appealing carousels to share on LinkedIn. Canva is a user-friendly graphic design platform that makes it simple to create stunning graphics and visual content.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk through the complete process of creating a LinkedIn carousel using Canva in just a few easy steps.
Benefits of Using LinkedIn Carousels
Before jumping into the how-to, let’s first look at why you should be using LinkedIn carousels in your LinkedIn marketing strategy:
– Increased engagement – Carousels stand out in the LinkedIn feed and grab attention. This leads to more likes, comments, clicks, and shares compared to regular static posts.
– Convey more information – With a carousel, you can use multiple slides to tell a story and go into more detail about your products, services, content, etc.
– Showcase visuals – Carousels allow you to display eye-catching images, infographics, videos, and other visual content that looks great in the LinkedIn feed.
– Flexible CTAs – You can include different calls-to-action in each slide, driving traffic to landing pages, blog posts, downloads, and more.
– Mobile-friendly – Carousels work great on mobile and adapt seamlessly to smaller screens. This is crucial since most LinkedIn users access the platform on mobile.
– Track performance – LinkedIn provides analytics on carousel posts so you can see total impressions, engagement rate, and clicks per slide.
Now let’s look at how to create optimized carousel posts using Canva that leverage these benefits.
Step 1: Sign Up for a Canva Account
If you don’t already have one, the first step is to sign up for a free Canva account at www.canva.com.
The free account gives you access to all of Canva’s design tools and features needed to create beautiful, professional-level carousel graphics. Canva also offers paid Pro and Enterprise plans with additional features, but a free account is sufficient for most use cases.
Once you’ve created your account, log into Canva and you’ll be taken to the homepage dashboard where you can start designing.
Step 2: Select the LinkedIn Carousel Template
Canva makes carousel creation easy by providing predefined templates specifically sized and optimized for LinkedIn.
On Canva’s homepage:
1. Click the “Create a design” button.
2. Search for “LinkedIn” in the search bar.
3. Select the template called “LinkedIn Carousel”.
This will open up Canva’s easy drag-and-drop carousel editor so you can start customizing your design.
Step 3: Add Your Images
The carousel template will have multiple image placeholders labeled “Slide 1”, “Slide 2”, etc.
To add images to each slide:
1. Click the upload button on a slide placeholder.
2. Select “Upload” then choose an image from your computer to upload.
3. Drag the corners of the image to resize and position it.
4. Repeat for all slide placeholders.
Make sure your images are high-quality and visually engaging. Images with bright colors and people work well to capture attention.
You can upload screenshots, photos, illustrations, logos, infographics, and any other graphics that help tell your story or convey useful information to your audience.
Step 4: Customize the Text
Each slide in the template contains text placeholders for headlines, subtitles, body text, and call-to-action buttons.
To edit the text:
1. Click directly on a text box and start typing to replace the placeholder copy.
2. Use the formatting options to change font styles, colors, sizes, etc.
3. For the main title, use a short, eye-catching headline that summarizes the key message.
4. The subtitle can provide supporting details and context.
5. Use the body text to share longer form content, stories, or descriptions.
6. The CTA button should have a strong call to action like “Learn more”, “Sign up”, “Download” etc.
Make sure to keep text short, punchy, and consistent across slides. Use high contrast colors for text legibility.
Step 5: Add Additional Design Elements (Optional)
Once your images and text are added, you can further design your slides using Canva’s editing tools:
– **Backgrounds** – Add color or pattern background overlays.
– **Shapes** – Include lines, shapes, dividers.
– **Icons** – Enhance your message with icons.
– **Illustrations** – Canva has a huge library of stylish illustrations.
– **Branding** – Insert your logo, brand colors, fonts.
– **Animation** – Make parts of your design move or transform.
Use these sparingly to keep the focus on your core messaging. Try to maintain a clean, uncluttered look.
Step 6: Arrange the Slide Order
Determine the optimal sequence for your carousel slides. Arrange them in a logical flow that tells a cohesive story and guides the viewer through each step.
To rearrange slides:
1. On the left, click and drag slide thumbnails into the desired order.
2. Use the preview at the top to see how the full carousel appears.
Order your best slide first to make a strong first impression. Put your CTA or most important content last to leave viewers with a call to action.
Step 7: Preview on Mobile
Since LinkedIn is used heavily on mobile, it’s important to preview how your carousel looks on smaller screens:
1. Click the “Mobile” toggle in the top toolbar.
2. View the responsive mobile layout and make any edits needed for legibility and design.
3. Make text and buttons large enough to be visible and add spacing between elements.
Optimizing for mobile will allow your carousel to look great when viewed in the LinkedIn mobile app.
Step 8: Download and Share
When your carousel design is complete, export it from Canva:
1. Click the “Download” button.
2. Select PNG or JPG image format.
3. Choose an image size optimized for LinkedIn. 1200 x 628 pixels is recommended.
4. Download your carousel image file.
You’re now ready to upload the carousel image directly into a new LinkedIn post. The LinkedIn algorithm will automatically detect and convert it into a swipeable carousel post.
Best Practices for LinkedIn Carousels
Follow these best practices when designing your Canva carousels to maximize views, engagement, and clicks:
– Keep your message simple with a clear call-to-action.
– Use eye-catching visuals like photos, videos, infographics.
– Limit carousels to 2-5 slides; don’t overload viewers.
– Ensure text and buttons are large enough to read on mobile.
– Use vibrant contrasting colors for images and text.
– Include your brand elements like logo and color scheme.
– Promote your carousel post with hashtags and mentions.
– Analyze performance data in LinkedIn Analytics to optimize.
– Experiment with different content types like links, PDFs, doc embeds.
Conclusion
Creating LinkedIn carousels using Canva is an easy way to design engaging multimedia content. With eye-catching templates and powerful design tools, you can quickly customize professional carousels that showcase your brand story and drive clicks.
Use this guide to start designing high-converting carousels that captivate your LinkedIn audience. Just remember best practices like optimizing for mobile, using quality visuals, and experimenting with different content types.
With Canva’s user-friendly interface and premade LinkedIn templates, anyone can create beautiful carousel posts that boost reach and engagement on LinkedIn.