This is definitely going to be a problem for a lot of brands. Looking at this through a historical lens of when other platforms have made this big of changes, there are a few thoughts that come to mind:

1. They may have a new feature that will make this kind of content easier but have to remove this one first in order to launch that. – If this is the case, you may not have to pivot as much for long.
2. Despite the data that carousel posts perform significantly better, LinkedIn may believe carousel posts hinder the goals and specific style they have for LinkedIn. – If this is the case, there is a good chance they will adjust the algorithm to boost more text-based content in order to compensate for this change. 

Either way, I recommend keeping stakeholders in the loop of these changes and the impact they may have on results until it is clear the direction LinkedIn is going and the content their algorithm decides to push.

Hope that helps!

Hi Katy,

As the carousels worked inconsistently across devices, we tended to avoid them. Here are a couple of work arounds that might help you out:

• GIF-based link cards 
• PDFs, with a link where necessary in the post copy area

The easiest way of creating the first option is to make your graphics wherever you would normally. We tend to use Photoshop. Add each graphic to a PowerPoint slide. Stretch it to fill all white space (it helps to leave some space bottom/left of your graphics, when brining them into a standard 16:9 size PowerPoint). Export as a GIF. PowerPoint should prompt you with two options: How much time the user should see each slide for; How big / high resolution the animation should be. 
 

Then when you write your LinkedIn copy and pop a link in and the link card is generated, click the edit button on the card and upload your GIF. Usually works pretty well with good results. One tip is to ensure the file size of any creative you use for the GIF isn’t too big (in Photoshop the Export To function, then picking PNG or optimised JPG, should work well).

The PDF option works in a similar way but without the call to action (link) embedded within the card where the user can read the PDF. The benefit of this one though is that the user can control the scrolling between slides/pages/graphics and you can include way more content (but like a long video, don’t expect the majority of users to stay engaged for that long).

Hope that helps and good luck!

Does anyone else have a hack like this that works well for you or your organisation? I’d love to know!

Chris 

Personally, I don’t see this as a big issue. From my understanding, PDF carousels are unaffected and this is what I’ve always used to ensure the sleek appearance (on our company accounts multiple images appear as cut-outs). So while it is an extra step of work, it’s not like we’re saying goodbye to carousels forever. 

Update: According to LinkedIn they will also be removing the ‘Upload a PDF’ option for carousels eff. 12/14. 

I confirmed with Riskonnect’s Organic Social LinkedIn rep yesterday via email (Nov. 15th).

Many users have said to me ‘don’t worry - you can still upload carousels via a PDF’ but that’s disappearing too.

PS: I redacted email address/full name of the LinkedIn Rep to protect her data privacy.
But if you have further questions, add to this thread and I’d be glad to ask her your questions to get answers from LinkedIn.

That’s very unfortunate! We just started using the Pdf uploads ay my company. I’ve really liked those.  It was a great way to convey large amounts of information.