Repurpose your Instagram content in 4 easy steps to really boost your LinkedIn feed
Simon and Rach messing around with shadow puppets to illustrate the point (somehow!) of repurposing creative content onInstagram to boost your LinkedIn feed
Repurpose creative Instagram content to boost your LinkedIn feed
As a website design studio in South Devon, designing unique branding for creatively-inclined businesses across Devon and the UK, we understand how important it is to stand out from others in a crowded marketplace.
Compared with social media channels such as Instagram or Snapchat, LinkedIn can feel pretty pared back and bland.
However, this presents an opportunity for your brand to stand out from others without requiring huge investment or resources.
The inspiration behind this is Dan Kelsall, a copywriter and marketer on LinkedIn, who started using the slide feature to showcase his provocative, tongue-in-cheek content.
It may not be your thing, but Dan gets engagement because he stands out visually, and the LinkedIn slide feature helps with that.
So let’s dive into this how-to article on using Instagram visuals and its tools to help your LinkedIn content standout head and shoulders above the rest in your connections’ feeds.
This is part of our series in which we explore the power and impact of branding for businesses.
Contents
How can Instagram content help on LinkedIn in a nutshell?
How does repurposing content work in overview?
How does getting content from Instagram to LinkedIn work step by step?
Create and post your story or stories in your Instagram account
Download the selected stories using a web app
Convert and combine the files into a PDF, using Adobe Acrobat Pro (or similar)
Create a LinkedIn post with the PDF, using the document feature (on desktop)
Some examples
How can Instagram content help on LinkedIn in a nutshell?
By utilising Instagram stories and the LinkedIn post feature that displays PDFs as slides, you can create an attractive presentation with images and styled text.
The reader does not need to click to open anything, just swipe left (on mobile), so does not disrupt their feed experience and makes for a really natural way to view your content.
This goes way beyond the current native functionality of LinkedIn and will set you apart from others with not too much effort.
Remit of these pointers for your content
This post will explain how you can utilise the free, in-built features of Instagram and repurpose them in LinkedIn to give you a visual edge when set against others in your network.
It will also show you how you can setup a sandbox account in Instagram and use that as a private production area for your content on LinkedIn.
It assumes that you are conversant with Instagram and can find your way around it.
What you need to repurpose Instagram content
You will need to be on a mobile phone to generate Instagram stories
You need to use a desktop/laptop to download Instagram stories and convert them into PDF
You need to use LinkedIn desktop to post PDFs to your feed
How does repurposing content work in overview?
Create and post your story or stories in your Instagram account
Download the selected stories using a web app of your choice
Convert and combine the files into a PDF, using Adobe Acrobat Pro (or similar)
Create a LinkedIn post with the PDF, using the document feature (on desktop)
How does getting content from Instagram to LinkedIn work step by step?
a. Create and post your story or stories in your Instagram account
Things to watch out for:
There is a wide variety of formats and styles you can use; consider how you can be consistent and use the options to reinforce your brand
By tapping on the left edge of your phone screen you can scroll backwards through existing story posts
If you use Instagram for your official business account already and don’t want to mess up your stories with experiments and random material designed for LinkedIn, you have options
You can create a fresh account, set it as private and use it to generate posts specifically for LinkedIn
b. Download the selected stories using your chosen web app
Navigate to Google and find a suitable app for downloading Instagram Stories
Enter the Instagram account name where requested (as an aside, you can so this for private accounts, which is an interesting loophole)
Pull up the list of stories and choose which ones you want to download
The website will download them as JPG files to your computer
Things to watch out for:
Important: you can only use this method for images, NOT video
This means that if you post a video as a story, it will not work
It also means that any animated stickers (called GIFs), will stop it working
Watch out for viruses and malware when using public apps on the internet!
c. Convert and combine the files into a PDF, using Adobe Acrobat Pro (or similar)
Now that you have the downloaded image files, import them into Adobe Acrobat Pro or a similar piece of software
Convert them into PDF and then combine them into one single PDF file
At this stage you can move pages around into the order you prefer
Save the file to your computer somewhere accessible
Things to watch out for:
You will need the paid-for version of Adobe Acrobat, i.e., Adobe Acrobat Pro, not the free Adobe Reader
You may be able to find a free online app that can do the job
Ensure that all the pages of your combined PDF are consistent - mismatched sizes will cause problems when uploading the PDF to LinkedIn
If you have problems, run the Print Production tool (instructions here - for Mac, but works fine for PC)
d. Create a LinkedIn post with the PDF, using the document feature (on desktop)
On LinkedIn desktop, at the top of the page click ‘Start a post’ or click the document icon to its right
Choose your PDF file and upload it
Ensure to add a title for the presentation and write the body of your post as normal, following best practice for engaging your network
Double check everything and when you are happy, click ‘Post’
Things to watch out for:
Posting a presentation doesn’t mean you can ignore the copy you add to the body of your post
You need to ensure you at least write a good first line and intro paragraph to maximise engagement and reach with your network
Tagging relevant people and writing good copy ensures that the LinkedIn algorithm will credit you for your quality, relevant content
Ensure it can crawl your content - it’s a similar scenario to words embedded in an image; no good for SEO on Google
Some examples
Check out a few posts from Simon’s LinkedIn feed below or explore our our branding services for businesses across Devon and the UK.
