How to Setup Hootsuite with LinkedIn (2026 Guide)

How to Connect LinkedIn to Hootsuite

Hootsuite supports both LinkedIn personal profiles and LinkedIn Company Pages, making it a flexible tool for managing your professional social media presence. This guide covers connecting both account types, scheduling various post formats, using analytics, and taking advantage of Hootsuite's team collaboration features for LinkedIn.

Personal Profile vs. Company Page

Before connecting, it is important to understand the difference between the two LinkedIn account types in Hootsuite:

• LinkedIn Personal Profile: Your individual LinkedIn account. Posts appear as coming from you personally. Useful for thought leadership, personal branding, and networking.
• LinkedIn Company Page: A business page you administer. Posts appear as coming from your organization. Useful for company updates, job postings, and brand content.

You can connect both types to Hootsuite, and they each count as a separate social account toward your plan limit.

Connecting a LinkedIn Personal Profile

1. Log in to Hootsuite at hootsuite.com.
2. Click your profile icon in the lower-left corner.
3. Select Manage accounts and teams.
4. Click + Add a social network.
5. Select LinkedIn from the available networks.
6. You will be redirected to LinkedIn's authorization page. Sign in with your LinkedIn credentials.
7. Review the permissions and click Allow.
8. Select LinkedIn Profile when prompted to choose the account type.
9. Your personal LinkedIn profile is now connected to Hootsuite.

Connecting a LinkedIn Company Page

1. Follow the same steps as above through step 7.
2. When prompted, select LinkedIn Page instead of Profile.
3. Choose the Company Page you want to connect from the list of pages you administer.
4. Complete the connection.

You must be a Super Admin or Content Admin of the LinkedIn Company Page to connect it to Hootsuite. If your page does not appear in the list, verify your admin role in LinkedIn's Page settings.

Scheduling LinkedIn Posts

Once connected, you can create and schedule posts for LinkedIn through Hootsuite's composer:

1. Click the Create button in the Hootsuite dashboard.
2. Select your LinkedIn profile or Company Page from the account selector.
3. Write your post. LinkedIn supports up to 3,000 characters for standard posts. Use line breaks and formatting to make longer posts readable.
4. Add media if desired (see content types below).
5. Click Schedule for later to select a date and time, or Post now to publish immediately.

Supported Content Types

Text Posts

Standard text posts are fully supported. You can include mentions (@), hashtags (#), and links. LinkedIn tends to favor posts without external links in terms of organic reach, so consider putting links in the first comment instead of the main post body.

Image Posts

You can attach images to your LinkedIn posts through Hootsuite. Single images and multi-image posts are supported. Recommended image sizes are 1200 x 627 pixels for landscape or 1080 x 1080 pixels for square format.

Video Posts

Hootsuite supports uploading native video to LinkedIn. Videos should be in MP4 format and can be up to 10 minutes long for most accounts. LinkedIn native videos tend to get more reach than YouTube links, so uploading directly is recommended when possible.

Document/PDF Posts (Carousels)

LinkedIn's popular document posts (often called carousels) allow you to upload a PDF that users can swipe through in the feed. Hootsuite supports scheduling document/PDF posts to LinkedIn. To create one:

1. Open the Hootsuite composer and select your LinkedIn account.
2. Click the attachment icon and upload a PDF file.
3. Add a title for the document when prompted.
4. Write your post caption and schedule it.

Document posts are an effective format on LinkedIn, often generating high engagement because they encourage users to swipe through multiple pages.

LinkedIn Articles

Hootsuite does not support creating or scheduling LinkedIn Articles (the long-form publishing format native to LinkedIn). Articles must be written and published directly on LinkedIn. You can, however, schedule a regular post that links to a LinkedIn Article you have already published.

LinkedIn Analytics in Hootsuite

Hootsuite provides analytics for your LinkedIn activity, available on paid plans. Metrics include:

• Impressions: How many times your posts appeared in feeds.
• Clicks: Link clicks and content clicks on your posts.
• Engagement rate: Likes, comments, shares, and clicks relative to impressions.
• Follower growth: For Company Pages, track how your follower count changes over time.
• Post performance: Compare individual posts to see what content resonates best.
• Audience demographics: For Company Pages, view follower demographics like industry, company size, job function, and seniority (data provided by LinkedIn's API).

You can build custom reports that combine LinkedIn data with other social networks for a holistic view of your social media performance. For Company Page analytics that go deeper (like visitor demographics and competitor analytics), LinkedIn's native analytics on the platform may offer more detail.

Employee Advocacy

Hootsuite offers employee advocacy features through Hootsuite Amplify, which is available as an add-on or part of Enterprise plans. Amplify allows you to:

• Curate content for employees to share on their personal LinkedIn profiles.
• Send content suggestions to employees through the Amplify mobile app or email.
• Track which content employees share and measure the reach of employee-shared posts.
• Provide pre-written captions so employees can share with a single tap.

Employee advocacy is a powerful strategy on LinkedIn because personal profiles typically get more organic reach than Company Pages. Amplify requires a separate subscription and is generally aimed at larger organizations.

Approval Workflows

For teams managing a LinkedIn Company Page, Hootsuite's approval workflow feature (available on Team and Enterprise plans) lets you set up a review process:

1. A team member creates a post and submits it for approval instead of scheduling directly.
2. The designated approver receives a notification.
3. The approver can approve, reject, or request changes to the post.
4. Once approved, the post can be scheduled or published.

This is useful for maintaining brand consistency and compliance, especially for regulated industries.

Tips for LinkedIn Success with Hootsuite

• Post consistently: LinkedIn rewards regular posting. Use Hootsuite's queue to maintain a steady cadence, aiming for at least 2-3 posts per week for Company Pages.
• Engage after posting: LinkedIn's algorithm favors posts that get early engagement. After a scheduled post goes live, respond to comments promptly. You can do this from Hootsuite's Inbox.
• Use document posts: PDF carousel posts consistently outperform other formats on LinkedIn in terms of engagement. Create visually appealing slide-style PDFs and schedule them through Hootsuite.
• Tag people and companies: Mention relevant people and organizations in your posts to expand reach. You can use @ mentions in the Hootsuite composer.
• Separate personal and company strategies: Use your personal profile for thought leadership and opinions, and the Company Page for organizational news and updates.

Troubleshooting

• Company Page not showing: Ensure you have Super Admin or Content Admin access on the LinkedIn Page. Check your role in the LinkedIn Page's admin settings.
• Posts failing to publish: Reconnect your LinkedIn account in Hootsuite. LinkedIn access tokens can expire, requiring re-authorization.
• Missing analytics: LinkedIn analytics data may take 24-48 hours to appear in Hootsuite. Recent posts may not show complete data immediately.

Plan Requirements

LinkedIn connections are available on Hootsuite's Professional plan and above. Approval workflows require a Team plan. Employee advocacy through Amplify requires an Enterprise plan or a separate Amplify subscription.