In this article, find out what types of LinkedIn channels you can connect, how to make sure you have the right access, and how to connect the channel to Social Media Management.
Note: The features mentioned in this article are only available to Social Media Management users with a user role of Team Leader or Admin.
What types of LinkedIn channels can I connect?
It’s possible to connect public LinkedIn Company Pages, Showcase Pages, and personal profiles to Social Media Management.
Note: Currently, LinkedIn personal profiles can be connected only to create posts for the profile using Publish. LinkedIn personal profiles are not supported for any other SMM features, such as viewing messages in Engage or viewing analytics in Measure.
What access do I need on LinkedIn?
To connect a LinkedIn personal profile
To connect a LinkedIn personal profile to Social Media Management, you will need to connect the channel using your personal profile username and password.
When you follow the LinkedIn channel connection flow, you will be asked to provide your personal LinkedIn credentials. Once authenticated, your personal profile will then appear as a channel for you to connect to Social Media Management.
To connect a LinkedIn Company Page
To connect a LinkedIn Company Page to Social Media Management, you will need to have Super admin permissions on the page through your personal LinkedIn profile.
When you’re connecting the LinkedIn channel to Social Media Management, you will be asked to provide your personal LinkedIn profile credentials. Next, LinkedIn will determine which channels you have Super admin access to. These channels will then appear as options for you to connect to Social Media Management.
To verify that you have Super admin permission, please follow the steps below:
Log into LinkedIn using your personal LinkedIn profile credentials.
Visit the applicable LinkedIn channel. (For quick access, click your profile image in the top right. Your page should be listed under the Manage heading).
On the top left, beside the Page’s image and name, look for Super admin view.
On the right, click Admin tools > Manage admins.
Your personal profile should be displayed with the role: Super admin.
Note: Not seeing Super admin view? Please contact any other Super Admin on the LinkedIn page and ask them to adjust your permissions.
Connecting your LinkedIn channel to Social Media Management
Once you have followed the steps above to verify that you have Super admin access to your LinkedIn page, you can connect it to Social Media Management by following the steps below.
Note: If you need to reconnect a LinkedIn channel, follow the steps in our Reconnecting Channels article.
In Social Media Management's left-hand navigation sidebar, click the Manage settings (gear) icon and select Channel admin.
Click Connect channel in the top right.
Select LinkedIn, then click Continue.
You can either connect your own LinkedIn account, or invite another user without Brandwatch access to connect their channel. To proceed with connecting your own Facebook account, click Connect to LinkedIn.
When the LinkedIn login popup appears, enter your LinkedIn personal account credentials followed by Sign In.
Within the tab, Available to connect/reconnect, check the box beside any channels you would like to connect (check off multiple boxes to connect channels in bulk). Click Connect Channel(s).
Specify the level of access you would like to grant to the channel. You can choose between Admins only, Specific teams, or All teams. Then, click Finish.
Tip: Please visit our Managing Teams article for instructions on setting up a team in your organization.
When complete, you will see a confirmation indicator that your changes will be saved and SMM will refresh.
After, your channel will be available in your channels list with a Connected status.
Inviting another user to connect their channel
During the channel connection prompt, select Invite another user to connect if you would like to invite another user without Brandwatch access to authenticate their owned account with Brandwatch.
This option will generate a link you can share with the user to authenticate their account with Brandwatch.
Stay on the connection screen when you share the link with the user. The link will expire within one hour. After the user has successfully authenticated their account and sees the “Connection” message, click Done on your view of the connection screen to finalize the process.
LinkedIn 365 day disconnect policy
Please be aware that your LinkedIn page will disconnect from Social Media Management every 365 days. This is a requirement of LinkedIn's API. To help keep the page connected, you'll get an email each time the page disconnects.
To reconnect your channels, please follow the steps outlined in our Reconnecting Channels article.
If you need further assistance with channel disconnections, please contact our Customer Support team.
FAQs and troubleshooting
I received an error during the connection process.
If you have received an error at any stage of the connection process, please check out our System Requirements to make sure your system is compatible. Please also consider reaching out to our Support team for help diagnosing the issue.
I’ve connected my channel but I can’t see it in Social Media Management.
If you have switched your view in Social Media Management to Team View, the channel may not appear (if it’s not included in your chosen team). Please either switch to Admin View or select the correct Team View. If you’re in Admin View, or in the correct team already, please contact the Support team.