How to Connect LinkedIn to Other Apps

Connecting your LinkedIn account to other applications is one of the fastest ways to automate your professional workflow and free up your time for more important tasks. This isn't just about scheduling posts, it's about creating a seamless flow of information between the platforms where you work, communicate, and build your brand. This guide will walk you through the most effective methods for connecting LinkedIn, from simple native integrations to powerful automation tools that can handle tedious tasks for you.

Why Connect LinkedIn to Other Apps?

Before jumping into the how-to, it’s helpful to understand the benefits. Linking your LinkedIn account with other software isn’t just a tech trick, it’s a strategic move to boost efficiency and consistency. The right integrations can completely transform how you manage your professional presence online.

• Save a Ton of Time: The most obvious benefit is automation. Instead of manually copying information, sharing updates on multiple platforms one by one, or exporting lead lists, you can set connections to do it for you automatically.
• Keep Your Content Consistent: Managing multiple social platforms can feel like a game of whack-a-mole. Connecting them through a central tool helps you maintain a consistent brand voice, posting schedule, and visual identity across the board.
• Streamline Lead Generation: For B2B businesses, LinkedIn is a goldmine for leads. By connecting LinkedIn’s Lead Gen Forms to your CRM or an email marketing tool, you can instantly follow up with new prospects without lifting a finger. No more manually downloading CSV files.
• Consolidate Your Analytics: Instead of logging into five different platforms to see what’s working, you can pull all your analytics into a single dashboard. This gives you a clear, big-picture view of your social media performance and simplifies your reporting process.
• Enhance Your Professional Network: Some integrations can help you sync contacts from your email or calendar directly to LinkedIn, making it easier to connect with people you’ve recently met or collaborated with.

Method 1: Using LinkedIn’s Native Integrations

The simplest way to start connecting apps is by using the integrations LinkedIn has already built. These are direct, "official" connections that you can manage right from your account settings. While not as extensive as third-party options, they cover some useful basics.

You can find and manage these by navigating to your LinkedIn profile.

1. Click on the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage, then select Settings &, Privacy from the dropdown.
2. On the left-hand menu, click on Data Privacy.
3. Scroll down and find the Other applications section. Here you will see Permitted services.

This page will show you every application you have ever granted access to your LinkedIn account. It’s a good idea to review this list periodically and remove any services you no longer use. Common native connections you might see here include:

• Email Clients and Calendars: Connecting apps like Outlook or Google Calendar can sync your contacts and appointments, helping you stay organized.
• Login Services: You may have used your LinkedIn credentials to sign up for other websites or services. This is where those permissions are stored.
• Corporate Tools: Some companies use internal programs that integrate with LinkedIn for sharing company news or managing professional development.

While useful for basic tasks and security checks, native integrations are limited. To unlock true automation and cross-platform management, you’ll want to look at third-party tools.

Method 2: Leveraging Third-Party Social Media Management Tools

Social media management platforms are the control centers for serious creators, marketers, and brands. These tools allow you to connect multiple social accounts - including your LinkedIn Profile and Company Page - to a single dashboard. From there, you can schedule content, engage with your audience, and analyze performance all in one place.

This is where the real power lies because you're not just connecting one app to LinkedIn, you're connecting LinkedIn to your entire social media ecosystem. That means you can create a piece of content once and schedule it for publication across LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, and even TikTok simultaneously.

How to Connect LinkedIn via a Management Tool

The process is generally straightforward and similar across most modern platforms:

1. Sign Up for a Platform: Choose a social media management tool that fits your needs. Look for one that supports all the platforms you're active on, especially video-first formats like Shorts and Reels, as many older tools are still catching up in this area.
2. Find the "Connect Accounts" Section: Once you've created an account, look for a section in your dashboard often labeled "Social Accounts," "Profiles," or "Connect a New Account."
3. Select LinkedIn: Click the option to add a new account and choose LinkedIn from the list of social networks.
4. Authorize the Connection: A LinkedIn pop-up window will appear asking you to sign in (if you aren't already) and grant permission for the tool to access your account. You can typically choose to connect either your Personal Profile or a Company Page you manage. Always review the permissions dialogue to see what access you are granting. A good tool will only ask for the necessary permissions to publish posts, read comments, and gather analytics.
5. Repeat for Other Platforms: Follow the same process to connect all of your other social accounts, like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, etc.

Once connected, you can schedule a post and choose to publish it to your LinkedIn Page, your Facebook Page, and your Instagram account all at the same time, even customizing the caption for each network from a single editor. This immediately solves one of the biggest time-drains of social media: the endless cycle of logging in and out of different apps.

Method 3: Advanced Automation with Zapier or IFTTT

If you want to create truly customized workflows between LinkedIn and almost any other app imaginable, it’s time to look at automation platforms like Zapier or IFTTT ("If This, Then That"). These are integrator tools that act as a bridge between thousands of different web apps, allowing them to talk to each other without you needing to write a single line of code.

These services operate on a simple but powerful principle:

• The Trigger: An event that happens in one app (e.g., "A new post is published on my company blog").
• The Action: An event that automatically happens in another app as a result (e.g., "Create a new post on my LinkedIn Company Page with the blog title and link").

Example Workflows You Can Build

Here are a few practical examples of automations (often called "Zaps" in Zapier) you could set up to save yourself hours of manual work:

1. Automatically Share Your New Blog Posts to LinkedIn

• Trigger: New Item in RSS Feed (from your blog).
• Action: Create Share Update on LinkedIn.
• What it does: Every time you publish a new article on your WordPress, Squarespace, or any other blog platform, this workflow automatically grabs the title, an excerpt, and the link, then crafts and publishes a post to your LinkedIn Profile or Company Page. You can even customize the message that goes with it.

2. Send LinkedIn Lead Gen Form Submissions to a Google Sheet

• Trigger: New Lead Gen Form Response on LinkedIn Ads.
• Action: Create Spreadsheet Row in Google Sheets.
• What it does: This is a game-changer for marketers. Instead of manually downloading your leads from LinkedIn campaigns, this automation instantly adds every new lead to a Google Sheet as a new row. You can take it a step further by adding a second action to notify your sales team in Slack or send the lead a personalized email.

3. Post Job Openings from an HR System to Your LinkedIn Page

• Trigger: New Job Published in an ATS (like Greenhouse or Lever).
• Action: Create Company Update on LinkedIn.
• What it does: When your HR team posts a new job opening in your company's official careers portal, this integration automatically shares it on your LinkedIn Company Page, making sure your professional network is the first to know.

Getting started with platforms like Zapier involves the same basic steps: create an account, connect your apps (by granting permission, just like with social media management tools), and then build your trigger-action recipes. It opens up a world of possibilities beyond just social media posting.

Best Practices for Connecting Apps

Connecting apps can feel like granting superpowers to your workflow, but it’s wise to follow a few ground rules to keep things secure and effective.

• Review Permissions Carefully: Before you click "Allow," always read what an app is requesting access to. Does it really need to access your direct messages, or just publish posts for you? Only grant the minimum permissions necessary.
• Start Small: Don't try to automate everything on day one. Pick one or two pain points - like sharing blog posts or saving leads - and set up simple automations for them. Once you're comfortable, you can build more complex workflows.
• Maintain Authenticity: Automation is for efficiency, not robotics. This is especially true on a platform like LinkedIn, which values genuine connection. Always customize your automated posts to fit the platform's professional tone. A post formatted for X may look lazy and unprofessional on LinkedIn. Good management tools allow you to tweak content for each platform before scheduling.
• Monitor and Audit Your Connections: Every few months, go back to your LinkedIn settings and your automation tool dashboards. Disconnect any services you no longer use. Check that your automations are still running correctly and are still relevant to your goals.

Final Thoughts

Mastering how to connect LinkedIn to other apps transforms it from a standalone networking site into an integrated part of your digital toolkit. Whether you're using basic native connections, a powerful social media management platform, or custom automation recipes, the goal is to create a seamless system that saves you time and amplifies your efforts.

Finding the right tools can make all the difference, which is why we built Postbase. After years of struggling with platforms that were clunky, unreliable, and stuck in the past, we created a tool designed for how social media actually works today. Connecting your LinkedIn account alongside your other platforms is a simple process, and because we prioritize reliability, you can trust that your accounts will stay connected and your posts will always publish exactly when you schedule them.