LinkedIn video content generates five times the engagement as image or text-based content and currently live video on LinkedIn generates over 24x more engagement, with people-focused posts getting the highest level of interest. If you aren’t already utilising video content in your content strategy, what’s stopping you?
In this article we share several ways that you can start to implement video into your marketing activity.
There are three key ways you can use video content on LinkedIn:
- LinkedIn video ads
- LinkedIn native video
- Embedded video posts
LinkedIn video ads
LinkedIn video ads are paid advertisements that run on LinkedIn and can be targeted to your key market audience. This type of paid-for content can be used to increase your brand awareness and allows you to combine with a multitude of features, such as LinkedIn’s pre-filled forms for lead generation, a hyperlink to a webpage to help drive traffic or a document download to share research or sales materials with prospects.
How to create the perfect video ad:
- Keep it short – LinkedIn suggests that the most successful video ads are less than 15 seconds long
- Use captions and subtitles – 80% of videos on LinkedIn are viewed with the sound off, so subtitles enable the user to understand the content without affecting their experience
- Optimise your video for mobile – LinkedIn recently shared that 57% of their video content is consumed on mobile, so perhaps look at different content sizes, such as portrait visuals, to have maximum impact
LinkedIn native video
This is the most widely used way to share video on LinkedIn, with both businesses or individuals having the capability to upload and post videos on their profiles. This way of sharing video is free, quick and can generate engagement quickly.
Here is the best way to formulate a native video post:
- Like video ads, keep it short – anything more than three minutes is now considered ‘long form’ content. According to LinkedIn research, videos of one minute or less perform best
- Keep your captions clear and concise – any content that you accompany with your video should be simple and kept brief. The more content you include, the more engagement you take away from your video.
- Select a thumbnail and title – when uploading your video you will have the option to pick a thumbnail image which will appear in your post and a title for the content. It is important that you include both of these features as not only will it ensure your content looks professional, it will also make you discoverable when people are searching for content
- Be approachable – although LinkedIn is a professional platform, it doesn’t mean you can’t showcase personality through your content. People do business with people so try not to be overly corporate and showcase your team that you are working with naturally
Embedded video posts
An embedded video is one that you have republished from another platform, such as YouTube or Facebook, into your post. Although it is an easy way for people to share video content, it isn’t the most effective. If possible, it is always best for businesses or individuals to share native video, which is created from you uploading and sharing content into a post, rather than just sharing a link from another site.
LinkedIn’s algorithm strongly prefers native video and marketers will see the effects of this on their post engagement rates. Also, the type of content you would usually share on a platform like YouTube, which is normally long form video, is completely different to the video you would share on LinkedIn, so it’s not best practice to take a ‘share to all’ approach when it comes to video.
LinkedIn Live
LinkedIn is currently beta testing a live video functionality, which will enable businesses and professionals to stream video content to their audiences and generate interest from other connections. Although it is only in its early stages, the results are proving positive with users finding that live content gets 24 times more engagement than other content formats on the platform.
The functionality will be rolled out across the platform in the coming months, so watch this space for more information.
Custard tip: When producing video content for LinkedIn, it is important that you develop content with a purpose to complement your existing strategy. Utilise the content you have already created in thought leadership and blog format and redevelop it into a short, targeted video to generate engagement and brand awareness quickly and in a format that your audience can digest. Also, as video content is widely shared across the platform, it is important that you don’t neglect your branding. A simple logo overlayed in a video and the website URL shared at the end will resonate with your viewers and help build relationships.
To find out how Custard can support your social media strategy, or more specifically your LinkedIn strategy, contact our team.
