Wistia's Guide to LinkedIn Video

If you’ve been interested in growing your career at any point in the last decade and a half, you’re probably already familiar with LinkedIn. The networking platform was built with one mission in mind: Connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful.

As a niche platform, LinkedIn’s userbase of 775,000 million is considerably smaller than broader networks like Facebook and Instagram — but don’t let those numbers fool you. LinkedIn has experienced considerable growth over the past few years and shows no signs of slowing down. The platform’s niche focus — and the fact that video is relatively new there — actually make LinkedIn a natural fit for businesses looking to hit their video marketing goals.

So, how can you reach your intended audience using video on LinkedIn? Keep reading to learn more!

Why LinkedIn is a prime place for video content

LinkedIn videos can reach current customers, prospects considering your product, and even net new folks that might not have heard of your company before. Because video content is still relatively new to the platform, LinkedIn is prime real estate for B2B marketers looking to get more bang for their buck with reach and engagement.

Niche audience

LinkedIn has 310 million monthly active users, which again falls well below social giants like Facebook and Instagram. However, the niche focus is actually a great thing for B2B professionals.

LinkedIn’s razor-sharp focus creates a highly relevant audience pool for companies looking to reach a specific subset (we ourselves are huge fans of finding and embracing your niche here at Wistia!).

Does your product or solution cater to general managers at small, independently-owned hotels? What about sales operations managers at mid-sized companies in the logistics industry? No matter how focused your target audience is, LinkedIn provides a window — and access — into their world.

There’s also the fact that the focus is professional, which means your video content won’t be competing with viral cat videos or videos of your adorable baby niece or nephew. Instead, users log in to LinkedIn primed to learn from and connect with other professionals.

Growing platform

While LinkedIn will always have a defined focus within the business community, the platform is expanding. In fact, the number of users has grown 24% over the past three years. This is wonderful news for B2B companies seeking a relevant outlet for their professional content.

Not only is the platform growing, but LinkedIn has been named the most trusted social media platform for the past four years in a row. The people that come to LinkedIn believe in the platform and, as an extension, the content that’s curated there.

Video content gets better reach and engagement

Video is still a pretty recent addition, but LinkedIn’s algorithm tends to favor video content over text or image-based posts. While this effect might diminish over time, brands can take advantage of this and really lean into social video content to get more engagement with fewer posts.

“Video on LinkedIn is especially valuable for B2B marketers. What better way to reach decision-makers at relevant companies than a video that demonstrates how you can solve their biggest pain points?”

Frank Emanuele
Social Media Manager, Wistia

LinkedIn video placement

LinkedIn’s video options are fairly straightforward. You can create posts that prominently feature a video asset or create engaging video ads through LinkedIn’s ad platform. Let’s break it down.

Organic feed videos

Ready to upload video content directly to your LinkedIn feed? The platform currently supports two options: Native video and video embeds.

Native video uploads are the preferred route. Like other social platforms, the LinkedIn algorithm prefers native video. These assets tend to get more reach and engagement than sharing video links.

To upload a native LinkedIn video, simply select the video icon, choose the video file you want to share, write a brief description for your post, and voila! You’ve got a video post. Native LinkedIn videos auto-play in the feed, so the first few seconds are crucial for capturing attention as people scroll.

“Native videos auto-play in the feed, so the first few seconds are crucial for capturing attention as people scroll.”

LinkedIn also allows you to easily create video content on the fly. Start a new post, select the video icon, and then click the “record” icon at the top right corner of the screen. This allows you to create video content whenever you want, complete with customizations like stickers and text.

When it comes to newsfeed video length, short videos are often better. Though LinkedIn does allow pages to post videos up to ten minutes long, 30 to 90 seconds is the sweet spot for most brands.

Of course, keep your own social media goals in mind when creating and editing video content for LinkedIn. Something like a customer testimonial video might make more sense in a slightly longer format; don’t cut off critical information just to meet the recommended duration.

Technical Specs:

• File type: MP4
• Aspect ratio: 16:9 (landscape), 1:1 (square), 9:16 (vertical)
• Resolution: 360 x 360 to 1920 x 1920
• Video captions: Recommended, SRT format
• Video sound: Recommended
• Video length: 3 seconds to 10 minutes
• Maximum file size: 75 KB to 200 MB

LinkedIn Stories

Launched in 2020, LinkedIn Stories feature the disappearing video format first made popular by Snapchat in 2011 (and later adopted by Facebook and Instagram). This type of video is useful for short, snackable video clips.

LinkedIn Stories can only be uploaded via the mobile app. To post a story, navigate to your brand’s page and tap the “+” icon attached to your profile image. This will bring up a help screen that navigates you through the process of either posting an existing video clip or creating a brand new clip for your story.

Similar to Stories on other platforms, LinkedIn has a few handy customization options. Folks can add stickers, text overlays, and more before a Story goes live.

What type of video should you test on your LinkedIn Story? Remember, your professional audience is looking to be educated and inspired. Test things like employee takeovers, short Q&A sessions with an expert, behind-the-scenes snippets, and short promo videos for other content.

Toast, a restaurant point-of-sale solution, does an excellent job of creating short, professional stories to share popular content. Check out this recent example that uses short, text-based videos to promote their employee handbook templates.

Technical Specs:

• File type: H264, MP4
• Aspect ratio: 9:16
• Resolution: 1080 x 1920
• Video captions: Recommended
• Video sound: Recommended
• Video length: 10 seconds

Learn more about LinkedIn Stories.

LinkedIn video ads

If your budget allows, LinkedIn video ads can be a surefire way to expand your reach even further and refine your video strategy to encompass the entire marketing funnel. Looking to entice new page followers? Or maybe you want to generate leads right on LinkedIn? The platform makes it easy to select your goal and optimize your video ads accordingly.

Brands like Gong.io, Snag, and Cenareo are using LinkedIn video ads to drive their marketing forward — and it’s working! Just listen to Udi Ledergor, Vice President of Marketing at Gong.io:

“We’re not selling on social media. We’re providing value, and education, and creating our authoritative figure in the industry. And LinkedIn is super valuable for that.”

Technical Specs:

• File type: MP4
• Aspect ratio: 16:9 (horizontal), 1:1 (square), or 9:16 (vertical)
• Video captions: Recommended
• Video sound: Recommended
• Video length: 3 seconds - 30 minutes
• Maximum file size: 75 KB (min) - 200 MB (max)

Learn more about LinkedIn video ads.

LinkedIn Live

If you’re looking for a niche platform to broadcast live content, LinkedIn Live could be the answer. According to LinkedIn, live video content gets 7x more reactions and 24x more comments than native video posts — a compelling incentive to try it out, at the very least.

“Live video content gets 7x more reactions and 24x more comments than native video posts — a compelling incentive to try it out, at the very least.”

Curious about what live content to try? Keep your focus on the professional community with events that cater to education over entertainment. Popular live events include new product launches, live Q&A sessions with an expert, and educational webinars. That said, don’t be afraid to get creative and have fun! Just because your live content is professional doesn’t mean it has to be stuffy.

Audible, the audiobook streaming service, excels at creating unique, engaging live events. Check out this live stream they recently hosted with Daymond John about his journey to becoming an entrepreneur.

Another great feature of LinkedIn Live is the analytics. LinkedIn gives you a ton of valuable metrics across brand awareness and engagement, like average watch time, comments, likes, and shares. But at a deeper level, LinkedIn also shares firmographic information like job titles, locations, and top pages — information that isn’t available through any other streaming platform. Pretty handy!

Tips for high-performing LinkedIn video content

Now that you know the technicals, ready to dive in with video content on LinkedIn? Here are a few tips on creating successful content.

Keep it professional

First and foremost, LinkedIn is a professional network. Folks come to LinkedIn to be educated and inspired — not necessarily entertained. That’s not to say content shouldn’t be engaging or fun, but save your wacky, off-the-wall ideas for a more casual platform. Instead, focus on teaching folks something new and delivering value.

Test and learn

Video is still finding its place within LinkedIn, and not many brands have fully embraced its potential. The door is wide open for brands to experiment and create an impactful video presence. Try different types of videos, varying video lengths, and videos for all the stages of your buyer’s journey. You might be surprised with what resonates and moves the needle!

Best types of videos for LinkedIn

Alright, we’ve learned all about where you can post videos across LinkedIn and tips for creating high-performing video content. Next, let’s explore a few examples of the types of video that work best for the platform.

Thought leadership

Establish your brand as an expert or share wisdom from another industry pro with thought leadership content. This might include a live Q&A with someone from your team or an external guest, or an inspirational conference session.

Terminus, an account-based marketing tool, is a pro at sharing thought leadership. Check out this clip from their series, The Roof.

Tutorials

As we mentioned before, many LinkedIn users come to the platform to hone their skills and learn from other professionals in their network. Service this demand by sharing educational video content. This could include things like how-to videos, explainer videos, and more.

Check out this example from Rand Fishkin, Co-Founder and CEO at SparkToro, an audience intelligence tool.

Culture

As a professional network, LinkedIn is a natural spot to highlight your brand and what sets your company apart. From company culture videos, leadership updates, and employee interviews, there are tons of unique angles to share your company’s values and culture.

Video is useful for doing a deep dive within areas like diversity, equity and inclusion, and philanthropy. Get to the heart of why your company and employees are passionate about these areas, and share stories on tangible ways your company is making strides.

Culture-centric video content is especially impactful when it comes to enticing new employees and supporting recruitment efforts. Put your employer branding efforts front and center with this type of informative LinkedIn video content and watch for a lift in engagement and applications.

Check out this quick video we put together for International Women’s Day, a short and simple nod to the brilliant women of Wistia.

LinkedIn video tools

You’re almost ready to start creating and sharing video content on LinkedIn! Before you press record, however, check out a few of these handy tools to help your content really shine.

Keep in mind that LinkedIn’s video offerings are fairly simple compared to other platforms; don’t feel like you have to go all-out with a high-tech video studio. A few simple tools are all you need to get started and create great videos.

Wistia Soapbox

LinkedIn’s straightforward video offerings lend themselves well to simple videos. Wistia’s Soapbox product is just that! Quickly capture and edit video for social with this free Chrome extension.

InShot

InShot is a video editing app specifically designed for social media videos. It includes helpful editing features such as video trimming, clip merging, and speed adjustment. It even comes with preset filters and effects to add a distinct feel to your social media videos.

Sprout Social

Busy social teams can collaborate on content across platforms, including LinkedIn, with Sprout Social. This social media management tool helps marketers manage social media across engagement, publishing, scheduling, analytics, and listening — all in one convenient place.

Reap the benefits of LinkedIn video early adoption

We hope we’ve made a strong case as to why you should consider using LinkedIn’s available video features! The social media platform is a dedicated space for your professional audience, and there’s never been a better time to try different strategies with video content, whether it’s native LinkedIn video, video through Stories, an advertisement, or LinkedIn Live.

Consider what your audience is hoping to learn from you, and then develop video strategy accordingly. Whether it’s thought leadership to solidify your company’s industry expertise, how-to videos to help your customer base, or a behind-the-scenes look at what makes your company the best, video can help you rise above the rest of the LinkedIn pack.