Are you on the fence about using video at all, let alone using video on LinkedIn?

Smart small business owners have been using video for years to:

• Promote their services and products
• Tell stories about the company, culture, and customers
• Express the company brand and their own personal brands as the business owner or entrepreneur
• Build brand awareness and consideration
• Build online visibility to get more eyes on their products and services
• Help consumers connect the company brand to their own current needs
  
  

Further, Small Business Rainmaker founder and video marketing expert André Palko noted, through various sources:

• 93% of marketers landed a new customer thanks to video on social media
• 63% claim video has the best return on investment in social media
• Over 50% of shoppers say video helps them decide which product to buy
• 80% switch between online search and videos as they research products they want to buy
• 76% of marketers say video has increased sales and traffic
• 47% say it reduces support inquiries
• 81% of people have been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a video
• 72% of people would rather use video to learn about a product than read about it
  
  

Savvy business owners don’t limit their video use to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. They also use their videos on LinkedIn. Social Media Examiner says:

"Marketers who are already invested in YouTube or Facebook video should consider LinkedIn because its unique audience offers great opportunities. LinkedIn has more people who work in the top levels of their profession and attracts people who are gainfully employed or seeking a job. You’ll find only slightly more men than women, and the demographic is older.

With this audience, LinkedIn is great for content creators who want to reach people who have buying power. About 45% of all B2B buyers make purchasing decisions based on LinkedIn content. So if you’re on LinkedIn and you’re a B2B marketer, you have a good chance of reaching people who could help you move sales."

Video creator Animoto notes:

"With an audience over 610 million professionals worldwide, LinkedIn offers a unique opportunity for marketers to reach decision-makers, thought leaders, and executives on a platform where they’re ready to engage with and consume professional content."

They've put together some data that should convince you to get you on board with video on LinkedIn:

• Video is the fastest growing type of content on LinkedIn
• Video is the type of content most likely to drive conversations on LinkedIn
• The LinkedIn audience has 2x the buying power of average web audiences
• LinkedIn members spend nearly 3x more time watching video ads compared to the time they spend with static sponsored content
  
  

And renowned Marketing expert Neil Patel says:

"LinkedIn has proven without question that they intend to remain a relevant part of the go-getters’ success. I believe that content marketing on LinkedIn is more important now than ever. And the best way they’ve shown this is with the addition of native video on their platform. They’re adapting to capitalize on the biggest marketing trends at the right time, and so should you."

You can see that LinkedIn and video is a match made in heaven for marketing.

The 3 Methods to Share Videos on Linkedin

1. Native video – uploading videos directly to LinkedIn and they reside on LinkedIn.

2. Embedded videos – posting links on LinkedIn to videos that reside on an outside video platform like YouTube. LinkedIn supports video sharing platforms YouTube, SlideShare, TED, Getty, Vimeo, Vine, Lifestream, and more.

3. LinkedIn video ads – paid advertising created only by a LinkedIn (company) Page admin with user permissions. These videos can run as long as 30 minutes, whereas native video can be a maximum of 10 minutes. I’m not covering paid video posting on LinkedIn in this article, but you can read about LinkedIn video ads here.

Native Video

At this writing, LinkedIn allows you to post native videos here (look for the little video icon to upload your video):

• In the updates feed of your personal LinkedIn profile
• In the updates feeds of both your LinkedIn (Company) Page and separate Showcase Pages, which stem from your parent LinkedIn Page
• In LinkedIn Groups
  
  

Embedded Video

You’ll use embedded videos here:

In the About, Experience and Education sections of your personal LinkedIn profile. To embed videos in these sections, click on the little blue edit pencil for each section, look for the “Media” section, and click on “Link” to add the link to your video.

LinkedIn’s Publishing Platform (sometimes called Pulse). To post video links in your articles here, look for the Embed icon in the top menu when you open an article page. You can also click the Add Multimedia icon to the left of your cursor and select the Video icon to add video links.

The Types and Styles of Video You Can Share on LinkedIn

Video Types

Most any kind of video can be used on LinkedIn, including:

• Explainer videos
• Interview videos
• Event promo videos
• Presentations
• Tutorials
• How-to videos
• Promo or teaser videos
• Thought leadership videos
• Webinars
• Testimonials or case study videos
• Company culture videos
• Product reviews
• Demo videos
• Recruitment videos (paid Sponsored updates on LinkedIn Pages)
• Vlogs or video blogs
• Personal branding or bio videos
  
  

Video Styles

Video styles cover a wide range, such as these outlined by graphic designer platform 99designs. Some of them can be made on your own smartphone, some using DIY solutions, and some must be created by professional video production firms:

• Live action video – recorded still or moving objects
• On-camera video – the subject is speaking and filmed on-camera. Can be made either professionally or self-made, with someone's own phone
• Whiteboard animation video – pictures are drawn on a whiteboard or something similar by artists
• Animation video – made from still images
• Typography video – animation video that includes moving text or kinetic typography
• Screencast video – a screencast that often has voice-over narration
• Live action screencast – a combination of on-camera or on-screen video with screencast video
• Live streaming – as the name implies, broadcasting video right to viewers on various platforms
• Photo montage – montages or slideshows combining photos with music and voiceover
  
  

DIY video often compromises on quality, so if you go that route, be sure you don't end up with sub-standard videos.

One great option is CareerBrandVideos™, a high-quality customized video system, specifically designed for personal branding for job search, career, and entrepreneurs. These videos combine animation and kinetic typography to include movement that keeps viewers engaged.

Best Practices for Creating LinkedIn Video

99designs advises you start where any marketing campaign always begins: Know your audience:

"It’ll be easier to narrow down the voice and tone in which to communicate to them. This makes it easier to decide between a more traditional style (like live action or a photo montage) or something a little more dynamic (like animation or motion graphics)."

My advice: To develop the content for whatever style of video you choose, consider the following:

• What does your target audience need to know about your product or service?
• What do you want them to know about you personally, and how you operate?
• Why do they need to know these things about your business or you personally?
• What differentiates you, as a business owner, from other providers?
• What differentiates your business from your competitors?
• How do your products and services meet the current needs and challenges of your target audience?
  
  

LinkedIn Marketing Solutions describes some best practices for creating videos, including:

• Show what you want your audience to see in the first 10 seconds of the video. Viewer attention drops after that point.
• Capture and maintain your audience’s attention with visual storytelling.
• Deliver your message with graphics, people, and text that extend viewer attention span.
• Think like a silent film director: a large portion of LinkedIn members will watch your ad with the sound off.
• Consider burning in video subtitles.
• Keep videos under 30 seconds for brand awareness and brand consideration goals. A study by LinkedIn found that videos under 30 seconds reported a 200% lift in view completion rates.
• Test longer videos for demand generation. The same study found that longer form content drove as many clicks and views as shorter videos because they help tell a more complex product or brand story.
  
  

Explainer video creator Wyzowl advises optimizing your videos for mobile viewing:

"57% of all engagement on LinkedIn is via mobile. Long gone are the days of desktop browsing reigning supreme; we now need to ensure that our video marketing efforts pay-off by optimizing content for mobile users. You can do this by using the correct format – preferably a high-quality video that can be orientated to fit a small screen."

Sprout Social offers an "Always Up-to-Date Guide to Social Media Video Specs." You'll find all the details on specs for LinkedIn video here.

Where and How to Share Your Videos on LinkedIn

As noted earlier, videos are a powerful way to help people understand who you are, what makes you tick, and how you operate. So you want to make good use of your videos and get them in front of lots of people.

Add videos in your personal LinkedIn profile.

LinkedIn allows you to embed videos in the About, Experience, and Education sections of your personal profile. To post videos here, you’ll need to first post them on your video sharing platform (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.).

Share your videos with your connections and followers.

Post videos recurrently in your personal profile, LinkedIn (company) Page, and showcase pages feeds. LinkedIn accepts native video here, so you’ll post the videos directly into the feeds. There are many apps you can use to set up recurring posts, such as Hootsuite, Buffer, and Recurpost, which I use.

Use LinkedIn Live to stream live video content in real time.

LinkedIn says, in its LinkedIn Live Best Practices Guide:

"Through its unfiltered nature, live video presents a unique and exciting opportunity to create authenticity, give exclusive access to a private event, celebrate a moment or establish a brand as bold and innovative. We believe this is the ultimate channel to drive deep engagement with your followers on LinkedIn."

You'll need to apply for and be approved to use LinkedIn Live.

Add videos in your published articles on LinkedIn.

Sometimes called “Pulse,” LinkedIn lets you post full articles on their publishing platform. You can embed videos in these articles.

Post your videos in LinkedIn Groups.

If you've chosen the right relevant Groups to join, you have access to thousands of members. Posting videos in Groups will help you greatly expand your network. You can add native videos in Groups.