Last month LinkedIn announced that they were (finally) supporting native video in Sponsored Content and Business Pages. All other major social networks have been hosting video for years before this, and the data collected has highlighted just how advantageous native video can be for business’. For example, according to a study conducted by Quintly,
Facebook native videos were shared 10x more than YouTube videos on the Facebook platform.
LinkedIn is unique in that, unlike all other major social networks, it’s focus is solely upon professional interactions. LinkedIn is all business, and this makes it the best social marketing platform for B2B companies. Research also tells us that most senior managers and executives would prefer to learn about a product via watching an online video. Now that we know where your audience “lives” and how they like to be “spoken” to, you can see the incredible potential LinkedIn native video holds.
Ready to take advantage of this exciting and long-awaited new development? Read on for three tips to get you started.
1. Create Video Content Specifically for Your LinkedIn Audience
Your LinkedIn audience will likely be much more specific than the more general target groups that your existing video content is aimed at. As such your LinkedIn video should be much more specific. You are speaking to your peers, other professionals, who likely will have a better understanding of the fundamentals of your service or product. This allows you to skip the basics and drill down to the nitty-gritty details of how your product/service can specifically improve their business. Lastly, keep these video brief. 15-30 seconds to showcase one of the benefits of choosing _________ [insert your company name here].
2. Stop using YouTube Links Now
The temptation is justified, after all it’s much more time efficient to share a link than to upload a video. However, that time saving will likely cost you valuable hours in the long run. Instead of planning to create and post 20+ videos all at once, start to upload videos now to slowly develop your library over time. Not only will this allow you to take advantage of the increased engagement immediately, it will also garner your posts more exposure as platforms use algorithms that give priority to posts with native video. You’ll be bumping the posts still featuring links to third party sites out of the way. You’ll also be able to use the Analytic tools that LinkedIn have provided to test which videos are working best, and can craft future content to better match your audience’s needs.
3. Create an Ala Carte Video Menu
LinkedIn is for professionals, and professionals are busy people. As we noted earlier, it’s best to either create short videos that focus on one USP at a time, or edit longer videos into shorter snippets. It’s also important to provide a wide selection of types of video to meet the individual needs of your potential clients. Create and share video that intros the leaders behind your brand, give viewers a behind-the-scenes peek at your processes, systems or offices and factories. Videos can educate about specific products or features of those products, and can also extend to How-To instructional demonstrations. We all love the reassurance of reading a happy customer’s review, and video testimonials are an even more powerful persuader. Also consider using video when you are looking to hire the next member of your team. How will you catch the attention of the top candidates when more than 11 million jobs currently listed (on average) on LinkedIn?
Of course this valuable advice all hinges on the amount of quality, professionally-produced video content available to you. If your company doesn’t have a toolkit of corporate video content then they are not utilizing what most Marketers agree has the best ROI than all other types of content. This is where we can help. We are an award-winning team of experienced Film-Makers and Marketers with a passion for telling the story at the heart of brands. If you’d like to know more send us an email to start a conversation (info@frontrunnerfilmsllc.com) or check out the videos on LinkedIn and on our website: www.frontrunnerfilmsllc.com. Thanks for reading.