Unlike most social platforms you don’t need to post videos all the time to still benefit from them on LinkedIn.
This post will look at how you can position yourself as an authority in your field by using video on LinkedIn, and how you can attract more of the right connections with a little edit to your profile.
Posting Native Video on LinkedIn
LinkedIn has the world’s largest professional audience of people who want to learn and consume professional content. Read more.
Unlike Facebook and Instagram where you have to compete against funny cat videos to get the attention of your audience, most people who scroll through LinkedIn are looking for quality, professional content, and interactions.
LinkedIn is a great platform to share your informational content with a more focused audience. What it does have in common with the other social platforms is an algorithm that is looking for native content and users who promote engagement on the platform itself.
By posting native video on LinkedIn you can educate and engage your audience, position yourself as an authority and have the algorithm work in your favour.
When you post natively to LinkedIn, or any social media site for that matter, you are keeping the audience on the platform. Which, at the end of the day, is the number one priority of all social media sites.
The longer users remain on the platform the more opportunities for them to click on ads and help the platform make money.
Whenever your post contains an external link, the algorithm sees you sending users away from the platform.
But if you are keeping users captivated on the platform for longer, the algorithm is going to reward you and help your posts reach more people.
This enhanced reach isn’t going to happen immediately. But by incorporating video into your LinkedIn strategy you are helping the platform with its number one priority; and in turn, it will help you reach more users.
Some tips for posting videos on LinkedIn
Keep your videos short and snappy; cut your title animation, skip your self-introduction, and get right to the point.
If someone is scrolling through their LinkedIn feed you only have a few seconds to peak their interest and get them to watch your video.
If you spend too long talking about what the video is going to be about before you actually get to the core of what you have to say, that viewer could have kept on scrolling.
When you post videos about how you can help your clients and customers, how-to tutorials, or other educational videos, you position yourself as an authority in your field.
You can mix this up with video updates about business milestones and ask your network questions in your video to help promote even more engagement.
By default, LinkedIn will use the first frame of your video as the thumbnail. You can choose a still image to use as your thumbnail instead to grab your audience’s attention as they scroll through the platform.
I usually use a photo to create thumbnails, and you can add text and images in apps like Canva to make your image more appealing.
And finally, use captions in your video. 85% of users on mobile devices watch videos with the sound off. Get more views and higher retention on your video by using captions.
To add captions to LinkedIn you need to have a .srt file for your video, which is a text document that notes the timecode and corresponding words to appear on screen.
A great resource you can check out to have captions made for you is Rev.com where a real person will transcribe your video. Once you have your .srt file you can upload this along with your video to LinkedIn.
So how can you use video to attract more of the right connections?
Upload an introduction video all about who you are what you do to the ‘featured’ section of your profile. Potential clients or employers can immediately see if you are someone they want to connect with.
Video provides a richer experience than text alone. People can see in the first few seconds of watching your featured video if you are someone they’d like to potentially do business with.
When someone who’s never met you sees you speak about your business and your passion on video, you become real.
Anyone can have great copy in their About section, but nothing can quite compare to seeing someone speak about what they do in their own words.
Approximately 93% of communication is non-verbal. Allowing potential connections to see you, as you are – your body language, your facial expressions, your gestures – will help you attract the right people to you and your business.
So, are you ready to share some video content on LinkedIn?
If you’re not sure how to present yourself on video, check out this post on how to connect with your audience using the ‘One Person’ visualisation technique.
For more video tips, or if you’re not even sure where to start, subscribe to my YouTube Channel for weekly tutorials.