More companies using video on LinkedIn

LinkedIn has gotten a lot more visual in recent years, and marketers who think it’s just a networking site to make business connections, post jobs and search for  talent should take a closer look.

Video is emerging as a prominent medium on the platform, and marketers may be missing out if they don’t take advantage of  it to boost their brand.

 “Video is the fastest growing type of content on LinkedIn, and the most likely to start conversations,” says Peter Roybal, who leads the video product team at LinkedIn.  Members can have "authentic, visual conversations with one another on a range of topics related to their work.”

Still, the use of video is relatively new on LinkedIn compared to other networking sites, experts say. LinkedIn launched the ability for members to record and upload videos directly to the site or create them on the site in the summer of 2017.

“They’re much later to the game than Facebook,” says Vikram Rajan, co-founder of Kings Park-based phoneBlogger.net, a ghost blogging marketing service for attorneys and CPAs, and co-founder of Videosocials.net, a platform for video blogging. But, he adds, “LinkedIn’s algorithm has changed to prioritize video  . . . versus text or image posts.”

It pays to use LinkedIn’s own video feature, where you upload your video directly into its video feed  rather than share a video to LinkedIn from an external video sharing site like YouTube, Rajan says.  That will give your video preferential treatment  over a site that directs viewers away from LinkedIn.

To get started, you can download LinkedIn’s mobile app and click the video camera icon and start recording.

While it’s easy enough to use, “I think many people are still uncomfortable with being on camera,” says Beth Granger, a LinkedIn and social media trainer, coach and speaker in Port Washington. 

But you can ease into it, she says; for example, real estate agents might show a listing rather than  appear onscreen themselves.

She finds videos with educational tidbits like  responses to frequently asked questions are well received. Taking people behind the scenes is also engaging, says Granger, who will host a panel discussion on using video on LinkedIn on June 18 in Melville.

Roybal of LinkedIn agrees adding, “Tours, and exclusive access are all easy and fun ways to show process and shed light on what your business does well.”

Granger has used video to walk her clients through certain tasks where she might take a screen shot of a page and move the cursor around to show clients where to click or access information.

When Granger makes videos she mainly uses her iPhone on a tripod. She also likes to use an app called Clips, which transcribes what you say into a caption and is helpful if the video’s being viewed on mute.

When thinking of content for your video,  take your audience’s perspective, says Dean DeCarlo, president of Mission Disrupt, a Huntington digital marketing agency, who has created more than 30 videos on LinkedIn over the past year.

“Make sure they would find it interesting,” he says. “It shouldn’t be about self-promotion, but some educational piece they can take way from it.”

 And pay attention to lighting and sound. “Sound is one of the most important parts of great video,’ says DeCarlo.

But don’t obsess about making it perfect. “It can’t look sloppy, but you want a level of authenticity too,” he says.