LinkedIn stands out as a premier platform for professional networking, making it an invaluable tool for businesses aiming to foster meaningful connections and expand their reach. Among its array of content formats, native video emerges as a standout choice due to its authenticity, algorithmic favorability, and ability to drive engagement. Here’s how leveraging LinkedIn’s video capabilities can elevate your marketing efforts:
Here’s how leveraging LinkedIn’s video capabilities can elevate your marketing efforts:
LinkedIn’s Unique Value Proposition
LinkedIn isn’t just another social media platform; it’s a hub where professionals, entrepreneurs, and businesses converge to build relationships and drive business growth. Key features like company pages, groups, and messaging facilitate targeted networking, enabling you to connect with potential clients, partners, investors, and collaborators.
Benefits of LinkedIn Native Video
- Authentic Engagement: Native videos seamlessly integrate into your feed, enhancing visibility and interaction rates compared to other content types.
- Algorithmic Preference: LinkedIn’s algorithm prioritizes native video content, ensuring higher organic reach and engagement when compared to shared links or text-only posts.
- Thought Leadership: Showcase industry expertise and thought leadership through informative videos, industry insights, and behind-the-scenes glimpses. This positions your brand as an authority in your field.
The cost of advertising on LinkedIn
While advertising on LinkedIn can be more expensive than other platforms, its unique targeting capabilities justify the investment, especially for B2B professionals:
The average cost for CPC (Cost per click) on LinkedIn is £4.63.
CPM (Cost per thousand impressions) average costs on LinkedIn are £27.30.
The average cost for CPS (Cost per send) campaigns, which involve messaging ads, is £0.17.
To compare this with other social advertising platforms, Facebook is £0.79 and Twitter is £0.33 for CPC. However, don’t let this deter you. Allocate your budget according to your objectives. If your goal is to reach niche B2B markets, LinkedIn offers granular targeting options, with over 570 industries represented. This extensive range allows you to target highly specific and niche B2B markets.
Best Practices for LinkedIn Video Ads:
- Continuous Loop for Short Videos: Video ads that are less than 20 seconds long will loop continuously, ensuring repeated exposure to your message.
- Optimal Video Length: The best-performing video ads are under 15 seconds long, according to LinkedIn. Shorter videos capture attention quickly and maintain viewer engagement.
- Ideal Video Formats and Dimensions:
- Square (1:1): Minimum dimensions of 360 x 360 pixels and a maximum of 1920 x 1920 pixels.
- Landscape (16:9): Dimensions should be between 640 x 360 pixels and 1920 x 1080 pixels.
- Effective Retargeting: You can retarget users who have:
- Engaged with your company page.
- Visited a specific page on your website.
- Viewed a video ad.
- Branding: Include your company logo within the first few seconds of your video. Viewer attention drops by 6% every second, so early branding is crucial for recognition and recall.
- Clear Messaging in Descriptions: Ensure that the descriptions accompanying your posts clearly convey your message. Concise and direct descriptions help in capturing the audience’s attention and enhancing understanding.
What’s the best Call to Action for a LinkedIn video?
A Call to Action (CTA) is a prompt that directs your audience to take a specific action after viewing your ad. It’s essential to have a clear and compelling CTA to guide potential customers towards the next step in their journey with your business.
Defining Your CTA Goals
Consider what you want your audience to do once they see your ad. If your goal is to generate leads, think about how you can capture their interest and gather their information. Your CTA should align with this objective.
Effective CTAs for LinkedIn Video Ads
Here are some powerful CTAs you can use to drive engagement and conversions:
- Sign Up: Encourage viewers to join your mailing list or subscribe to your service.
- Contact Us Now: Prompt immediate engagement by inviting viewers to reach out for more information.
- Fill in a Form: Use this CTA to gather valuable details from potential leads.
- Register: Perfect for webinars, events, or exclusive content that requires prior registration.
- Learn More: Directs viewers to additional resources or detailed information about your offering.
- Visit Our Website: Increase traffic to your website where users can explore your products or services further.
By using clear and action-oriented CTAs, you can effectively guide your audience towards meaningful interactions with your brand.
What kind of videos work on LinkedIn?
If you are using video to advertise on LinkedIn, consider what you want your audience to know about your company.
- Awareness: At this stage, the goal is to increase brand visibility and reach a wider audience. Videos should be engaging and informative, capturing the audience’s interest quickly. Use eye-catching thumbnails and strong opening hooks.
- Consideration: In the consideration stage, your audience is evaluating their options and seeking more detailed information. Videos should aim to educate and build trust. Provide valuable and relevant content. Ensure the information is clear and answers potential customer questions.
- Conversion: The conversion stage is where you aim to turn interested prospects into customers. Videos should be focused on driving action and facilitating the final decision-making process. Include strong, clear CTAs. Make it easy for viewers to take the next step, whether it’s signing up, contacting you, or making a purchase.
Video campaign case study
Airbnb
Airbnb shows their human side by telling their hosts’ personal stories of giving back to their local community.
The engagement rate for LinkedIn video content is 5x higher than other types, making it an excellent ad type to increase brand awareness. Additionally, with the clear call to action button, Airbnb gets more traffic to their website and supports local businesses.
Gymshark
In this video campaign, Gymshark attempts to dispel myths of it being a typical ecommerce brand. The video promotes the company as a tech brand, showcasing its company culture to attract talent. This video showcases Gymshark’s personality through animation and light hearted voice–overs. When combined with a rhetorical question, LinkedIn users are immediately drawn to the company and its job openings. It works great with what Gymshark wants to portray as a brand and illustrates a fun working environment.
The Social Shepherd
A great brand awareness video, building on The Social Shepherd’s brand identity, ethics and amazing workplace. Once watching this video, you feel the great work community atmosphere and all the fun things that go on behind the scenes that everyone wants to see!
These are the types of videos that have been winning on socials in 2022, everyone wants to see more BTS. Along with being easy to make they can engage other brands who also believe in a positive working environment.
Does video work for all brands on LinkedIn?
There’s no question that all companies need video to thrive in the social media space. If you are investing in advertising on the platform, use video in your ads to achieve higher ROI. All brands can find a way to tell their story through video! And have more views than stills. It’s just a matter of what you want to convey.
Is LinkedIn video worth the price?
LinkedIn offers unparalleled opportunities for businesses to connect, engage, and grow through native video content. Despite higher advertising costs, its precise targeting and professional user base justify the investment for B2B service companies seeking lead generation, sales growth, and brand awareness. Ready to harness the power of video for your brand on LinkedIn? Contact us at Skylark Media for a free marketing consultation and start creating impactful video campaigns today.
Becky Lomas