There was a joke doing the rounds when Microsoft bought LinkedIn in 2016.
‘Yes, but who will keep LinkedIn as the fun place now the suits have turned up,? The gag went.
The gag was that the platform has always had a reputation as being a bit staid.
Since the demise of Twitter, LinkedIn has now been where a lot of the job-related discussions are now taking place. As a resource, its timeline has been incredibly useful. I will scroll it daily.
So, video.
It’s a platform that has allowed video since 2017.
Like other platforms, success comes from treating it like its own landscape.
LinkedIn’s UK audience
Around 20 per cent of all age demographics are on LinkedIn. It peaks with 29 per cent of 35 to 44-year-olds.
It tends to be a professional audience.
It’s also an audience that on average will dip in before leaving. One estimate is that UK people will spend a mere two minutes a day on the platform. In comparison, the average TikToker is spending around half an hour a day scrolling.
The business case for LinkedIn video
Video is rising as a tactic on the platform. Frustratingly, they don’t report use in the same way that Meta do. So while we can point to Meta’s figures that 60 per cent of Facebook user’s time is spent watching video we can’t do the same for Linkedin.
Instead, we can point to a flight of different stats that point upward.
- Time spent on watching video was up 36 per cent. (source: LinkedIn).
- Video creation is increasing at double the rate of other tools (source: socialmediatoday.)
- Video creates 1.4 times as much engagement as other content (source: socialmediatoday.)
- Video is shared twenty times as much as other content (source: LinkedIn.)
What LinkedIn content works best
In the public sector, research I’ve carried out shows video as the second most effective form of content behind carousels of images. This makes it something that should be part of the repertoire.
Lengths of LinkedIn video
The minimum length uploaded from a desktop is three seconds and two seconds from a mobile. The maximum length is 15 minutes. The optimum length is far shorter.
46 seconds for a Linkedin video is one recommendation.
A second estimate is 30 to 90 seconds.
Under two minutes but more than 15-seconds is what the platform itself appears to suggest.
Whereas, Sprout Social calculate the most effective time is less than 15-seconds.
In summary: brevity.
So what content works?
LinkedIn’s own advice mirrors much of short-form video. Create a text hook that will stop people scrolling and hold attention. I’ve blogged on this. Focus on a single topic, they suggest.
Plan for people to watch your video on a mobile phone. This means shooting in 9:16 or vertical. LinkedIn also suggest using a microphone. There’s no surprises here.
They are also pushing influencers as an effective way to tell your story. If you can find them that’s great but within your organisation you employ real people with their own networks. They can be your most persuasive way of communicating with people. It’s no accident that LinkedIn communicates so often not via a nameless void as Meta does but instead through individual LinkedIn employees.
Human centred communication is one strand that LinkedIn has been pushing. That’s real people telling their story. This is something the public sector can really excel at.
Here’s three examples from the public sector:
Example #1 London Ambulance Service
This is 1’20” long and accompanies a nameless ambulance operative. There is strong engagement and its striking that GDPR is preserved during two incidents. There’s no footage of the fire or road traffic collision.
Example #2 NHS England
A cute five-year-old is always a win especiually when one is a type one diabetes patient showing what their equipment to keep it in check looks like.
Example #3 National Trust
Always work with children and animals. Here, some red squirrel footage clocks in at less than 30 seconds. You really don’t have to be always be selling. That’s Glengarry Glenross.
For more, I deliver training to help you make sense of the changing landscape.
ESSENTIAL AI FOR PUBLIC SECTOR COMMS,
ESSENTIAL COMMS SKILLS BOOSTER,
ESSENTIAL VIDEO SKILLS REBOOTED.
Creative commons credit: Woman with plastic film camera by Diana Gurley McGraw.
