How to Share Company Videos on LinkedIn

So, you've created a new video blog or webinar and you're ready to share it with the world. Including your video in blogs and email campaigns is a good place to start, but what about social media?

Every social media site has its own best practices for sharing video content, and LinkedIn is no exception. If you want your video to get traction on LinkedIn, this article is for you.

LinkedIn might not be the first place you think of when planning to share your new video content. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have very powerful built-in video support (and of course, YouTube is a given), while LinkedIn has more or less taken a passive approach to video. However, given the networking capabilities and professional nature of LinkedIn, it's still a great place to share video content. 

But it's tricky.

Compared to other platforms, you can't get away with as much on LinkedIn. Share a video without inherent value or quality content, and you could be removed from industry groups in a heartbeat. That's why it's important to self-curate your video content and make sure you're sharing with the right people and with the right intent.

Upload and Optimize on Another Platform

If you're sharing a video on LinkedIn, you're probably sharing that video on other channels, as well. LinkedIn supports a number of video hosting platforms, and even proprietary video marketing services like Wistia. As LinkedIn's native video features are still very limited, it's a good idea to cross-post with another platform (aka including a link to your video—that's hosted elsewhere—in your LinkedIn post). 

For many, this will be YouTube. Fortunately, LinkedIn makes up for its video player shortcomings by being very accessible to other inline players, like those from YouTube or Vimeo. It's a drag-and-drop deal that enables marketers to share video content on LinkedIn without much stress.

Keep in mind that the best posts on LinkedIn are those dense with meaningful content. With video content, the easiest way to do this is to provide an introduction and context for your shared video, and follow-up with an edited transcription of the video itself. YouTube automatically transcribes all videos (with near-perfect word accuracy, yet lacking punctuation) which certainly streamlines transcription.

Use Video on LinkedIn Primarily to Stand Out

Like presentations created with LinkedIn's SlideShare service ("YouTube, but for slideshows"), video content serves best as a differentiator. With 106 million active monthly users, many of whom are industry leaders that post 3-4 times per day, standing out among the crowd is essential to successful marketing on LinkedIn.

Video is a huge differentiator on LinkedIn. Not only does it offer companies a chance to show off their products and business, but it also gives audiences more incentive to share that content. It's easy to consume, personable and concise.

As 49% of LinkedIn's users are key decision makers in their respective businesses, any video link you publish on LinkedIn should have a purpose. Don't just share to share; if you're publishing to a specific group or in the lead-up to an industry event or tradeshow, first consider your audience.

On LinkedIn, you have on average 17 minutes a month to make an impression on each user. That's it.

Growing With LinkedIn: 5 Additional Tips

To help you find new success and leads from LinkedIn, check out these additional tips on content creation and using LinkedIn's networking tools:

• Location: including your location on your company's LinkedIn page is a no-brainer. However, don't forget to add any additional cities or locations your business operates in to your company's description. This will boost your visibility on the platform, and should be kept up-to-date as your organization grows. 
• LinkedIn Advertising: LinkedIn ads come in a number of forms, from sponsored content to targeted text ads (check out HubSpot's text ad case study). With most LinkedIn ads, you can target people based on company, industry, job title, education and more. This allows you to get your marketing message in front of prospects you otherwise wouldn't be able to.
• Involve the Team: your best bet to increase scope on LinkedIn with minimal effort is to involve your team. Encourage them to share your company's posts and posts from their peers. Have your marketing team share your marketing blogs, and have your sales team post new content on refining the sales process. Everyone on your team has their own audience base on LinkedIn. Use your team as a resource!
• LinkedIn Groups: Groups allow you to connect with local thinkers and leaders in your industry (and more importantly, your buyer's industries). Have your team members join both local and general groups in their specialty, and use these networks to distribute content and engage in conversations.
• Unique Content Options: for regular users, LinkedIn serves as a thinking hub for business professionals to share long-form, useful content. By using tools like Pulse and SlideShare, you can create content that both stands out and resonates with your readers—content that, in the end, they'll share among their network of followers.