LinkedIn first dipped its toe into native video July of last year. It was years behind the likes of Facebook and Twitter, but hey, better late than never. The move struck me as a simple me-too strategy to make sure the suit-and-tied social network didn’t look too uncool for school.
Boy, was I wrong.
LinkedIn has gone all-in on video since then, embracing its inner Snapchat in mid-March, complete with unthreatening filters, and then, most recently dropping two new features. All of it screams that there’s no end in sight for LinkedIn’s love affair with moving pictures.
Over the past year, LinkedIn members have embraced the ability to post native videos on our platform,” said Phil Spitzer, product manager at LinkedIn in a blog post. “Ranging from creative ways to grab companies’ attention and get a new job, to simply sharing knowledge, these videos are generating great engagement and conversations in the community.”
In this latest release, however, LinkedIn is moving past consumer-generated content and focusing on video produced by the enterprise sector. Now, native video can be uploaded onto Company Pages on LinkedIn. They’re also highlighting how the new offerings can impact hiring.
“Today, we’re bringing those same video sharing capabilities to companies, enabling you to target and show candidates what it’s like to work in your company, right in the LinkedIn feed,” added Spitzer. “We’re launching two new products: video for sponsored content and video for company pages.”
Video for company pages is pretty simple. The same kind of video you might post as an individual, you can now post on your LinkedIn company page. LinkedIn says users who follow your company page are 81 percent more likely to respond to InMails, so engaging video content should not only mean a more engaged follower, but increase a company’s number of followers. That’s also a not-so-subtle hint to make sure your videos have a call to action saying, I don’t know, “follow us on LinkedIn” maybe?
LinkedIn highlights WeWork as an example of a company page featuring its CEO, discussing the company’s mission. An added bonus, as you can see, is the video can be embedded within a company blog post or other channel. Video content autoplays in the LinkedIn newsfeed.
For users who aren’t yet followers of a company page, LinkedIn offers the opportunity for advertisers to put video in front of targeted eyeballs via sponsored updates. This option will be available through LinkedIn’s ad manager when it officially launches.
“While the posts on your company pages are mostly seen by your page followers, LinkedIn sponsored updates are a way to help your recruiting team source at scale and reach a wider talent audience with a very targeted message (e.g. targeted by skills, location, occupation, etc.),” wrote Spitzer. “Now you can also use video for sponsored updates and create an even more engaging experience with talent who may not have been exposed to your brand, driving them to your job opportunities or career page.”
LinkedIn says initial results show members spend almost three times more time watching video ads compared to time spent with traditional updates. Of the companies in LinkedIn’s video ads beta program, 80 percent have seen higher InMail response rates and increased engagement, compared to static sponsored posts.
LinkedIn showcases GE, Philips, and Audi Canada as employers currently doing video ads to highlight their company mission and thought leadership content. Both of these new video features will be rolling out in the next few weeks and will be available to all businesses using the platform.
