Optimising for success on LinkedIn
How to get the highest ROI from your LinkedIn content.
Social media platforms are constantly changing so it can be difficult to keep up with best practice. Once you’ve settled on your campaign audience, messaging and spend, it’s important to ensure that your content is designed for success.
Based on years of experience and up-to-date research, here are six things to consider when creating content for LinkedIn.
Design for mobile.
Like all social media channels, LinkedIn users are increasingly consuming content on mobile devices. An estimated 91% of users watch videos on mobile alone and 57% of all engagements take place on the mobile app. Based on these statistics you should consider vertical formats such as 1:1 or 4:5 aspect ratios to ensure your content is optimised for mobile.
Design for sound off.
Unlike other platforms, LinkedIn videos automatically play on silent so videos should be designed with this in mind. With an estimated 85% of all video content on LinkedIn being played on silent, it’s important to prioritise descriptive images, explanatory infographics, and expressive body language. Captioning or on screen text is vital for those watching videos on silent.
Keep copy to a minimum.
While copywriters have traditionally seen LinkedIn as the platform for longer word counts and long-read posts, statistics have shown that when posting video content, accompanying copy should only be a maximum of 150 characters with the video carrying the story. The copy should simply reiterate the main messages and share a link if needed.
You have three seconds to shine.
With so much competition for users’ attention, it’s important to make an impression quickly and encourage them to keep watching. Users decide whether to stop and watch or continue scrolling in the first three seconds of a video, so give users a reason to stop scrolling.
LinkedIn isn’t as dull as you think it is.
The LinkedIn landscape is changing. While it was traditionally used for formal business announcements and news, it’s increasingly becoming a platform for personal stories and updates. Therefore, the type of content that users expect to see on LinkedIn is also changing and humorous videos have been performing better. Senior executives tend to engage with LinkedIn outside of traditional office hours during commuting times, or in the evenings and are more receptive to humorous content.
Duration is key.
There is no agreement on the perfect duration for a LinkedIn video, as engagement is paramount and even if a video is quite lengthy, if it’s engaging users will continue watching. 90 million LinkedIn users are senior-level influencers, and research has found that senior audiences don’t want to watch more than 3 minutes of content at a time. They’re also more likely to check the video length before considering if it’s worth a watch. Recent research from LinkedIn suggests that video content performs better at as little as 15 seconds.
