Sometimes it's quicker to read... (you might not remember as much though, information retention for video is 90% higher than reading text!)
1 – York’s Key Ingredients to Create the Perfect Storm
I am a great advocate of making sure you get the best info first. We are all busy people, so here is the really juicy stuff right up front, this should be enough to give you the foundations of what you need to get started creating remarkable LinkedIn videos. I have identified my three most important words to consider when creating video content:
- Specific – To an audience.
- Extraordinary – Shows something amazing that has happened.
- Unconventional – Offers a different point of view.
This is the standard I have created to make sure every online video we make can become successful. A corporate video needs to hit one of these three things to have a chance of being interacted with. If you can hit all three in some way then you’ve created the perfect storm.
Does your video tick at least one of these boxes? If it does and it’s not creating the results you want, maybe point 2 can help…
2 – Clear Strategy
Strategy is the foundation to success. Before you create your content, it is important to have a clear view of the outcome you’re expecting to achieve:
- Are you driving traffic to a website?
- Are you trying to generate leads?
- Are you trying to get existing customers to spend again?
- Do you want to get people talking about or sharing your content?
- I could go on and on here, but hopefully, you get the idea…
Identify the key influencers in your company and explore how many connections they have. Think about what your KPI will be. For example, we recently ran a campaign for a commercial property agent. We were not expecting people to click directly from the video and make enquiries, so one of the KPI’s was conversations… When the team go out networking locally do people mention the videos to them, did they like them etc?
Other KPI’s could include:
- Number of Views (I love viewer duration stats, but LinkedIn does not provide these)
- Number of Visits to the website
- Likes, Comments & Shares
- Reach
- Reach within a specific organisation
- Number of emails submitted
3 – Kinds of Content
There are a lot of different styles of video content that can be created but I have boiled these down into four core elements:
- People talking to camera
- People talking off camera (Interview)
- Footage (this can be stock or your own)
- Motion Graphics & Animated Elements
Each kind of content has its own perks and intrigues and can be applied in a variety of different ways. If your message is emotive and informal, recording a VLOG on your iPhone (if done well) can have that personal touch that a more professional shoot may not capture (if not done well)
Motion graphics can deliver an energetic and exciting message that may be difficult to convey elsewhere. A clear idea of your message’s intent will help you decide which content will deliver it in the best way.
4 – Engagement and Relevance
The first five seconds of a video will make or break your audience’s engagement. You have a very limited timescale in which to grasp your viewer’s attention, so it’s crucial to lead with your most interesting and engaging content. Do not underestimate the speed at which a consumer can click away from a video which they find uninspiring. Similarly, always keep your audience in mind. A video which is irrelevant to your target audience can undo all of your hard work. Always deliver your content in the most concise, engaging, and interesting way possible (easier said than done).
5 – Production
The production process is crucial. Plan your process from start to finish and maximise the time you have with the production team to ensure you can create a large range of content. If you have a film crew in your offices for the day, make sure you have a well-planned schedule to make sure you can capture as much valuable content as possible. It can often be extremely difficult to get a CEO or senior people in a room to do filming so if you do, get everything you can!
When you are working with people in front of the camera, treat them kindly, as they are likely to be nervous, do not criticise their performance and always try to help to build their confidence. A technique we occasionally use is to invent a small technical problem with our recording equipment, just so we can ask them to go over the question one more time to make sure we get the best possible content.
6 – Where to Share
Uploading the videos directly to LinkedIn has been found to be the most effective way to draw in consumer interaction and shares.
Posting a video via a YouTube link draws the approximately the same reach as uploading directly, however some have experienced this to cause less interaction on the actual LinkedIn post in terms of likes, comments, and shares.
Our advice is to always post your content directly to LinkedIn, unless you are looking to drive traffic towards your YouTube page. If your video leads the consumer to your website, always ensure the page they find themselves on is relevant and offers additional information to what they have already received. We once ran a campaign where we received over 4.5% CTR, however when the people reached the website 90% bounced off as the landing page had not been designed well as a piece of follow-on content.
LinkedIn content should also work well on Facebook & Twitter if it matches your audience.
7 – Posting Frequency
Don’t post too much too quickly. In Five on a Bike’s experience, we’ve found that a client who posts their entire content collection, from Monday-Friday in one week, loses a significant amount of audience engagement by the last post. However, content which is posted gradually over a longer period of time, draws old and new engagement and reaches a broader audience. So, spread out your posts and ensure that you tag relevant and different people in each one. Encourage interaction and sharing within your network at every opportunity and watch as broader audiences begin to discover your content.
Finally, if you have interviewed people make sure that you tag them, their company and get them to share the content. Then, at a later date, give them the content to upload themselves.
I hope you have found this content useful, please do get in touch if you would like to work with us on creating remarkable video content for LinkedIn.