Video ads are becoming increasingly popular on social media platforms like LinkedIn. But are they the most effective ad format for LinkedIn? To answer this question, we need to look at the unique audience and use cases of LinkedIn compared to other social platforms.
Who is the LinkedIn audience?
LinkedIn’s audience tends to be professional and career-focused. According to LinkedIn’s 2021 user statistics:
- LinkedIn has over 774 million users worldwide
- The majority of users are between the ages of 25-34
- Most users have a college education or higher
- The top industries on LinkedIn are IT, higher education, financial services, manufacturing, and healthcare
So the typical LinkedIn user is a working professional looking to connect with other professionals, find jobs, establish their professional brand, and consume career-related content.
How do people use LinkedIn?
LinkedIn serves a few key use cases:
- Professional networking
- Job seeking and recruiting
- Thought leadership and personal branding
- B2B marketing and lead generation
- Selling products and services to other businesses
Because of these professional focuses, the platform tends to foster more serious, career-focused engagements than other social networks. Users are not typically browsing LinkedIn for casual entertainment the way they might be on Facebook or Instagram.
Benefits of video ads on LinkedIn
Here are some of the benefits of using video ads on LinkedIn:
- Showcase your brand personality: Video is a dynamic medium that can convey branding, emotions, company culture, and products/services in a vivid way.
- Tell stories: Video excels at storytelling and is engaging and memorable.
- Explain complex products: You can use video to demo products and explain complex services in a visual way.
- Build trust and credibility: Video ads lend authenticity and a “face” to your brand.
- Capture attention: Video stands out in the feed and can grab attention in a scrolling content stream.
Potential drawbacks of LinkedIn video ads
However, there are also a few potential drawbacks to keep in mind:
- Short attention spans: LinkedIn users tend to skim content during brief breaks from work. They may not take the time to watch a full video ad.
- Distracting from tasks: Playing audio/video can disrupt users if they have LinkedIn open while working.
- Expect serious tone: Humorous/emotional creative may seem out of place for some professional audiences.
- High costs: Video ads are more expensive to produce than static image ads.
Use cases where LinkedIn video ads excel
Here are some of the best-case uses where LinkedIn video ads can be especially impactful:
- B2B product demos – Show your product in action.
- Thought leadership content – Position executives as industry experts.
- Brand narratives – Tell your company’s story and purpose.
- Trade show promotions – Attract booth visitors pre-event.
- Job promotions – Show off your workplace culture and perks.
- Lead generation – Send viewers to landing pages.
Best practices for optimizing LinkedIn video ads
To get the most out of LinkedIn video ads, keep these best practices in mind:
- Keep it short – Under 2 minutes is ideal.
- Lead with value – Communicate benefits in the first 3 seconds.
- Leverage LinkedIn’s targeting – Target by job title, industry, skills, etc.
- Make it skimmable – Use text overlays so viewers understand your message even if they don’t watch the full video.
- Call-to-action – Include a clear CTA like “Learn More” to drive conversions.
- Mobile-first – Optimize video for sound-off mobile viewing.
Video ad formats on LinkedIn
LinkedIn offers the following video ad formats:
- Sponsored Video – Appears in the LinkedIn feed like organic posts.
- Message Ads – Full-screen video ads that appear between feed posts.
- Carousel Ads – Swipeable series of 2-10 image/video cards.
You can also promote existing videos from LinkedIn’s native video platform, LinkedIn Live. Overall, Message Ads tend to have the best viewing completion rates on LinkedIn.
Metrics to track for LinkedIn video ads
Here are some key metrics to monitor when running LinkedIn video ad campaigns:
Metric | Definition |
---|---|
Impressions | How many times your ads were shown. |
View rate | Percentage of impressions that resulted in views. |
Completion rate | Percentage of viewers who watched your full video. |
Clicks | How many clicks your call-to-action received. |
Conversions | How many desired actions were completed (sign-ups, purchases, etc.) |
Cost per conversion | How much you spent to acquire each conversion. |
Conclusion
In summary, video ads can be highly impactful on LinkedIn if used for the right objectives. But given the audience and use cases of LinkedIn, they may not always be the most effective approach. The professional audience has limited time and may be unlikely to watch full videos while briefly scanning content during work. Other formats like image ads, carousels, and natively formatted posts can also be less disruptive and cheaper ways to get your message across.
But for key goals like product demos, brand storytelling, and thought leadership, LinkedIn video ads are worth including in your marketing mix. Just be sure to follow best practices like optimizing for sound-off viewing on mobile and keeping videos short, valuable, and targeted. Measure view rates, completion rates, clicks, and conversions to gauge real-world effectiveness.
Consider testing video ads versus other formats side-by-side. Evaluate them based on your specific KPIs and audiences. This can help you determine the right role for video in your broader LinkedIn strategy.
With smart targeting, compelling creative, and metrics-driven optimization, LinkedIn video ads can powerfully complement other ad formats and organic content. Video shouldn’t fully replace other types of ads but can be very effective when paired strategically with other efforts.