Putting a video as your LinkedIn profile picture is a great way to stand out and showcase your personality to connections and potential employers. While LinkedIn only allows static images for profile pictures, there is a clever workaround that allows you to embed a short video that will play automatically when people visit your profile.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk through the step-by-step process of adding a video profile picture to your LinkedIn account, from formatting requirements and choosing the right video file to actually uploading and customizing the video on your profile. We’ll also provide tips for creating an effective video that makes a strong first impression.
Benefits of Having a Video Profile Picture
Here are some of the key advantages of using a video instead of a static photo for your LinkedIn profile:
- Shows your personality – A short video can let viewers see your facial expressions, hear your voice, and get a better sense of who you are.
- Stands out – Video profile pictures are still relatively rare on LinkedIn, so adding one is a great way to distinguish your profile.
- Highlights soft skills – You can highlight speaking skills, charisma, humor and other intangibles through an introductory video.
- Shows you’re tech-savvy – A video shows you understand how to optimize a LinkedIn profile and are comfortable with multimedia.
- Engages viewers – Videos are more eye-catching and engaging than static images.
- builds trust and authenticity by putting a real face to your name.
In short, a video profile picture allows you to create a great first impression and gives viewers insight into your personality and soft skills. For job seekers, this can give you a major advantage over the competition.
LinkedIn Video Profile Picture Requirements
If you want to upload a video as your profile photo, there are a few requirements to keep in mind:
- File type – The video must be in .MP4 or .MOV format. Other video formats like .AVI or .WMV are not supported.
- Dimensions – The video should be 480 x 480 pixels (square). Vertical or horizontal rectangles will be cropped into a square when uploaded.
- Length – LinkedIn profile videos can be up to 20 seconds long. Anything longer will get cut off.
- Aspect ratio – Square 1:1 aspect ratio is recommended, as non-square videos will be cropped.
- File size – To ensure a high quality rendering, keep the video file under 10 MB. Larger files may impact performance.
- Resolution – For sharp image quality, aim for videos recorded in 720p or 1080p resolution.
Adhering to these parameters will make sure your video profile picture looks great on LinkedIn and plays smoothly when people view your profile.
Choosing an Effective Video
When making a video for your LinkedIn profile picture, you’ll want to be strategic about what content to include. Here are some tips on creating an engaging, professional video:
- Keep it short – With only 20 seconds to work with, get right to the point. A 5-10 second intro is ideal.
- Be professional but personable – Maintain a professional tone while letting your personality shine through. Strike a comfortable, approachable presence on camera.
- Dress professionally – Wear either business or business casual attire, avoiding low cut tops, ripped jeans, etc.
- Frame yourself from the shoulders up – Get a headshot style framing to mimic the look of a profile photo.
- Film during the daytime – Ensure optimal lighting conditions to keep the video bright and vibrant.
- Use an interesting but simple background – An office, scenic nature backdrop, or plain solid color wall make for ideal backgrounds.
- Have a script or talking points – Practice what you’re going to say instead of rambling off the cuff.
- Introduce yourself – State your name, job title or field, and a quick professional tagline.
- Smile and make eye contact – Engage the viewer and show confidence.
- Close with a call to action – Invite viewers to connect or check out your portfolio.
The goal is to come across as approachable yet professional. You want the video to pique interest and encourage connections to engage further with your profile.
Uploading Your Video to LinkedIn
Once you have a properly formatted, 20-second video ready to go, it’s time to update your profile. Here is a step-by-step guide to uploading your video:
- Access your account settings – On desktop, click on your profile image at the top right. On mobile, tap the “Me” icon at the bottom.
- Click on “View profile”
- Click the camera icon to change your profile photo. Then select “Upload a video”
- Browse your files and select your properly formatted .MP4 or .MOV video file.
- Crop to adjust framing – LinkedIn will promp you to crop the video to square. Adjust framing as needed.
- Save changes
Once uploaded, you can preview how the video will appear on your profile. The file will take a short while to process. Make sure it appears as you want it to before publishing your changes.
And that’s it! Your LinkedIn profile video should now be live. You can change back to a regular photo at any time the same way. Just select “Upload Photo” instead of video.
Customizing How Your Video Displays
You have a couple options for customizing the way your video profile picture looks and behaves:
- Add a cover frame – LinkedIn will auto-generate a cover frame from your video, but you can select a different image frame to display before video playback starts.
- Rearrange preview image – Change the starting preview image for the video to pick the exact frame you want viewers to see first before hitting play.
- Turn off autoplay – By default, your profile video will autoplay whenever someone lands on your profile. But this can be disabled so the video only plays when clicked.
To access these settings, click “Edit profile video” after uploading your video. Tweak these options until you have the exact display settings you want.
Best Practices for an Effective Video
To help your LinkedIn profile video make a strong first impression and leave viewers wanting to connect with you, keep these best practices in mind:
- Keep it professional – Avoid anything overly casual, controversial, or political. LinkedIn is still a professional platform.
- Show authentic enthusiasm – Let viewers see genuine excitement appropriate for your profession.
- Speak clearly and confidently – Enunciate words and project energy in your voice and facial expressions.
- Make it personal but focused – Briefly highlight interests and personality outside work but stay professional.
- Engage viewers – Make eye contact, smile, and speak directly to the camera.
- Convey your value – Present top skills, achievements, or credentials quickly and concisely.
- Have a call to action – End with a solid CTA like “Let’s connect!” or “Check out my portfolio.”
Polish your presence, tone, delivery, and content. The more practice takes you have recording the video, the better.
Alternatives for Adding Video to LinkedIn
If you don’t necessarily want an autoplaying video as your profile picture, there are a couple other ways to incorporate video content into your LinkedIn profile:
- Record a background cover photo – Add a moving cover photo backdrop with audio and visuals.
- Share video posts – Post videos natively into your LinkedIn feed for connections to view and engage with.
- Add a presentation – Under your profile’s “Featured” section, add a slideshow-style presentation with audio narration.
While these don’t offer the exact same benefits of a video profile picture, they do allow you to use video content to boost your LinkedIn presence. Mixing in some videos can add diversity to your profile.
Improving Accessibility
When adding a video profile picture, keep in mind that visual media inherently reduces accessibility for visually impaired users. Be sure to take steps to optimize accessibility:
- Transcribe or caption your video – Add captions or include a transcript so text-to-speech software can vocalize your video’s audio.
- Describe the video in your bio – Give context on what the video is about and any important visual details.
- Have a transcript handy – If requested by a user, be ready to provide the video’s full text transcript.
Making these considerations will help ensure your profile video is inclusive and can be interpretted by those using assisstive technologies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are answers to some common questions about adding video profile pictures on LinkedIn:
What file formats can I use?
LinkedIn only supports .MP4 and .MOV video formats for profile videos. Other formats like .WMV or .AVI are not accepted.
Is there a way to add videos longer than 20 seconds?
Unfortunately LinkedIn does not allow profile videos longer than 20 seconds. Any video you upload that is longer will be automatically trimmed to 20 seconds when uploaded.
Can I replace the auto-generated cover image?
Yes, you can select a different image from your video to use as the cover image viewers see before the video starts playback.
Does a video use up one of my monthly profile edit credits?
No, adding or changing your profile video does not count as one of your alloted monthly profile edits. You can change your video as often as you want.
How do I remove the video and switch back to a regular photo?
Simply go through the upload flow again and select “Upload Photo” instead of video. Then pick a new static photo you want to use.
Can I see who’s looked at my video profile picture?
Unfortunately LinkedIn does not show profile video viewership analytics. You can only see overall profile views, not which individual viewers watched your video.
Conclusion
Adding a video as your LinkedIn profile picture is a highly effective way to showcase your personality to connections and stand out from the crowd. Follow the tips in this guide to create an engaging 20-second video, format it properly for LinkedIn, and upload it seamlessly to your profile. With a compelling video that captures viewers’ attention, you can make your LinkedIn presence more dynamic while highlighting the ideal first impression of who you are and what you bring to the table.