Linkedin may be arriving fashionably late to the video party, but we’re excited to have them! If a picture is worth a thousand words, you can only imagine how valuable a video is to your business.

In recent social media news, LinkedIn has announced that they will soon be allowing users to post native video content onto their social streams directly taken and uploaded from the LinkedIn app. What is native video? It’s a video that is uploaded or created on social networks played on a user’s feed rather than linking to a video website (like YouTube or Vimeo). As of August 2017, LinkedIn has given their 500 top business influencers, including Arianna Huffington and Bill Gates, permission to upload native video to their LinkedIn streams to test the feature.

Up until this point, LinkedIn users have been able to paste a video link into their social posts, leading followers back to video platforms. Additionally, users have been able to upload videos into their personal profiles within their “Experience,” “Summary,” or “Education” sections. This transition, however, will take Linkedin’s video capabilities to a whole new level. On LinkedIn, companies will now be able to post LIVE insider scoops on industry events, exciting company news, or product demos, just like Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat, revolutionizing business news.

In her interview with PR News, Tatiana De Almeida, PR manager from LinkedIn’s corporate communications team relates that LinkedIn will soon begin offering native video: “The ability to record, upload, and post original videos directly into your LinkedIn Feed using our mobile app and coming soon, desktop.” Additionally, video content will come with analytics to show users how their audiences are responding. It will show businesses the number of views, likes, and shares each of their videos are getting. It only takes 3 seconds of playing time for a view to be counted. This is great insight for businesses, as they will be able to know what their followers are actually engaging with and what is working well.

Why should you apply this new video feature on Linkedin to your business? 

1. Your main goal is to catch the attention of potential clients or create opportunities for collaboration, right? LinkedIn was created by and for businesses as a social business network. What better place to find collaborators?

2. Connect yourself quickly to others in your industry by connecting your video with LinkedIn hashtags. Yes! LinkedIn uses hashtags! Video hashtags are an easy way to bring new users aboard and gain more traction.

3. Many people often prefer watching video content rather than reading updates (seriously, according to Hubspot video content makes up 74% of all internet traffic).

4. Google is a huge fan of video for SEO purposes. Video legitimizes your brand. In fact, according to analytics from Moovly, “You’re 53 times more likely to show up 1st on Google if you have video embedded on your website.” Add videos regularly to your Linkedin account to grow your channel and your business.

5. YouTube has shared that their mobile video consumption continues to rise 100% every year. That is a lot of users out there watching video content! Utilize these statistics and start creating video on Linkedin to get more engagement!

6. Personal, behind-the-scenes video content humanizes your brand and makes you relatable and trustworthy to your consumers. Your followers already love your product. Show them why they should also fall in love with the team behind it.

At Orbit Design, we’re excited to dive into LinkedIn’s new native video feature for our own company and also our clients.