The 5 LinkedIn Videos Every Executive Should Be Making

The fact that video gets so much more engagement on LinkedIn today than text—three times more, according to LinkedIn senior director of product Abhishek Srivastava—means that every executive must consider how to incorporate video into their business-to-business social marketing strategies.

Today’s mobile devices have incredible cameras, so hardware is not the limitation, and getting comfortable on camera is really about practice, but what exactly are the types of video content executives should make and leverage to further their company’s business growth objectives?

Here are the five most important kinds of videos every executive should be making.

Thought leadership

While previous, non-video examples of thought leadership on LinkedIn might include writing longer-form blog posts or text comments on industry news, the thought leadership video is a great opportunity for an executive to showcase their ideas literally in their own voice. The communication style, intelligence, confidence and personal engagement of an executive on camera can greatly enhance any analysis of industry developments or trends.

From a format perspective, a thought leadership video should be short (less than 90 seconds) and feature a key learning, insight or response to something topical that is happening within the domain expertise of the executive. Inviting followers to comment or respond as a call to action at the end of the video is a great way to drive further engagement.

Company news

With most product marketing or communication teams producing company news on a regular basis, the company news video provides executives with the chance to add a personal message that aligns with the company’s messaging.

Ideally leveraging any higher end product or company b-roll from the company news, this video features an executive introducing the company news and their passion for the update, including a perspective on why the news is important or why they are personally excited about the update. This personal layer to the official company update in video form humanizes the news and amplifies it in a truly social way.

Event amplification

Being on location for an event is a natural video opportunity and a great way to provide a visually interesting, topical, brand-building video update.

Combining a high-level overview of the event’s purpose, goals and importance with select “action” shots of the event (ideally happy crowds, engaged speakers, etc.) can give followers a positive window into the company’s efforts to educate the market and broaden their reach. Creating and posting event amplification videos while the event is still going on will allow the video to benefit from existing event marketing and audience interest.

Job-level recruiting

While most companies have generic recruiting videos on their social channels, creating a video about a specific critical job opportunity is a great way to personalize the talent search.

Especially if the candidate will work directly with the executive, this video allows the executive to promote a high-level overview of the role while showcasing the warm, engaging personality of their future colleague.

Since colleagues are a key part of a working environment, showcasing the leadership on camera is a great way to feature a key competitive advantage for attracting the best possible talent.

Personal branding

Social media is all about pulling back the curtain and showing the inner, authentic self, so the personal branding video can provide this connection in a highly effective way.

Every executive has passions—activities outside work, community or family—and peeling back the polished veneer of an executive and providing a window into the whole person can make the entire social approach more engaging.

Combining a high-level take on an activity or update, with b-roll of the topic overlaid, will result in the most engaging personal branding video that shows and doesn’t just tell.

Matt Singer is CEO of employee video-creation solution Videolicious.