How to Get Millions of Views on Your LinkedIn Videos

Read Time: 4 minutes

Oh, LinkedIn. The professional social network that once was mostly comprised of office photos, job postings, and shared articles is now a place where people can get millions of views with the strongest media of them all: Video.

And it’s not just in my head. LinkedIn’s algorithm favors not only video, but video that is natively uploaded. That’s because, like all social channels, LinkedIn values content that keeps users on the platform for the longest amount of time. Content that engages users via watching, liking (or now the four other different emotional responses you can give), commenting, and sharing.

The truth of the matter is, we’ve all scrolled through our LinkedIn feeds and seen videos posted by first connections with only two or three meager likes. If you’re going to invest in creating videos for LinkedIn, you’re going to want to make a splash, and position yourself as a thought leader that people are lining up to connect with.

But what makes a natively posted LinkedIn video “good enough” — not just to get a couple of eyes on your video, but hundreds, thousands — heck, why not shoot for the stars: MILLIONS of views?

To answer this question, our Chief Evangelist, Renee Teeley, got in touch with LinkedIn video marketing strategist, Michaela Alexis, to talk all about how you can get millions of views (just like her!) on your LinkedIn videos. Hint: It’s all about the magical balance between practice and candidness.

Let’s walk the tightrope!

Get Millions of Views by Keeping It Short and Sweet

When creating videos for LinkedIn (or really anywhere), it’s common to feel like you need to give a little background. Lots of us like to start with what you might call an appetizer, before you jump into the meat and potatoes of your video. Giving context can be super helpful, but LinkedIn users have got work to get back to, so they’re ready to dive into the goods as quickly as possible.

Here’s the meat and potatoes bit: You gotta keep it short and sweet. If your viewers have to wait three minutes into your video before you get to your point, there’s a good chance they’ve already scrolled away.

Short. Sweet. To the point. Take a look at some of these examples of thought leaders doing just this with LinkedIn video.

It’s also super important to note that on LinkedIn, you have to give people captions to read along with your video content, so they can enjoy it with or without sound.

Keep It Candid And Get Candid Views

As a content creator, video can make us a bit OCD. That’s especially true for face-to-camera videos. For many people like myself, we may only want to share content on a social media that feels polished. But no matter what level of polished, manicured, or sophisticated we aim to appear, the people watching on the other side of the screen want to see us keeping it candid and authentic.

It’s true. Viewers are magnets to authentic content, which is key in order to foster that “know, like, and trust” feeling you long for. The more authentic your content is, the more you’re sharing a true glimpse into your world with your viewers, which is what audiences want most.

Most important is to find the right balance for you. Don’t be scared to play around with various takes of a video from simply spontaneous to super-scripted (more on that soon). What parts of each offer you a sense of flow? From there, create a style that uniquely fits your professional identity to share your insights authentically, while keeping it in check with your role and industry.

Tips to Practice

In order to learn how to bring yourself in front of the camera, here are three tips that may work for you:

1) Practice, practice, practice! Make strong eye contact with the camera so your audience can feel that one-on-one connection. Experiment with lighting, backgrounds, and sitting/standing positions, or even your hand gestures. Learn what works best for you. The more comfortable you feel, the more comfortable you’ll be to watch.

2) Get yourself a teleprompter. A bit of a more technical suggestion, but it doesn’t hurt to try a free app that will allow you to roll your script while you record so you don’t miss any essential lines.

3) Share your video with a friend. Before you share your video with the entire professional world, share it with someone you trust and ask for genuine feedback. Are you being repetitive at certain points? Did you overlook parts that are a no-brainer to you, but maybe unclear to someone not in your space? Getting another opinion is a good way to work out these kinks before you set your video to go live.

Work on Your Script Writing and Copywriting

No doubt you’ve heard the expression, “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.” While this is pretty much one hundred percent true, one hundred percent of the time, figuring out what to say (and the ability to write it down) is a lifelong skill to work on. Few have ever truly mastered it, but everyone can build their skills. So unless you’re someone who thrives from talking off the cuff, you’ll want to fine tune your script writing and general copywriting abilities so you can be creating the most valuable content possible.

There are some great resources out there (like this or that) to help you write clear and engaging text, or even storyboard how you want the video to look before you get shooting. One piece of advice that I find is always helpful, is offering up an enticing hook right away to assure your audience that you’ll be delivering on what you said your video would be about in your LinkedIn post copy.

LinkedIn Videos That Get YOU Looking

Creating LinkedIn videos is a delicate art and balance between precision, authenticity, practice, and valuable content. Follow these, and you might find an impressive amount of digits that have watched your content and connected with you so they won’t miss your next video creation. The very first steps to get millions of views.

Remember: Thought leadership is part brains and part personality, so be sure to bring your whole self to your face-to-camera appearances, voiceovers, and scripts. As Steve Martin once put it, “Be so good, they can’t ignore you.” So go out there, give it your all, and have fun! If you post it, they will come.

Got any of your own ideas on how to make LinkedIn videos that catch people’s attention? Let us know in the comments below or on YouTube. As always, don’t forget to subscribe to Powtoon’s YouTube channel for more episodes of the #MakeItAwesome Show and more awesome content from the Powtoon team!

Stay Awesome!

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Shoshi Davis

Shoshi joined Powtoon as a Marketing Assistant. To read more of her stuff, you can find her content on Upwork and Business 2 Community talking all things inbound marketing for SaaS. After only 2 weeks at Powtoon, Shoshi was dubbed by the marketing team as having the superpower of "Unbridled Enthusiasm." So that was pretty cool.