It’s not just about being on LinkedIn; it’s about using LinkedIn to its fullest potential
Every single company—whether B2C or B2B—now has a chance to lean into social-first video strategies.
This issue of Social Signals was written to artist + art director + music producer Chris Berry’s The Drawing Tape, a 3-hour goldmine of creative inspo.
LinkedIn doesn’t get enough love. That seemingly “boring” professional networking site that used to be the home of only your digital resume just turned 22, and it’s booming over there.
As I’ve said before, LinkedIn is one of my favorite apps to scroll on those quiet weekend mornings. And not because I’m looking for a job…
Some key stats on LinkedIn from their Q4 earnings:
1.5 million pieces of content shared every minute
Video uploads up 34% year-over-year
150% growth in published newsletters
The creators are there. This is worth a read vis Krystal Scanlon in Digiday: How LinkedIn has quietly become the talk of the content creator community
LinkedIn is having a moment, drawing interest from bespoke agencies and creators alike. However, this transformation has been quietly unfolding over the years, establishing LinkedIn as a haven for content creators.
The momentum gained traction in 2020 when the global pandemic accelerated the shift toward remote working and digital connections virtually overnight.
With physical conferences and events canceled worldwide, professionals turned to LinkedIn and other social channels to stay relevant, build connections and innovate new ways to grow their audiences.
The more this happened, the further LinkedIn moved away from being a conventional professional network to becoming a content recommendation engine.
The platform’s own attention on creators helped too.
It launched its own creator management program in 2021 providing select creators, with a dedicated manager and the chance to hear about upcoming LinkedIn news, discuss content strategies as well as test new features and tools in beta. The program relaunched a year later under a new name — LinkedIn Top Voices. It’s still an invitation-only program which features a global group of experts covering a range of topics, run by LinkedIn’s 250-strong editorial team.
This program, along with the platform’s algorithm changes prioritizing engagement over likes or shares, increased video content, the rise of LinkedIn influencers, and the introduction of newsletters are just a few factors that have compounded this shift.
The reporters and news media are there. This is worth a read from Sara Fischer on Axios: LinkedIn doubles down on news as social rivals retreat:
LinkedIn is investing more in journalism and news amid a broader pullback by tech rivals from the industry, the company's editor-in-chief and vice president Dan Roth told Axios in an interview…
Unlike its rivals, LinkedIn is constantly looking for ways to drive traffic to relevant news content with things like publisher notifications and featured posts from LinkedIn News that draw from the published content on its site.
Overall, news publishers have amassed a collective following of over 240 million on LinkedIn.
About 44 million, or 4.4%, of LinkedIn's member base engage with content weekly in their LinkedIn feeds, a spokesperson said…
Context: Over the years, LinkedIn has shifted from providing mostly text-based support and links to now providing newsletter, podcast and video opportunities for publishers, journalists and creators on its platform.
The President is there. This week The White House added LinkedIn to its channel line-up. And yes, one of my connections works there!
Is LinkedIn Video a Copy Paste?
And while other platforms often grab the headlines, LinkedIn has quietly been evolving and of course, copying popular features from other social networks.
We saw it with LinkedIn Events mimicking Facebook Events and Eventbrite, LinkedIn Audio (RIP) mimicking Clubhouse, and LinkedIn Stories (RIP) trying to emulate Instagram Stories. And of course, LinkedIn Newsletters are a pretty robust tool that’s still wildly supported.
But this time, LinkedIn’s latest move isn’t just another “me too” play—it’s a strategic shift with the introduction of a dedicated social video tab on the main app navigation.
I first wrote about this in Social Signals in March — Platform Decay: Can’t wait to see what's on the new LinkedIn FYP page?! (reminder, paid subscribers can access the full archives). We knew this was coming.
And in the last week, if you’ve updated your iOS and apps, you’re most likely seeing the video tab and content as predicted. Does it feel like TikTok and Instagram Reels? Yep. But there’s something different this time around.
LinkedIn has been more thoughtful — spending extra time in testing, gathering user feedback, and optimizing the user experience before pushing it out. This isn’t just a trendy gimmick—it’s a fully baked social-first feature ready for prime time. And you know what? I believe it’s going to work.
The new video player is intuitive, offering vertical scroll (hello, TikTok), seamless in-app shortcuts, and integrated engagement options like comments and likes, all within the video player itself. The interface is familiar, but now it’s in a setting where business insights and professional storytelling take center stage.
The Real Challenge for LinkedIn Video: Content Quality
Here’s the kicker: the platform and this pivot into video isn’t going to be the problem in this move being successful. The true test will be if users can rise to the challenge and create good content.
The truth —> B2B and executive videos have a reputation for being notoriously bad. Think corporate jargon, stiff presentations, poor production quality, and ultimately, content that’s all too easy to skip.
Yawn. No wonder LinkedIn has a bad reputation in some circles. The content can be baaad.
But here’s the opportunity: every single company—whether B2C or B2B—now has a chance to lean into social-first video strategies. Maybe it didn’t make sense to launch a TikTok or Instagram account. Maybe those horizontal videos seemed to be doing fine by just cross-posting them everywhere. But now, this is the signal for a shift.
This shift aligns perfectly with the broader push for social-first strategies that we know are critical as we head into 2025.
It’s not just about being on LinkedIn; it’s about using LinkedIn to its fullest potential. And that includes video. At least for now. Could it change? Yep. Couldn’t everything?
What if instead of waiting to see if it sticks we leaned into making it work for our brands? Now that’s worth giving LinkedIn some love.
5 Steps to Building LinkedIn Video Into Your Mix
Establish Measurable Objectives, duh: Like any other marketing strategy, your video efforts should be guided by clear, measurable goals. Whether you're aiming to increase brand awareness, generate leads, or drive engagement, define your KPIs upfront. This focus ensures that every video you produce contributes to a tangible ROI. As you allocate resources to video production, publishing, and community management, having these objectives will help justify the investment and keep your team aligned.
Start Experimenting with Video ASAP: Don’t wait for the perfect moment or the perfect content. Start now by repurposing existing materials—blog posts, white papers, or webinars—into short, engaging videos. Use this as an opportunity to test different formats, styles, and messaging. Learn what resonates with your audience before making larger investments. Early experimentation will provide invaluable insights into what works and what doesn’t.
Lead with Human Faces: Incorporating human faces in the first few seconds is a proven way to capture attention and stop the scroll. Yes, on LinkedIn, too. Whether it's a team member, an industry expert, or even a customer, showing real people helps create a sense of authenticity and trust.
Invest in Good Production and Think Beyond Traditional Video:
Ummm… soo… a lot of video on LinkedIn is bad. This isn’t going to work if you go the ad hoc or eye-rolling corporate video route. Invest in basic equipment for better sound and lighting, but also think creatively about video formats. Use animations, text overlays, and graphics to bring static content to life and shortcut the need to have folks who aren’t good on camera to be, well, on camera. Think about what content you could edit and plus-up from interviews, podcasts, or zoom calls to make them more social-first.
Quantity Over Quality: While quality is increasingly important on social, so is consistency. The shelf life of a LinkedIn video is longer than a Story on other platforms, but it won't last forever. Publish regularly to maintain visibility and test different types of video content. There’s no best practice here and it will depend on your objective, category, audience, and resources. Remember that measurable objective in #1? That’s kind of the key thing here. But don’t spend all your attention getting just one video done. You need to build momentum.
LinkedIn video isn’t just a new feature; it’s a wake-up call for brands and executives to embrace video as a cornerstone of their content strategy. Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or a CEO looking to enhance your digital presence, now is the time to lean into this platform's evolving capabilities.
After all, LinkedIn may be the sleeper in your social media mix, but it's time to wake up and take full advantage of what this 22-year-old network has to offer.
Recommended Reaching from the Social Signals Archives
Social Signals: The Social Video Shifts of 2024 are Afoot (March 2024)
Social Signals: Platform Decay: Can’t wait to see what's on the new LinkedIn FYP page?! (March 2024)
Social Signals: The future isn’t scary; it just has bad branding: “There is nothing permanent except change.” - Heraclitus (535-475 BCE) (March 2024)
Twin Cities Business: How to Make the Most of LinkedIn by Greg Swan (April 2020)
⚡️ My Generative A.I. Book Arrived
Last month I told you about BooksByAnyone.com, a tool that uses AI to create a full 250-page, paperback-sized book about anyone just by answering a few questions and then it will “write” and ship you a book. It arrived, and it’s HILARIOUS. A real life book. And it’s so dumb it’s great.
You can read the table of contents, themes and background on the project here (reminder: paid subscribers have full access to the Social Signals archives).
🐦 Tweet of the Week
Somehow what’s left of the algorithm on X liked my storm pic this week. It’s been a long time since that happened. Happy it was this one…
🦟 Throwback Cicada Season
Was revisiting some old Social Signals issues — as I’m building a custom GPT of my writing style — and stumbled upon this from one year ago last this week. And oh yeah, those screaming bugs are in the trees again!
⚡️ Social Signals
AI technology is becoming so advanced that researchers argue in a new paper that there needs to be a better way to verify that a person online is human and not an AI bot. In other words, CAPTCHAs are becoming useless as AI gets smarter.
Meta is ending support for custom face filters in its apps.
Threads confirmed it is experimenting with ephemeral posts. It all comes back to Snapchat.
Instagram is adding comments to Stories. Yay engagement, right?
The WSJ wrote a story about artificial intelligence-based assistants, a signal this technology is increasing into the mainstream.
Quote of the Week: "I don't think it really changes reality." -Google, technically three weeks ago, talking about how the "Reimagine" feature on Google's new Pixel 9 can add things to photos that were never there with a prompt. “This all happens right from the phone's default photo editor app. In about five seconds.”
Good Read of the Week: How TikTokification can help internal communicators build culture and community.
Add-On of the Week: This Shopify app turns static images into 3D visuals, and it’s pretty slick.
Tool of the Week: Traffic Cam Photobooth — Take selfies with surveillance! And if it’s not live in your market, they’re giving away the code so you can build one in your own city.
Question of the Week: Are memes like this the same thing as the “if you were born in the year 1949 milk cost .05 cents/gallon” books they sell at Cracker Barrel? (via
)Social Thought Leadership Deck of the Week: JWT strategist Matthew Stasoff shared this deck of OUTSIDERS Social Media Signals here. Great name, Matt!
Patent Watch of the Week: Apple's new patent hints at a smart ring with health tracking and Vision Pro controls.
Podcast of the Week: Listen to drone racing pioneer Marty Wetherall talk about his life and experience helping create LeagueOS, which is fueling HS and collegiate eSports.
Branded Roblox of the Week: Danone launched Danimals Adventure World, a custom branded game on Roblox where players can earn free in-game wearable items by leveling up and completing achievements. To-date, the game has had 2.3M+ visits and over 465k free UGC items claimed. As always, I highly recommend always poking around in branded Roblox experiences to see how other brands are experimenting in metaverse social worlds.
LinkedIn Post of the Week:
breaks down a startup that proposes to "sell" sunlight at night. Mirrors in space direct concentrated sunbeams to spots on Earth. Amazing.Thread of the Week: A Brief History of Things Were Better 50 Years Ago (via
)Insta of the Week: What It's Like Making Content for Brands
Deep Thoughts Thread of the Week: You know what’s weird? That the most common form of legal ID in the USA today is a driver’s license. A certification that you can legally operate a car, a form of transport less than 20% of Americans owned in 1924. That’s what gets you into bars and on planes. In 100 years, we adapted to the point our legal identity is completely intertwined with cars. This morphing of constructs is on the same level as “we still keep calling mini-computers phones,” another conflation I often think about.
Stats of the Week: Social Commerce on the Rise.
Make Everything Chipotle of the Week: When CEOs try to shake things up.
Tweet of the Week: Rat Rods.
TikTok of the Week: Snail Race Theme Song.
See you in the future! 🚀
Greg
PS: if you got value out of this, consider giving it a LIKE, a SHARE, upgrading your SUBSCRIPTION, or at least hitting reply and telling me what your plans are for Labor Day Weekend. TYSM. 🎷