I Tried LinkedIn Video to See If It Lived Up To The Hype. Here's ...

I started playing around with videos on LinkedIn casually about a year ago, mostly out of curiosity. LinkedIn launched native video in 2017 and got more serious about the format in March 2024, seemingly overnight turning its algorithm sights on being the TikTok of B2B video.

LinkedIn then made a significant monetization move by introducing “Thought Leader Ads,” allowing advertisers to pay to amplify posts from users with sizable followings. These are LinkedIn’s influencer ads, a play to broaden reach through established voices.

Why, you ask, gentle reader? LinkedIn’s growth has been stuck in single digits since 2022 and the Microsoft-owned platform was looking for a new way to grow revenue from its over 1 billion members. LinkedIn creators enter the chat.

Now, for the record, I am a LinkedIn “Top Voice” (air quotes) and am verbose on the platform about my love and universal curiosity for technology and marketing. However, video was uncharted territory and one that made me uncomfortable. That said, I set out on an adventure to learn more about how the LinkedIn algorithm favored video and what role it played in personal brand marketing.

Curious to test LinkedIn’s claim that videos receive five times more engagement, I wanted to see if the hype held up. Additionally, with a staggering 84% of marketers utilizing video in their content strategies, I wanted to go deep and understand the real value of the format. And you, lucky reader, will get some inside baseball information from someone out in the trenches.

The TL;DR is video is great for top-of-funnel awareness

Here are my top-performing posts by impressions over the last 90 days. Notice that the top 3 are all videos. Even my lowest-performing video post by impressions reached almost three times more people than my highest-performing written post.

Forbes reported that 59% of senior executives agree that if both text and video are available on the same topic on the same page, they prefer to watch the video. Back in 2010, 80% of senior executives said they were watching more videos than the year prior—a trend that’s only grown with platforms like Instagram and TikTok, which have normalized video consumption even on professional sites like LinkedIn. Most importantly, visuals are processed by the brain 6–600 times faster than text, making them an easier format to digest quickly.

Here is my top-performing LinkedIn video in which I reviewed the iPhone 16 the day after it went to market. With 774K impressions, I was blown away—numbers like these would make even TikTok creators salivate. In terms of the content itself, I keep my videos under 5 minutes and speak directly to the camera about technology in terms everyone can understand to make it accessible. I also post in the morning between 9 – 11 AM EST. If Gossip Girl covered tech, she’d be me. Over time, I added fun sound effects and captions with Capcut.

To further validate what I was seeing, I reached out to Debra Aho Williamson, founder and chief analyst at Sonata Insights, who has also been exploring LinkedIn videos. Her top-performing video, about how the public uses AI in search, garnered—wait for it—6.4 million views.

Williamson says, “LinkedIn may be favoring video, but that doesn’t mean every video post will do well. One of my videos got over 6 million impressions not too long ago. The next one I posted didn’t do well at all.” It’s a reminder that video success isn’t as simple as ‘set it and forget it.’ In reviewing my past five videos, my average impression count was around 250K views, though none broke the 1M mark like my friend here.

I also spoke with Brendan Gahan, CEO/co-founder of Creator Authority, for more insights on LinkedIn’s video evolution. He explains, “LinkedIn’s vertical video feed has transformed reach for business-focused creators. Creators are generating hundreds of thousands and, at times, millions of views. Video now makes up 60% of all social content consumed, and LinkedIn is evolving to meet this demand—making video essential for creators who want to engage audiences and drive impact.”

In sum, if you’re not using video yet, it might be time to add it to your content repertoire and see for yourself.

Written posts are best at driving targeted engagement

Now, let’s look at my top-performing posts by engagement, where the story flips: my written posts dominate the top three spots for engagement, even though my video posts drive significantly more awareness. For example, my top-written post by engagement drove 68 times fewer impressions than my lowest-performing video post.

The difference? One format is more targeted to my network and the other is being heavily fanned by the LinkedIn algorithm to an audience outside of my immediate network. Per impression counts, my engagement rate on written posts is higher. Also, written posts typically allow for more in-depth exploration of topics and are better suited for detailed professional insights.

So, don’t sleep on written posts. They’re essential for building engagement within your network.

Best Practices for Using Both Formats Use LinkedIn videos for broad awareness and to capture initial attention. Follow up with written posts to deepen engagement and foster community. Tailor content to audience preferences and professional interests. Encourage meaningful interactions in both formats to signal relevance to the algorithm. Post at the ideal time of day—between 9 AM and 5 PM in your local time zone, Monday through Friday, when LinkedIn engagement is highest. Focus on the new metrics that drive the LinkedIn algorithm: relevance, expertise, and engagement. One last thing: Incentivizing creators appropriately

While LinkedIn has ramped up video content on its platform, it still lags behind TikTok and Instagram in terms of creator incentivization. TikTok, for example, leads with a comprehensive creator rewards program, creator marketplace, live gifting, tips, and affiliate marketing. Instagram ranks second with options like sponsored posts, IGTV ads, tips and subscription revenue. In comparison, LinkedIn offers limited creator incentives—a creator accelerator program that selected 100 creators in 2022 and hasn’t expanded since. Currently, sponsored post opportunities with brands and indirect revenue opportunities through consulting are LinkedIn’s primary creator monetization paths.

By understanding the differences in video and written content on LinkedIn and by leveraging both strategically, marketers can create a more effective LinkedIn content strategy that balances broad reach with targeted messaging.

Go forth, B2B video marketers, and create.