LEVERAGING LINKEDIN ADS: You know advertising is crucial and you're aware that video marketing is becoming essential, but how do you combine them smoothly and successfully (without wanting to cry from confusion)? Don't worry, friends. We've got the lowdown on how you can leverage video advertising on LinkedIn.
According to LinkedIn, users are 20x more likely to share video posts than any other types of posts. 😮 These are the video ad takeaways we deemed most important from a report by LinkedIn and Digivizer and our higher ed twists on the data.
1) Include a demo and an offer
- The data: Ads with an offer, promotion, or deal drive 1.2x the average video completion rate. What's more, ads with an offer in the headline achieved an 8% higher completion rate.
- The higher ed tip: Use video to promote educational resources and show the value of the resource. Or, use video to offer an app fee waiver for folks who start an application account and walk them through the process.
2) Animate your video ad
- The data: Ads with animated videos had the highest click-through-rate of all other video types.
- The higher ed tip: Create an animated video promoting an upcoming recruitment event or articulating program UVP's with a CTA to book time with a coordinator.
3) Keep audio simple and use captions
- The data: Use a single audio source and always include captions. Multi-track audio (such as voiceover plus a musical track) will reduce your video completion rate and engagement rate. Keep in mind that 79% of videos in the LinkedIn feed are watched with the sound off.
- The higher ed tip: Make a video explaining your program's unique value with captions and a voiceover but no background music, or get creative by combining music and captions but omitting the voiceover.
4) Keep copy short and include a CTA button
- The data: Videos with long description or introductory text beyond four to five lines suffered worse performance metrics. Minimize the amount of copy to around 100 to 150 characters so your video ad can be the engine of growth.
- The higher ed tip: Short, snappy copy works best. Keep the copy to three lines or less and get your key point across in the first two lines.
Shameless plug 🔌 For more easily digestible insights, tips and tricks, listen to a recent Fanatical Fridays podcast episode or watch FRIdeas #37: Do Video Ads on linkedIn Work for Higher Ed Marketers where our host Zach Busekrus dives deep into the world of LinkedIn video ads.
🎁 BONUS TOPIC 🎁
BEATING THE INSTAGRAM ALGORITHM: In an instant, your organic reach can plummet if you don't keep up with the constantly evolving ranking factors on Instagram. This Hootsuite guide gives tons of tips — we unpack a few below.
- Post carousels: Carousel posts make up 17% of your feed and pull 3x the engagement of other posts. Loop multiple faculty spotlights together, post a handful of images from graduation, etc. Ask yourself if there are more images you could take advantage of in order to create more carousel posts.
- Roll into the Reels party: Right now, the algorithm is favoring Reels in user's feeds to highlight this new feature. Thoughtfully creating new Reels that show off your unique value proposition in an organic, relevant way can draw new eyes to your account and increase your engagement (P.S. Don't try to cheat and recycle watermarked TikToks).
- Cultivate community: No matter your KPIs for Instagram, authentically connecting with your audience is how you'll build brand loyalty. So get to know your audience, dig into performance analytics to find out what content prospects engage with most, and serve up the information they're searching for.
Shameless plug 🔌 Enhance your social media knowledge by tapping into a recent post on The Minute — Special edition: Social media trends.
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Each week, The Enrollify Podcast equips you with insights into how the latest trends in marketing and technology are affecting enrollment managers. Every episode is designed to inspire new, creative ideas for how to optimize the resources you have to generate the results you need.