Christina asks:
Any thoughts on the ideal length of a video ad for LinkedIn video ads?
Do I know the length of the ideal video? Nope. And I suspect very strongly, as with many questions about the best or ideal anything, that it varies based on your product type and audience. For example, this is a classic B2B ad for toilets:
Here’s how I’d figure out what the ideal length for your audience is. First, you need some videos. I’d suggest three lengths to start – the 30 second spot, the 90 second spot, and then something longer form, like 5-7 minutes. For consistency’s sake, think about placing a call to action in the first 30 seconds of each video. Ideally, your call to action is a dedicated URL that you can track the activity on for each of the 3 videos.
Next, familiarize yourself with the YouTube video insights control panel. Look at your video lengths, and look at which videos manage to keep attention for the duration (or at least until the call to action!)
Third, fire up your email marketing platform of choice. Split your list into a set of randomized segments for as many videos as you have. In this case, we have 3 videos, so go with 3 segments of your list. Feature one video to each segment of your list. 33% gets the short video, 33% gets the medium video, and 33% gets the long video.
Finally, wait a few days for the mailing to play out, then check your YouTube insights to see how many people made it to the first call to action at or about the 30 second mark. Check your analytics and see which of the 3 videos drove the most traffic to your digital properties. From these quick assessments, you should have a reasonably good idea of which of the 3 videos to put up on LinkedIn or any video advertising service.
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This is great Chris – thanks for addressing! We have many videos that we produce – best practices, demos, case studies, etc. – and length varies. Our agency is telling us ’30 second videos only’ which I dont necessarily agree with. For me, statements like that go in the bucket of ‘you better send emails on Tuesdays at 1pm ET’. Like anything, requires testing because every audience and every channel is different.