LinkedIn vs Twitter: Optimal Platforms for Business Video Content

Video content has become an extremely popular and effective marketing tool on social media. Platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter make it simple to upload and share videos as part of your content strategy. But which one should you choose to best reach your target audience with business-related videos?

In this blog post, we'll compare and contrast posting videos natively on LinkedIn versus Twitter. We'll look at video specs and limitations, analytics, audience interests, video performance and engagement rates. From professional versus personal branding video suitability to expected video watch time on each platform, we'll analyze the pros and cons of each network. By the end, you'll have a better understanding of which platform tends to work better for business video content distribution so you can allocate your video content efforts accordingly.

Video Length and Format Differences

When it comes to optimal video length and formats, LinkedIn and Twitter have some key differences to keep in mind. LinkedIn recommends uploading videos that are at least 30 seconds long but ideally 2-3 minutes for the greatest engagement. Videos longer than 10 minutes may see lower view-through rates. LinkedIn supports MP4 or MOV formats and has a maximum file size of 5GB.

Twitter has a more constrained video environment - videos need to be under 2 minutes and 20 seconds long or 280 seconds if you are a verified account. Their system supports MP4, MOV, and AVI formats up to 512 MB in size. So while Twitter limits space and length more, LinkedIn aims for a "Goldilocks" zone of not too short yet not overly long for business video content. This means condensing a long-form video into multiple short clips makes more sense for Twitter, while a 2-3 minute single video can perform very well on LinkedIn without overburdening viewers. Tailoring video length and file specifications accordingly for each platform is key.

Audience Mindset and Interests

The mindset and interests of users on LinkedIn and Twitter can impact how video content resonates. LinkedIn's audience is mostly professionals browsing during work hours to network or educate themselves. There tends to be stronger interest in industry news, career advice, workplace culture, and work-related viral content. Attention spans may be a bit longer.

Whereas on Twitter, users look for quick bites of entertainment and news to consume during short breaks or commute downtime. Attention spans are likely shorter. Unless explicitly looking for business profiles, Twitter audiences may be less receptive to purely promotional content. Thus videos focused on humor, behind-the-scenes, customer testimonials, or community service might gain more traction there. Aligning video topics to the differing audience expectations on each platform is key.

Performance Metrics and Analytics

To assess the success of their videos, business owners need to interpret platform-specific engagement metrics. LinkedIn provides video views, view rate, completion metrics, click-through rate, as well as follower growth. Benchmarks to aim for include 30-60% average video completion rate and click-through rates around 0.4%.

Twitter has less advanced analytics that focus primarily on video views and completion rates. Expect just 1-5% completion rates to count as decent performance. Third-party social media analytics software is needed to get better Twitter metrics. Overall though, Twitter's vanity metrics seem higher, i.e. wider organic reach potential, but actual business impact and conversion metrics tend to be greater on LinkedIn videos. Catering video content to each platform's analytics strengths is key.

Organic Reach and Visibility

When posting natively, the potential organic reach for business videos differs quite a bit between the platforms. LinkedIn actively promotes video in its algorithm, so video posts frequently end up in the feeds of a wider range of connections, especially when first posted. It's not uncommon for videos to reach 10x the follower base or be pushed to secondary connections for exponential growth. LinkedIn also selectively highlights videos in curated sections like #Creator mode furthering visibility.

Twitter's algorithm prioritizes recency and relevance, making it harder to sustain visibility over days or weeks organically. Reach is often limited to just a portion of your own followers already interested in your content focus. So Twitter requires more proactive efforts to gain visibility, via paid ads or leveraging viral factors through wider community sharing. While Twitter can help videos get seen by new audiences, LinkedIn tends to provide that visibility boost automatically initially upon posting.

Suitability for Professional vs Personal Branding

Due to LinkedIn's professional networking focus, it tends to be much better suited for corporate or entrepreneurial brand building over personal branding. Case study videos, product explainers, employee spotlight videos, and industry expert talks all perform well - helping position brands as trusted thought leaders.

Whereas the more casual, conversational nature of Twitter lends better to building up an individual's personal brand - as an influencer, activist, or media personality. Behind-the-scenes daily life snapshots, live streams, motivational videos, and hot takes on trending issues can gain traction there faster. So businesses seeking professional authority should allocate more branding video efforts to LinkedIn.

Types of Videos That Perform Best

While educational and inspiring brand-related videos can succeed on both platforms, certain video content types see higher engagement rates platform-specifically. LinkedIn members have responded well to new product previews, employee testimonials, skills-based tutorials, conference keynotes, and viral thought leadership talks. Twitter's audience favors real-time coverage, event recaps, customer support clips, amusing brand personality videos, and CEO interviews over structured corporate messaging.

Videos under 60 seconds that educate, inspire emotion, or entertain tend to gain more retention and shares overall as well. In summary - informative and story-driven video content works across both sites, but businesses can maximize viewership and conversion potential through strategic platform-specific video content tailoring.

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