How to Optimize Your LinkedIn Cover Story Video

You probably know that LinkedIn is kind of a big deal… but did you know that two professionals join LinkedIn every second? That’s some impressive growth — and a lot of competition. That’s why it’s more important than ever to make your LinkedIn profile stand out. Luckily, LinkedIn recently debuted a new feature that can help you do just that: the LinkedIn Cover Story video.

With this update, you can actually add video content to the section where, up until now, you’ve only been able to put a profile photo. When you upload a Cover Story video, an orange ring will appear around your profile to indicate that have video content to view. A quick 3-second preview will even auto-play silently within the photo frame (a nice Harry Potteresque effect). Check out a nice example here.

So how can you optimize your LinkedIn Cover Story video so that it performs the most effectively? We’ve got some tips!

How to Optimize Your LinkedIn Cover Story Video

Keep It Short

When it comes to LinkedIn Cover Story videos, you don’t have much time to make your impression — 30 seconds to be precise. That’s why it’s vital to keep it short and sweet. It may help to think of your Cover Story video as a quick commercial or elevator pitch.

When you’re planning what content you want to include in your video, always prioritize the most relevant and attention-grabbing skills and experience you have. You don’t have much time to catch the eye of a recruiter or future employer, so make the most of it.

Pro tip: When you use Zubtitle to edit your video, our video trimmer makes it easy to quickly trim the front and back end of your video so it's the perfect length for LinkedIn.

Include Captions

You know you have to keep it short, so you’re already aware that you need to do everything you can to make your Cover Story video stand out. And that’s why it’s a great idea to add captions. Captions can help you rise above the crowd and make your video content more memorable.

But captions don’t just make your video more eye-catching — they’re also vital if the person who’s viewing your Cover Story video has their phone on mute (which approximately 80% of people do when they’re on social media). You could be exactly what this recruiter or employer is looking for… but if they can’t hear what you’re saying, they’ll never know.

That’s where Zubtitle comes in. With our state-of-the-art captioning software, you can add captions to your video with just a few clicks. Zubtitle is the first automated, on-demand social media video tool that automatically transcribes the speech in your video and converts it to captions. Just create an account (or log in to an existing one), upload your video, and let Zubtitle do all of the hard work for you.

Resize to Vertical

A major step in optimizing your video content on any platform is choosing the right size. Much like Stories, the ideal size for your LinkedIn Cover Story video is a 9:16 aspect ratio (Portrait). If you already filmed your video and you didn’t do it in Portrait mode, no worries — Zubtitle includes a resizing and cropping feature. After you upload and edit your video in Zubtitle, you can easily optimize your LinkedIn Cover Story video by simply navigating to the Resize option on the right-hand menu bar and selecting the 9:16 option.

Focus on Branding

Remember that your LinkedIn Cover Story video is an opportunity to present your personal brand in an authentic and engaging way. So always keep branding top of mind when you’re creating your video. Whoever you’re gearing your LinkedIn Cover Story video towards, the goal of your video is to convince them that you’re the person for the job.

A great way to brand your video and make it unique is by adding a logo (if you have one). Adding a logo to your video is a great way to build your network and make sure people remember you. When you use Zubtitle to optimize your LinkedIn Cover Story video, it’s easy to add your logo as well. For a detailed walkthrough on adding a logo to your videos with Zubtitle, check out this post.

Do you want to optimize your LinkedIn Cover Story video?

Sign up for a free Zubtitle account today to get started! With our free plan, you can create two videos per month. To create up to 10 videos per month (and remove the Zubtitle watermark), check out our standard plan.