How To Make a LinkedIn Video Thumbnail

How To Make A LinkedIn Video Thumbnail

Here’s my hack for making a LinkedIn video thumbnail for LinkedIn native video.

THE GOAL

To get more viewers on LinkedIn native video by creating a YouTube-like thumbnail. This professional approach will get the viewer to pause long enough for them to engage with your video and decide if they want to keep watching.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

  1. These instructions are for LinkedIn native video. This means that instead of “uploading” a YouTube video (which is actually linking to a YouTube video), you’ll instead upload to LinkedIn’s own video platform.
  2. This is a hack. LinkedIn native video does not permit thumbnails in the same way YouTube or Facebook video do. 

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

  1. A graphics program like Adobe Photoshop.
  2. A video editing software.

THE STEPS

  1. Make the thumbnail in your graphics program, use the thumbnail you used for YouTube.
  2. Go to your video editing software. Insert the thumbnail as an overlay over the video for the first 0.5 seconds.
  3. Keep the audio where it is. Audio should start from the very beginning to keep the viewer engaged.
  4. Export video.
  5. Upload natively as a LinkedIn video.

RESULTS

Now when viewers press play or rollover your video in the LinkedIn feed, they will see your thumbnail, and it will automatically transition into the playing video.

 YOU’RE DONE!