LinkedIn isn’t YouTube, and what works on a platform designed for deep dives and long-form storytelling rarely translates well into a feed where professionals are scrolling between meetings, looking for quick ideas they can apply. The sweet spot on LinkedIn is short, clear, and immediately valuable video.

That doesn’t mean your long YouTube uploads are wasted, though. With the right approach, they can be repurposed into short clips that perform well on LinkedIn, without the need to start from scratch.

LinkedIn & Video: Do I Even Need to Post Videos on LinkedIn? 

Short answer: yes. In fact, LinkedIn video uploads have increased 36% year-on-year, and video creation on the platform has doubled. Native LinkedIn videos receive significantly higher engagement and visibility than text or image posts; however, that would largely depend on the brand, industry and the content itself because for some, carousel PDF docs do much more wonders than videos. 

Here are some stats about Linked and videos you should know before starting to post videos on the platform: 

• According to multiple sources, video posts generate up to 3 times more engagement than text or image posts and 5 times more engagement than standard posts.
• Users are 20 times more likely to share video content.
• B2B buyers retain 95% of a message when delivered via video compared to just 10% via text.
• Video helps increase dwell time on posts, pushing them to more viewers.
• Posting native video rather than video links (e.g., YouTube) is recommended for higher reach.

In terms of what’s performing best, short-form content (around 15-30 seconds) typically has the highest completion rate (200% higher than longer videos) and videos between 30 seconds and 2 minutes balance delivering meaningful messages and viewer attention spans. Clips that are even shorter (under 15 seconds) are proven to receive particularly high engagement on LinkedIn.

Longer videos (2-5 minutes) work well for tutorials, case studies, and educational content and clips that are up to 10-minute long are suitable for longer formats like interviews or webinars but must maintain value throughout.

On LinkedIn, the first 6 seconds of a video are crucial to grab attention, unlike the first 2-3 seconds on Reels or TikTok.  

What’s the Best Time to Post Videos on LinkedIn?

There’s typically no one-size-fits-all approach to figure out the right timing, but here are the general stats you can use as a starting point: 

• Weekdays are generally best, with mid-morning and early afternoon slots being top posting times.
• Peak engagement times are 9 am to 12 pm, 12 pm to 3 pm, or 3 pm to 6 pm during weekdays.
• Top days for posting are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
• Specific high-engagement time examples include: Tuesday at 10 am and 4 pm, Wednesday at 2 pm and 3 pm, Thursday at 10 am and 4 pm, Friday at 11 am and 1 pm.
• Saturday sees less engagement but mid-day posts at 12 pm tend to perform best.

Why LinkedIn Videos Should Be Short

Studies of LinkedIn behavior show that users engage most with clips under 30 seconds. The logic is simple: short videos load fast, autoplay in-feed, and deliver a single, clear takeaway. Longer content, no matter how insightful, gets scrolled past.

LinkedIn itself has reported that video posts can receive five times more engagement than text-only updates. The catch is that the video has to fit the platform’s rhythm. A sharp 30–60 second insight, a striking customer story, or a stat-packed highlight will always beat a drawn-out explanation.

This is why many creators and companies, from Gary Vaynerchuk’s media team to B2B brands like HubSpot, regularly chop podcasts, webinars, and explainer videos into bite-sized posts tailored for LinkedIn. 

How to Choose a Video to Post on LinkedIn 

The first step in the process is identifying which part of a long video is worth reusing. Not every minute of a webinar or podcast translates into a social-friendly clip. The strongest choices are often:

• a concise tip or piece of advice,
• a bold statement or quotable line,
• a quick case study or customer quote,
• or a statistic that carries weight.

If you already publish on YouTube, your analytics can guide you here. Look for moments where viewer retention is highest, that’s usually a clue that something resonated.

A Workflow Example

Imagine you hosted a one-hour YouTube webinar on leadership in remote teams. The recording covers everything from hiring practices to meeting culture. Buried at the 32-minute mark is a 45-second story about how one manager cut meeting time in half with a simple agenda tweak.

On YouTube, that story is just a small part of a much larger whole. On LinkedIn, it could stand alone as a powerful clip. Using AI Video Cut, you’d upload the webinar, let the tool surface key highlight moments, and choose that 45-second anecdote. With subtitles added and a caption like “How one agenda change saved a team 5 hours a week”, you now have a post that’s immediately shareable in the LinkedIn feed.

How to Repurpose a Long YouTube Video as a LinkedIn Short Insight in Just 3 Steps

Once you’ve identified a promising segment, the actual transformation is pretty easy to achieve.

Step 1: Download the video or open it on YouTube. 

No matter if you’re working from your own YouTube file or one you’ve already shared online, bring it into a clipping tool by downloading it first. For this, you can use a tool like 4K Video Downloader Plus: download the app, copy the YouTube video URL and download it on your device. 

Alternatively, you can just use the YouTube video URL to proceed to the next step. 

Step 2: Use AI Video Cut to find the highlights.

Instead of manually scrubbing through an hour-long talk, the tool can automatically detect moments where the energy shifts, such as pauses, emphasis, changes in tone, and present you with candidate snippets. This cuts down editing time from hours to minutes.

Once you upload a video to AI Video Cut (as a file or YouTube link), the tool will ask you to select a prompt, i.e. the format you want to turn your long video into. It can be a teaser, testimonial, product ad, a compilation of jokes and memes, tutorial or something else. Depending on the prompt you select, AI Video Cut will choose the best moments of the video with the highest virality potential and turn it into an engaging clip. 

Then you just need to select the aspect ratio, customize subtitles, select the length of the video, and AI Video Cut will do the rest. If you need to create a new video, feel free to use the Regeneration feature. And if you want to edit the video AI Video Cut has just created, proceed to the Editor. 

Square or vertical formats work best, since they occupy more screen space. Subtitles are a must as most people browse LinkedIn muted, often in office settings. A light branded outro or call-to-action can help reinforce your message without overwhelming the content.

Step 3: Publish with context.

On LinkedIn, the caption is just as important as the video itself. Frame the clip with a line that tells readers why they should care. 

For example:“This one insight reshaped how I approach sales calls. Worth 45 seconds of your time.”

By the way, AI Video Cut can automatically generate a caption for the video it makes along with a few hashtags that you can copy and use in your video post. 

Best Practices for LinkedIn Clips

There are a few rules of thumb to keep in mind when posting short-form video to LinkedIn:

• Stay professional, but not stiff. People want to see personality, not a corporate broadcast.
• Clarity over flash. Simple edits with good pacing beat heavy effects.
• Explain the source. A line like “from our latest webinar” or “taken from last week’s podcast” gives the video credibility.
• Limit hashtags. Two or three are enough to increase discoverability without cluttering the post.

Why It Works

Long-form content has depth, context, and detail. Short clips have reach, speed, and shareability. When you repurpose one into the other, you get the best of both: a YouTube video that engages viewers who want the full story, and LinkedIn shorts that extend its lifespan across another platform.

With AI Video Cut, that process no longer requires combing through timelines manually or wrestling with editing software. It becomes a quick, repeatable part of your publishing workflow, one that keeps your content alive in more places without doubling your workload.