How to Embed a YouTube Video in a LinkedIn Post

Posting a YouTube video on your LinkedIn page should be easy, but simply hitting the share button robs you of valuable engagement and reach. To get the most out of your video content, you need to understand how LinkedIn's algorithm works. This guide will walk you through the right way to embed a YouTube video in a LinkedIn post, why the common method holds you back, and how to optimize your video for maximum impact on your professional network.

Why Share YouTube Videos on LinkedIn in the First Place?

Before we get into the "how," let's quickly touch on the "why." You work hard creating video content for YouTube, so letting it sit on one platform is a huge missed opportunity. Sharing it on LinkedIn offers some distinct advantages:

• Repurpose Content Effortlessly: You don't need to create brand-new content for every platform. Repurposing your best YouTube content for LinkedIn saves an incredible amount of time and effort while keeping your profile active and engaging.
• Tap into a Professional Audience: The audience on LinkedIn is different. They're professionals, decision-makers, and potential clients who are there to learn, network, and grow. Your educational or industry-focused video finds a receptive and valuable audience here.
• Establish Yourself as an Expert: Consistently sharing high-value video content on professional topics builds your credibility and positions you as a thought leader in your field. It shows your expertise rather than just tells people about it.
• Boost Your Reach with a Video-First Algorithm: Like all social platforms, LinkedIn’s algorithm loves video. Posts with native video content are shown to more people, stay visible in the feed longer, and generate significantly more engagement than text-only or link posts. Learn how to optimize your LinkedIn posts for engagement.
• Drive Qualified Traffic to Your Channel: When done correctly, your LinkedIn posts can act as a powerful funnel, driving targeted, professional viewers back to your YouTube channel to subscribe and watch more of your content.

The Two Ways to Post a YouTube Video on LinkedIn (And Why Only One is Right)

There are two main ways to get your YouTube video onto LinkedIn. One is fast but ineffective, and the other takes an extra minute but delivers vastly superior results. Understanding the difference is critical to your success.

Method 1: Copy-Pasting the YouTube Link (The "Easy" but Ineffective Way)

This is what most people do. It seems logical, but it's the professional equivalent of showing up to a networking event and handing out a flyer without saying a word. It’s a low-effort approach that gets low-effort results.

Here’s how it works:

1. You go to your video on YouTube.
2. Click the "Share" button beneath the video player.
3. Copy the provided link.
4. Go to LinkedIn, start a new post, write a caption, and paste the link.

LinkedIn will generate a small preview of your video with the title and a thumbnail, and it looks like it's embedded. But it's not. It's just a link post.

So, What’s the Problem?

The issue is that social media platforms are in constant competition for your attention. LinkedIn wants its users to stay on LinkedIn. When you post a direct link to an external site like YouTube, you're essentially shouting, "Hey, everyone! Leave this website and go somewhere else!"

LinkedIn's algorithm sees this and actively suppresses the visibility of your post. It will show it to a much smaller percentage of your network because your post is designed to take users off the platform. The consequences are a direct hit to your marketing efforts:

• Reduced Organic Reach: Your post simply won’t be seen by as many people.
• Low Engagement: With fewer eyeballs, you’ll get fewer likes, comments, and shares.
• A Clunky User Experience: Instead of the video playing smoothly in their feed, users have to click a small box that often opens a new tab. This extra friction is enough to stop most people from watching at all.

You’re not truly "embedding" the video, you're just pointing people away from where they are. This method clashes with LinkedIn's goals, so your content gets put in the penalty box.

Method 2: Native Uploading (The High-Engagement Way)

The best way to "embed" a YouTube video on LinkedIn is to forget the link entirely and upload the video file directly to the platform. This is called a "native" video upload, and it's what the algorithm is designed to reward.

When you upload natively, you're playing by LinkedIn's rules. You are providing rich, engaging content that keeps users on the platform, and the algorithm will thank you by pushing your post to a much wider audience.

Here's The Step-by-Step Guide to Native Uploading:

Step 1: Get Your Video File
First, you need the actual video file (.MP4 is the most common and best format). This should be the final, edited version that you uploaded to YouTube. Make sure it's saved somewhere easily accessible on your computer, like your Desktop or a dedicated "Social Videos" folder.

Step 2: Start a New Post on LinkedIn
Log in to your LinkedIn account. On your homepage, click on the "Start a post" box at the top of your feed.

Step 3: Attach Your Video
In the create post pop-up, look for the icons at the bottom. Click on the "Add media" icon (it looks like a little landscape photo) and then select the video icon. A file browser window will open. Navigate to where you saved your video file, select it, and click "Open."

Step 4: Customize Your Video Options
LinkedIn gives you a few powerful options once your video has finished processing:

• Video Thumbnail: LinkedIn will auto-select a thumbnail, but it's often not the best frame. You can choose a different frame or, even better, upload a custom thumbnail image. A compelling thumbnail acts like a movie poster for your video and drastically increases the chances someone will stop scrolling and watch.
• Captions (Highly Recommended): This is one of the most important steps. A huge percentage of users watch videos on social media with the sound off. You can upload a captions file, usually an .SRT file. Services like Rev.com can create one for you, or many video editing programs can export one alongside your video. YouTube itself auto-generates captions that you can download and edit for accuracy. Do not skip this step!

Step 5: Write a Killer Caption
Now it’s time to add text to your post. This is your chance to hook your audience and give them a reason to watch. Learn how to create engaging LinkedIn posts that capture attention immediately. We will cover this in more detail in the next section.

Step 6: Post It!
Once you’re happy with everything, hit the "Post" button. Your video will now autoplay silently in the feeds of your connections, grabbing their attention and earning that sweet, sweet algorithm boost.

Pro Tips for Making Your LinkedIn Video Post a Success

Just uploading the video natively is only half the battle. To truly maximize its impact, you need to frame it with a great post.

1. Craft a Compelling Opening Line

The first one or two lines of your post are what people see before they have to click "...see more." You need to make this text impossible to scroll past. Lead with a provocative question, a surprising statistic, or a bold statement that directly relates to your video.

Example: "Productivity isn't about time management, it's about attention management. I used to work 60-hour weeks before I realized this one shift, which I break down in this video."

2. Don't Be Afraid to Get Personal

LinkedIn is a professional network, but it’s still social. People connect with stories. Share a brief anecdote about why you made the video or the problem it solves for you. This adds context and humanizes your content.

3. Use the "Link in the First Comment" Strategy

Wait, didn't we just say not to use links? This is the one exception. The goal is to get views on your native LinkedIn video and drive traffic back to YouTube. To get the best of both worlds, do this:

1. Publish your native video post with a great caption.
2. Immediately after it's live, go to your post and be the first person to leave a comment.
3. In that comment, write something like: "For anyone who wants to see the full, in-depth guide, you can watch the entire video on my YouTube channel here:" and then paste the link to your YouTube video.

This clever technique allows your post to get the maximum organic reach from the native video upload because there are no external links in the body of the post itself, while still giving curious viewers a clear path back to your channel.

4. Add Relevant Hashtags

Use 3-5 strategically chosen hashtags to help LinkedIn categorize your content and show it to people interested in those topics. Don't just pick generic tags like #video. Be specific to your industry or the video's topic by using relevant hashtags on LinkedIn. For example: #contentmarketing #seo #socialmediastrategy #personalbranding.

5. Tag Relevant People and Companies

If you mention a person, a tool, or a company in your video, tag their official LinkedIn page in your post. This sends them a notification, increasing the chance they'll share your post with their own network and exponentially expand your reach.

Final Thoughts

Sharing your YouTube videos on LinkedIn is a powerful way to repurpose your content, but a simple copy-paste of the link will hold you back. By investing a few extra moments to upload your video natively, you play by the platform's rules, get rewarded by the algorithm, and provide a much better experience for your professional network.

Taking the time to manually download, edit clips, and re-upload content across different platforms like LinkedIn and YouTube can quickly become a full-time job. We ran into this problem ourselves, wrestling with old-school tools that just weren't built for a video-heavy workflow. That’s why we created Postbase, a social media tool designed for how content is actually made today. We make it simple to plan all your posts on a visual calendar and schedule your videos across all your accounts from one place, giving you back the time to focus on creating great content instead of just managing it.