Decompiling the B2B Funnel: How to Generate Leads with Short-Form Video (Even if You Hate Marketing)

As developers, we're trained to be skeptical. When marketing trends like short-form video start flooding our feeds, the default reaction is often a mix of cynicism and dismissal. It seems like fluff, a distraction from real work. But what if we treated it like any other system to be understood, optimized, and leveraged?

This isn't about dancing on TikTok (unless that's your thing). This is about treating short-form video as a high-leverage tool for B2B lead generation, brand building, and establishing technical authority. Let's decompile the process.

The B2B Video "Stack": Choosing Your Platform API

Not all platforms are created equal. Each has its own algorithm, audience, and expected content format—think of them as different APIs with unique documentation. Picking the right one is crucial.

LinkedIn: The Professional Graph

Best for: Technical deep dives, company culture, and career-focused content.

LinkedIn's algorithm favors educational, professional content. The audience is already in a business mindset, making it the most direct platform for B2B lead generation. Think of it as a live, interactive resume. Your goal here is to establish credibility.

Content Ideas:

• 60-Second Code Explainers: Break down a complex function or concept from your product's codebase.
• "How It's Made" for Features: Show the engineering thought process behind a new feature release.
• Whiteboard Sessions: Film a quick explanation of an architectural decision.

YouTube Shorts: The Search & Discovery Engine

Best for: Evergreen tutorials, quick tips, and driving traffic to longer-form content.

YouTube is the world's second-largest search engine. Shorts are its way of competing with TikTok, and they get heavily promoted. A great Short can act as a trailer for a more in-depth technical video or a blog post on your site.

Content Ideas:

• CLI Quick Wins: A 30-second video showing a powerful but obscure terminal command.
• Tooling Tips: Showcase a VS Code extension or a browser dev tool trick.
• Animated Explainers: Use tools like Manim to visually explain algorithms or data structures.

TikTok: The Bleeding-Edge Awareness Play

Best for: Brand humanization, reaching emerging developers, and high-velocity experiments.

Don't sleep on TikTok. The #TechTok community is massive and surprisingly sophisticated. While direct lead conversion is harder, the brand awareness potential is unparalleled. This is your R&D lab for content. Show the people behind the code.

Content Ideas:

• "Day in the Life of a Dev" at your company.
• Relatable Developer Humor: Memes about merge conflicts or node_modules.
• Reacting to industry news or new framework releases.

The Content Generation Algorithm: A Repeatable Workflow

Good content isn't magic; it's the output of a solid process. Here’s a simple, developer-friendly workflow.

Step 1: Ideation (seedContent())

Your daily work is a goldmine of content. Instead of trying to invent ideas, document what you're already doing.

function seedContent() {
  const sources = [
    "A tricky bug I just fixed",
    "A question a junior dev asked me",
    "Deconstructing a cool feature from another product",
    "Answering a Stack Overflow question visually",
    "My hot take on the new JavaScript framework"
  ];
  return sources[Math.floor(Math.random() * sources.length)];
}

console.log(`Today's video idea: ${seedContent()}`)

Step 2: Production (compileVideo())

Keep it simple. Your iPhone camera is more than enough. Good audio is more important than good video. Get a decent USB mic. For code, high-resolution screen recordings are your best friend. Structure your video with a simple script.

function createVideoScript(topic, painPoint, solution) {
  const script = {
    hook: `// First 3 seconds: Grab attention\nconsole.log("Stop writing ${topic} like this...");`,
    value: `// Seconds 4-50: Provide value\nconsole.log("The problem is ${painPoint}. Instead, try this: ${solution}. Here's a quick demo...");`,
    cta: `// Final 10 seconds: Call to action\nconsole.log("For the full code snippet, check the link in our bio. Follow for more dev tips!");`
  }
  return script;
}

Step 3: Deployment & Monitoring (deployAndTrack())

Posting is just the beginning. You need to track what works. The goal isn't just views; it's qualified leads. Create unique tracking links (e.g., using UTM parameters) for each video or platform to measure who clicks through and signs up.

// Simple metric tracking for a video campaign
function calculateLeadConversion(views, linkClicks, signups) {
  if (views === 0 || linkClicks === 0) {
    return { ctr: 0, conversionRate: 0, status: "No data" };
  }

  const clickThroughRate = (linkClicks / views) * 100;
  const conversionRate = (signups / linkClicks) * 100;

  console.log(`Video Performance:\n- Views: ${views}\n- Clicks: ${linkClicks}\n- Signups: ${signups}\n--------------------\n- Click-Through Rate (CTR): ${clickThroughRate.toFixed(2)}%\n- Lead Conversion Rate: ${conversionRate.toFixed(2)}%`);

  return { ctr: clickThroughRate, conversion: conversionRate };
}

// Example: A LinkedIn video about your new API
calculateLeadConversion(25000, 450, 35);

This tells you that while 1.8% of viewers clicked, a solid 7.78% of those who clicked turned into a lead. That's a powerful signal.

Final Thoughts: It's Just Another Communication Protocol

Short-form video isn't a marketing mystery box. It's a communication protocol optimized for modern attention spans. By applying a systematic, data-driven approach, you can turn it into a predictable engine for generating high-quality B2B leads.

Stop thinking of it as marketing and start thinking of it as shipping. Ship small, ship often, and iterate based on the data. You might be surprised at the results.

Originally published at https://getmichaelai.com/blog/short-form-video-for-b2b-how-to-drive-leads-on-linkedin-yout