LinkedIn Live is a feature on LinkedIn that allows individuals and organizations to broadcast live video content to their network. This platform is ideal for hosting real-time discussions, interviews, and presentations, enabling direct engagement with professional audiences. It’s a powerful tool for thought leadership, brand promotion, and community building, offering interactive elements like Q&A sessions, which foster deeper connections and conversations within the LinkedIn community.
LinkedIn recently announced updates to LinkedIn pages including the ability to stream live video. Originally launched last year, LinkedIn live was only for individual accounts, but now it’s going to be available for pages.
You can use it on your own LinkedIn page or on your company’s profile. Either way, you decide to go, this feature has a high potential for making a major impact on your LinkedIn strategy. According to LinkedIn, those who use LinkedIn Live get seven times more reactions and 24 times more comments than users who rely on standard videos.
What is LinkedIn Live?
LinkedIn Live is the social media platform’s live streaming option. Users rely on a variety of third-party streaming tools to create their content and then broadcast it to their LinkedIn network. It’s similar to live versions of other platforms like Instagram and Facebook and that your video content goes directly to the page in real-time and people can interact with you.
Some major companies have found unique ways to make use of it. For instance, Best Buy used it to highlight an interview with the company’s CEO. Others have used it to host ask me anything sessions to interact with customers.
At this time, you can live stream on LinkedIn for up to 4 hours. Once the live stream is over, it becomes a native video on LinkedIn. after that, you can include the link in follow-up materials or promotions. Though direct sponsorship of the content remains unavailable, there is analytics information including the number of views, watch time, and unique demographics including the company’s, rolls, and locations of the viewers.
How to Create LinkedIn Live Streams
Before you can go live on LinkedIn, you must apply for approval via an online form. Once you’re approved, you’ll get an email that will point you toward the approved streaming platforms you can use. You’ll choose the one that best suits your needs and sign up for an account, then connect your service to your LinkedIn account.
From there, you’ll log into the streaming service you chose and start your live video. Be prepared to interact with viewers on LinkedIn as that’s one of the main benefits of live streaming. It’s a good idea to have a script or general outline so you can make sure your video content is helping you work towards your company’s goals on LinkedIn.
Ways to Use LinkedIn Live
Answer Questions
Perhaps the biggest benefit of using a LinkedIn Livestream compared to a standard video post is the ability to interact with your audience in real-time. If you find that you get a lot of questions from your followers are customers, you can host a live stream to answer them for your entire audience.
Introduce Staff
Putting a face to a name creates a stronger connection between the audience and the people you mention. Followers may feel more comfortable interacting with you and your team after you put a face to the name. Live video can introduce your employees with Q&A or just some basic information about each person.
Show Your Company Culture
LinkedIn is a powerful recruiting tool and can help you bring new talent to your company. Live streaming on a regular basis can help people be what it’s like behind the scenes and your company, which may make it more appealing for applicants.
Special Events
If you attend or host any special industry events, using LinkedIn life is a wonderful way to share the experience with your followers. It can make people want to attend the event in the future or share valuable information from the sessions.
Announce New Products or Services
if you want to get people excited about a big announcement for your business, you should go live to make your announcement. Promote the launch of new products or services with extra posts that lead up to the big reveal.
Demonstrate Products or Services
If your business offers products or services that require a bit of an explanation, live streams could be the perfect format. Demonstrating how to use your products or services in a video Lets people see how everything works firsthand. And because you’re alive, they can interact with you or ask you questions throughout the process in the event that something isn’t crystal clear. This is a worthwhile strategy for companies that offer software tools and related products that have a lot of features to go over.
Interview Industry Experts
If you have connections with others who have a lot of influence in your industry or with your target customers, using a live stream to interview them could be an effective strategy. They will likely share insights that are valuable to your audience and they may share it with their followers as well to help you increase your reach even more.
Discuss Industry Issues
LinkedIn is a wonderful place to make industry connections and establish yourself as an expert. Going live to discuss a trending topic in your field can help start conversations with other professionals while also giving you credibility on a variety of subjects relevant to the industry.
Start a Recurring Series
You’re likely to get more viewers in a live stream if people anticipate your content. Rather than just going to live whenever you feel like it every now and then, consider starting a series that goes live at the same time every week or month. And remember, promote it in the days leading up to the Stream. This gives people a better chance to actually be logged in when you go live especially on a platform like LinkedIn where people are not checking in as often as they would on say Facebook.
Tutorials are among the most popular format for online video because they give your audience actionable tips that will help them accomplish a specific goal. On LinkedIn, gear your tutorials toward a B2B audience with topics such as setting up an account on a new advertising platform, or editing photos for social media.
With live streaming, the possibilities are nearly endless. If you need help coming up with content ideas that you feel may resonate with your audience, look at your website analytics. What pages or areas of your website are most popular? What are the most commonly asked questions on support tickets? Do a little keyword research to find out more about questions people are asking as they relate to your industry, products, or services. Plan your live streams in advance just as you would plan any other kind of social media content for the greatest chance of success.
