A Complete Guide To Using LinkedIn Live!

By now it’s become clear to content creators and marketers alike that using videos is a no brainer for driving engagement and encouraging interaction from your audience on the platform.?

An amazing stat according to LinkedIn is live videos get on average 7x more reactions and 24x more comments than native videos hosted by the same user.?

Crazy stat right!!! The data is telling us now that communities are more active when they gather in real-time and can interact live with the person on the other side of the screen.?

Are you and your team ready to jump on the LinkedIn Live bus?

In today’s blog, I've got you covered on where to start, how to set yours up and best practices around running a LinkedIn Live.

What is LinkedIn Live???

It’s a streaming video centre that allows approved members and pages to broadcast live video content to a profile, page or event.?

It’s designed to help marketers connect with their audience in a live setting.?

Before I jump into sharing with you my tips it’s important to know that this feature is only available to pages that meet certain criteria, which include:?

- Audience base

Members and Pages with more than 150 followers and/or connections are eligible to be evaluated for LinkedIn Live access.

- A history of abiding by our Professional Community Policies

We want to ensure our members have a safe, trusted, and professional experience on LinkedIn, as defined by our Professional Community Policies. Only members, Pages, and their admins that have a good standing record will be considered for Live Video access.

- Geography

LinkedIn Live is not available at this time for members and Pages based in mainland China.

To check if it is available for you or your organisation, simply scroll up to the event button on your home screen. If there is a drop-down menu then you are good to go and will be able to start a Live event from here.

Here are some tips when creating your first LinkedIn live broadcast:

- Always use two devices when setting up your event. Having two devices on hand will allow you to run your live event and simultaneously monitor and moderate live comments on the other screen as they come through. These live events do promote more interactions and being able to connect with your audience during the live event is a key to building conversations and a successful event.?

- Pick the right streaming tool. Depending on your experience level there are a few ways you can choose to go live. For the best experience, LinkedIn suggests you choose from one of its five Preferred Partners.?

- Once you have your streaming tool picked out the next step is to connect to the tool with your profile. These will vary depending on the tool you are using. If you are having trouble connecting please refer to the LinkedIn website for updates on how to connect your tool here: LinkedIn Live Troubleshooting

- Set up and create your Live Stream - use the menu on your admin's page to create your event. This section will give you the opportunity to update the name of your live video, update the timezone, and the date and set the start time for the event. Here is a link that will take you to the create an event page!

Once you have set up the event go back to your 3rd party broadcast tool and connect your broadcast to the event.

- Make sure your broadcast set-up is optimised for the best viewing experience.

Lighting needs to look natural and inviting, make sure your camera angle is close enough so the audience feels close and it feels personal. You will need to ensure you are using a high-resolution camera and that the audio is loud and crisp before starting the broadcast.?

- Now you are ready to GO LIVE! Hit the broadcast button and start your FIRST live stream.?

- Once you have completed your broadcast hit the end button, and LinkedIn will automatically post the video of your stream to your feed. This will allow other viewers who were not on live to watch your broadcast and further drive engagement from the rest of your audience.?

Best Practices For LinkedIn Live

Creating a well-thought-out strategy is a must for creating successful broadcast events, how you prepare your speech, and what topics or guest speakers you will have are all equally important when thinking about your event.?

Here are some of my top tips for your event!

Monitor trends and ensure your choose relevant topics?

As with any marketing and content strategy it’s imperative you choose the right topic that will resonate with your audience. Something your tribe will vibe with and more importantly adds value to their own businesses and endeavours.?

Knowing your brand and relating a topic to that brand is always a good place to start when thinking of content ideas.?

Here are some tips when coming up with ideas and creating content:

LinkedIn analytics are your friend. Use this feature to stay on top of trending topics, and also monitor your best-performing posts for ideas on more content that resonates with your audience

Create unique and original content

Use suggestion tools to filter your target audience by location, industry, and function. See which topics are trending with your audience and create ideas for the content on the back of these filters.

Watch the duration of your broadcast

When doing your live broadcast keep in mind not all of your viewers have loads of time to tune in to a long session. The sweet spot according to LinkedIn is 15 minutes which will give you ample time to get your message across, and allow your audience time to engage and interact with you on the broadcast.?

Anything over an hour is more than likely going to increase a drop off from your audience and it will be quite hard to keep them engaged for such a long time period of time. Your message may be lost also if you push the session out past this time frame.

Schedule and plan in advance

When coming up with your ideas for your LinkedIn live I’d recommend setting up your event a month in advance before you are due to go live.

This will give you plenty of time to promote the event, come up with content ideas and create the content matter. It will give you plenty of time to create the structure of the broadcast and then plenty of time to practice the overall running of the show.?

I’d suggest when creating the run down ensure it doesn't come off as too scripted and robotic. Something that is overly scripted screams not authentic and that is definitely not the message you want to portray to your audience. Be your authentic self and engage with the audience in a way that serves not only your brand but will also allow your audience to connect with you as a leader and person.?

Promote your event

As I mentioned above I suggest you schedule your event a month in advance, this will allow you to spread the word on all of your socials to your entire audience and ensure the message is loud and clear about when the event is and what your viewers are tuning in for.?

Scheduling posts to go live in the weeks leading up to the event will ensure all of your viewers are aware and can lock out their calendars to ensure they are free to attend your broadcast.?

Promoting your event on your website and in your LinkedIn newsletters is also a great way of getting the word out about the event.?

Make sure your LinkedIn profile is up to date and optimised

A great Live event can generate massive amounts of traffic to your business or personal page so you need to ensure that you have everything optimised to cope with these demands.?

Make sure your profile represents you and your brand.?

Here are some tips for optimising your profile: Make your LinkedIn Profile Stand Out!

Continue the conversation:?

When you are ready to end your live broadcast with a “Thank You for attending” and goodbye to your audience remember that the conversations don’t end here.

Follow up in the comments section of the post with any free resources, follow up questions or share resources around the topic of your broadcast to those who attended and to those who are interacting with the video post on your profile.?

Another great tip is to break down the video into smaller-sized short videos and create highlight posts for different parts of your broadcast. This is a great idea to build out your content and create highly engaging content for your audience to further interact with.?

Top ideas for your LinkedIn Live Broadcasts?

I’d love to leave you with some great ideas for the types of content and formats you can run in your broadcasts. Here is my top list:?

- A new product or service launch. A live broadcast allows you to run through a new product or service step by step in real-time. It allows your audience to ask questions and interact live which is a great tool when talking about something you are about to release.

- Expert interviews. Creating authority in your field is a key to success on LinkedIn. Showcasing this authority becomes easier when you can set up a Q&A with another industry expert and promote your professional services to your audience.

- Showcase highlights and industry trends. Promoting your wins to your audience further adds to that authority figure in your industry. You can showcase what's important to your industry right now, client success stories and upcoming events your audience should be aware of.

- Workshops - Short sharp workshops allow you to run over a particular topic (E.G 3 Steps to optimise your LinkedIn profile today) it will give great value to your audience and allow them to interact with you, make the changes you mention and ask questions in real-time on the broadcast.?

So that’s It! Are you ready to create your first Live Event soon??

LinkedIn live is an amazing opportunity to reach your audience, interact with them and provide extreme value in the form of live video. Make sure you are providing interactive content and always provide value to keep your audience engaged and coming back.?

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