New to LinkedIn Live? Here’s how to get off to a great start...

If you haven’t already heard, LinkedIn recently made it a WHOLE lot easier to get access to LinkedIn Live and do live videos from this platform.

All you need to do is turn on LinkedIn Creator Mode, pretty much, and meet some very basic criteria (check out the guidelines here ).

If you’ve recently got LinkedIn Live – or you’re thinking about getting it – and you want to know how best to use this tool to build your brand and business, read on for five key decisions to start you off on the right foot.

But first…

What’s the big deal about LinkedIn Live anyway and is it worth your time?

I've been using LinkedIn Live for well over a year and a half now (thanks to LinkedIn giving me early access), and I can tell you from first-hand experience that this is an excellent tool for building your brand and business.

A major reason for this is that video content on its own is a great way to grab and engage your audience’s attention.

It also has the added effect of humanising your brand and allowing you to build deeper connections with your audience.

Going live takes video to a whole new level because all this engagement, connection and humanising happens in real time, with your audience right in front of you and able to interact with you.

This massively speeds up the process of developing that “know me, like me, trust me” factor that’s crucial to social selling and building a solid personal brand.

So, if you're ready to dive into LinkedIn Live and start exploring this tool for yourself, there are a few things you need to decide on in advance to make it work – five things specifically.

5 key decisions to get your LinkedIn Lives off to a great start

Decision #1: Decide your goal

The starting place for any successful venture is to start with the end in mind.

What is your goal for using LinkedIn Live? Is it to attract new clients? Broaden your reach? Practice your public speaking? Gain a new skill? Something else…?

Creating content of any kind requires work so if you’re going to put in the work, you need to know why you’re doing it.

Start with why (as Simon Sinek says) and the rest will work itself out.

Decision #2: Decide your topic

Unless you plan on creating your own version of the Variety Show, it’s a good idea to decide on your LinkedIn Live topic or theme before you hit the recording studio.

As with creating LinkedIn newsletters , it’s good to go for a broad theme within your niche and keep your topics within this umbrella so your audience can know what to expect of you.

This also makes it easier to plan and schedule your live shows in advance.

Decision #3: Decide your commitment

Doing LinkedIn Lives is going to require time and energy from you so it’s important to decide in advance how much of this you can commit.

?Are you going to go live every day? Every week? Every month? Or will it be seasonal? Whatever you choose, make sure it’s a commitment you can realistically stick to.

That said, I’d recommend being sporadic with your Lives initially while you get the hang of how everything works (on a tech level and otherwise).

This will also give you a chance to see whether it’s something you like and want to stick with, or whether you need to drop it and stay with other content forms.

Decision #4: Decide your timing

Further to deciding how often you can commit to doing Lives, it’s also important to decide when you can actually do your Lives.

Will it be weekdays or weekends? Mornings, afternoons or evenings?

And what about duration – will this be in minutes or hours?

There is no hard stat out as yet (as far as I know) as to when is the “best” time to go live, algorithm-wise, and what is the “right” length of time, but to be honest, even if there was, I’d still advise picking a time that works for you and fits in with your lifestyle / business – otherwise you won’t be able to commit to it in the long run.

Decision #5: Decide your format

The last decision to think about before launching your Live is what format you’d like to have for the show.

Are you going to make it a solo show where you teach your audience something? Will you bring in guests? Do interviews? Combine both?

To help you decide the best format, check back in with the goals you established for your Lives (decision #1).

The format you go for should help you reach those goals, whilst also playing to your strengths and what you enjoy doing (i.e. don’t decide on doing an hour-long solo show if you’re terrified of public speaking).

In conclusion...

Definitely have a strategy in place – or at least in mind – before setting out on your LinkedIn Live sessions but, most importantly, don’t worry about getting everything perfect on your first, second or fifth attempt.

Progress beats perfection any day!

?? What’s the top decision you need to make about your upcoming LinkedIn Live? Let me know in the comments…

(By the way, I covered this topic in a little more detail on my Start Being Visible LinkedIn live show earlier this month. You can watch that here )

DISCOVER YOUR LINKEDIN VISIBILITY SCORE        

?????? ?????????????? ?????? ?????? ???? ??????????????????

???????? ???? ???????? ???????????????? ???????????????????? ???????? ?????? ???????????????? ???????? ?????????????? ???? ?????????????? ???????? ??????????, ?????????????? ???????????????????? ?????? ?????????????????? ???? ????????????????.

?????????? ?????? ?????????? ?????????? ???? ???????? ?????? ????????

? ???????? ???????? ???????????????? ???????????????????? ?????? ?????????????????? ???? ???????? ???????? ????????????????? ???????? ???? ???? ???? ???????? ???????????? ????????????????????. ?????????? ?????? ???????? ??????????.