TL;DR
– Create real-time engagement with your professional community
– Broadcast events, presentations, panels, and interviews directly on LinkedIn
– Leverage a popular format already adopted by YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter
– Strengthen your LinkedIn growth hacking strategy with video
– Connect authentically with your target audience in real-time
LinkedIn has recently rolled out a new feature called “LinkedIn Live” that will allow users to broadcast live video content. This is a significant initiative from LinkedIn, as live video has become an increasingly popular format in recent years.
What does this mean for marketers? How does LinkedIn Live work? What are the stakes for brands? How can you start using LinkedIn Live to reach your audience?
In this blog post, we will explain everything you need to know about LinkedIn Live, an interesting technique for exploring growth hacking on LinkedIn. We will also give you some tips on how to start broadcasting live videos on LinkedIn. Let’s go!
What is LinkedIn Live?
LinkedIn Live is LinkedIn’s new feature that allows its users to broadcast live content and connect with their professional community.
LinkedIn Live can be used to broadcast live events, presentations, panels, and even interviews. Until recently, LinkedIn Live was available in certain regions of the world – this was not the case for France.
The feature is not new: social platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter already hosted similar formats.
What is LinkedIn Live used for?
LinkedIn Live was launched to allow platform users to connect with their professional communities in an alternative and interactive way.
First and foremost, LinkedIn Live is an excellent way to grow your network.
The goal is to create a more engaging experience that better meets the needs of professionals… and especially for LinkedIn prospecting.
Indeed, live video is a format that has been booming in recent years. More and more people are watching live videos on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. The numbers are impressive: live videos were watched 3 billion times on Facebook in 2017 , and the number of live videos broadcast through marketing actions on Twitter multiplied by 10 in the same year.
Social platforms have understood the public’s enthusiasm for live video. That’s why they are investing all necessary resources to promote its consumption.
LinkedIn Live is therefore an excellent opportunity for marketers, Growth, and Sales professionals who want to connect with their audience on a booming professional platform.
This is especially true if you use LinkedIn for your B2B marketing, as it can help you reach your target audience and grow your business.
Broadcasting a live video on LinkedIn Live is an excellent way for them to manage:
- Creating engagement with your professional community
- Driving traffic to your website or blog
- Raising awareness of your brand or company
- Promoting a product or service
- Reaching new prospects and customers
LinkedIn Lives are one way among others to generate new sales leads via the social platform.
We highly recommend using it alongside other mediums like a LinkedIn post strategy or cold outreach… which is our specialty at LaGrowthMachine.
Thanks to our tool, you can:
- import lead databases;
- enrich them;
- add them to your network;
- contact them;
- follow up with them;
And all this in just a few clicks. Here are some of the results we’d like to share with you from two of our campaigns exclusively run on LinkedIn:
For even better results, you can also use a multichannel approach: LinkedIn + Email. Here’s an example of a simple sequence that works very well!
How to broadcast a video live on LinkedIn?
Broadcasting a LinkedIn live isn’t as simple as one might think. Indeed, you will need to complete a few prerequisites beforehand.
Simply put, launching a LinkedIn live involves 4 steps:
- Submit a live request via a form available on LinkedIn
- Get LinkedIn’s approval to broadcast live content
- Choose a third-party broadcasting tool
- Broadcast your live or webinar via streaming
We will delve into each of these steps and try to give you key advice to help you see more clearly!
Step 1: Live request via form
First, you will need to submit a request to LinkedIn to be able to use the Live feature.
To do this, go to the request form available at this URL: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a554240
Once on the form, you will be asked for some information:
- Your first and last name
- The email address associated with your LinkedIn account
- The phone number to be reached at if you have questions
Step 2: LinkedIn’s approval of the request
Once you have completed the form, LinkedIn will review your request.
If everything is in order, you will receive a confirmation email in the coming days. This message will also contain detailed instructions on how to set up your streaming tool and start broadcasting live content on LinkedIn.
Step 3: Choosing a third-party streaming tool
As mentioned earlier, LinkedIn does not (currently) offer its own solution for broadcasting live content.
Therefore, you will need to use a third-party tool to perform your streaming. There are many solutions on the market, but some are more suitable than others for broadcasting live content on LinkedIn.*
Among the most popular tools are:
- OBS Studio: this is free, open-source software created specifically for live broadcasting. It is compatible with most streaming platforms, including LinkedIn Live.
- Wirecast: this is paid but very comprehensive software that allows for professional-quality live broadcasts. It is compatible with most streaming platforms, including LinkedIn Live.
- XSplit: this is paid but very comprehensive software that allows for professional-quality live broadcasts. It is compatible with most streaming platforms, including LinkedIn Live.
Step 4: Launching the live
Once you have configured your streaming tool and have all the necessary information, it’s finally time to launch your live on LinkedIn!
To do this, simply go to your profile and click on the “Live Video” icon located at the top right of your page.
A pop-up window will then open, where you can configure various settings before launching your live. Among the available options are:
- The title of your live
- The description of your live
- The location of your live
- The language of your live
- The people to invite to watch your live
Once you have configured all the settings, all you have to do is click on the “Go Live” button and you’re off!
Your live is now broadcasting live on LinkedIn for all your followers to see. During the live, you can also display comments or questions asked by viewers.
How to succeed at your LinkedIn Live?
Now that you know why you should start doing lives and how to do them technically, it would be interesting to know how to make them successful. Here again, you will need advice:
- Choose an interesting and useful topic for your audience: if you want people to watch your live and find something interesting in it, you need to choose a topic they will like, such as an original interview for example.
- Prepare yourself: don’t start your live without at least an idea of what you’re going to talk about. Prepare an outline and interesting content to share with your audience.
- Be professional: even though LinkedIn Live is more casual than other types of content on the platform, it’s important to remain professional. This means you should dress appropriately, speak clearly, and avoid technical errors, especially on a topic where you position yourself as an expert.
- Stay natural: don’t pretend to be someone you’re not. People will quickly see if you’re trying to play a character, and they probably won’t come back to watch your future lives.
- Interact with your audience: don’t hesitate to respond to viewers’ comments and questions during the live. This will show that you are listening to your followers and that you want them to participate in your content.
- Do lives regularly: if you want to build a solid audience around your lives, you’ll need to do them regularly. Try to broadcast at least one live per month to start, then gradually increase the frequency if necessary.
Conclusion
By following these tips, you should be able to organize and broadcast interesting and useful lives on LinkedIn. Remember that, as with all content you publish on social media, it’s important to stay active and regularly update your profile and live broadcasts. If you do, you should be able to gain visibility and engagement on LinkedIn – and thus, improve your Social Selling Index!
