This guide uncovers the ins and outs of using the live video streaming feature on LinkedIn. From setting it up to scheduling your broadcasts. You’ll discover why it’s gaining popularity amongst professionals, businesses, and influencers alike, and how it compares to other platforms.
We’ve also included an in-depth tutorial on how to optimize your profile for this feature. Moreover, we share best practices and tips for planning and engaging with your audience during live sessions.
The article also reviews advanced features of LinkedIn Live, including case studies of successful users, common issues faced, and the impact of it on professional networking.
LinkedIn Live is a real-time video broadcasting feature on LinkedIn, enabling users to stream live content such as webinars, interviews, and events to engage with their professional network in a dynamic and interactive way.
Introduction to LinkedIn Live
LinkedIn Live is a live-streaming platform designed by the professional networking giant to cater to its unique user base. This feature, released in 2019, has gradually gained recognition as a major tool for professional networking, personal branding, thought leadership, and information dissemination in business spheres.
Unlike regular posts or videos that might get lost in the followers’ overflowing feeds, LinkedIn live videos appear at the top of LinkedIn feeds, thereby ensuring higher visibility and engagement. This feature allows the host to interact with viewers in real-time, respond to comments, and solicit live feedback.
Using this feature requires approval from LinkedIn because the platform aims to maintain content quality by vetting broadcasters who are sure to provide value and interact professionally with their viewers.
Through this tool, professionals have found an effective avenue to demonstrate their expertise, share updates, host virtual events, Q&A sessions, interviews, workshops, and much more. Companies have leveraged the tool to demonstrate their products, share behind-the-scenes footage, update product releases, and conduct live tutorials.
Benefits of using LinkedIn Live
There are numerous benefits, especially for businesses and professionals seeking to build their brand or reach.
First, with over 930 million members, LinkedIn provides a vast global audience for live content. This offers an excellent opportunity for professionals and businesses to reach out to a relevant audience and initiate interactions that could lead to meaningful connections or opportunities.
Secondly, LinkedIn Live videos get seven times more reactions and 24 times more comments than native videos produced by the same broadcasters. The engagement is significantly higher because the real-time interaction fosters deeper relationships between the presenter and the viewer.
Thirdly, it offers businesses and professionals a unique platform to showcase their authority, build a personal brand in their areas of expertise, and foster stronger professional relationships.
Lastly, it can be instrumental in the lead-generation process. After a LinkedIn live session, the insightful interactions and high engagement level can be a springboard for follow-up chats, emails, and calls, leading to direct business opportunities.
LinkedIn Live VS Other Live Streaming Platforms
LinkedIn Live is inherently different from other live streaming platforms due to its focus on professional networking and content. While platforms like Facebook Live, YouTube Live, Instagram Live, and Twitch have a much broader and casual approach to live streaming, LinkedIn Live is fundamentally professional.
In terms of content, LinkedIn Live is less about entertainment or casual chat and more about professional value, insights, trends, and learning. It’s a platform for thought leaders, influencers, professionals, and businesses to share their industry knowledge, expertise, and experiences.
Another difference is in the audience. LinkedIn Live is likely to attract a much more targeted audience interested in professional growth, personal branding, and business opportunities. Thus, the opportunity for meaningful networking and lead generation is much higher on LinkedIn Live.
In terms of analytics, LinkedIn also provides robust reporting tools to track engagements, views, and the performance of your live streams. This can help businesses and professionals to make data-driven decisions and strategies to improve their live broadcast efforts.
In summary, LinkedIn Live is about making real-time professional connections, engaging with a well-targeted audience, and delivering high-quality content that helps individuals and businesses grow on the professional front.
Setting up LinkedIn Live
LinkedIn Live is an incredibly useful tool offered by LinkedIn that can pave the way for real-time interactions with your audience. It is an innovative live-streaming service that allows individuals, groups, and organizations to broadcast live video content to their network in real time.
In this section, we will discuss everything you need to know about setting up and running your own live.
Requirements for LinkedIn Live
Before you can start using LinkedIn Live, there are certain requirements that you must meet.
First, LinkedIn Live is currently available only to selected members, pages, and events. You cannot apply to LinkedIn to be allowed to use this feature, but you can follow the guidelines on the help docs.
If your account meets the criteria, you will automatically gain access to the LinkedIn Live featuer. LinkedIn does this to ensure that the service is provided to individuals and businesses who will use it responsibly and professionally.
You must make sure that your LinkedIn profile is in good standing. This means you have an optimized profile that follows all LinkedIn guidelines and has no major issues such as inconsistent posting, spamming, or other activities that could get your profile suspended.
Additionally, LinkedIn is more likely to grant access to LinkedIn Live if you have a history of creating valuable, engaged content for your followers. This usually means regularly creating articles, posts or updates that generate likes, shares, and valuable conversations in the comments.
Finally, LinkedIn suggests that you should have a significant audience on LinkedIn. While they don’t specify a specific number, it’s safe to assume that a few hundred followers would be a good starting point.
Make sure your profle is optimized and that it seems like you are actually using it. Having an unfinished profile could make it seem like you are trying to use LinkedIn Live to spam.
Best Practices for LinkedIn Live
Detailed planning and preparation are crucial for every successful LinkedIn Live session. Always begin by setting clear goals for your live stream. These goals might be spreading awareness about your business, educating your audience on a particular topic, or launching a new product or service.
Once your goals are set, develop a comprehensive agenda, outlining what you’ll cover during the session. Make sure the agenda is enticing enough to attract viewers and keep them engaged. Do not forget to test your technology and equipment to ensure a smooth broadcast. Check your internet connection, lighting, sound, and video quality.
Create a compelling announcement post about your upcoming live session. The post should clearly state what viewers will gain from the session, when it will happen, and any special guests that will participate. Share this announcement multiple times leading up to the stream to generate interest and remind your audience.
Selecting Relevant Topics
Your live sessions will not make an impact if they’re not interesting or relevant to your audience. Conduct research to understand the needs, interests, and challenges of your followers.
Use these insights to select topics that will resonate with your audience and add value to their professional lives. You could also invite experts to discuss trending subjects or answer common questions.
Audiences appreciate when they have an opportunity to learn, gain insights or solve problems through these sessions.
Engaging with Audience during Live Sessions
Engagement during your live session goes a long way in building relationships with your audience. Interact with your viewers by greeting them as they tune in, acknowledging their comments, and answering their questions.
You can also encourage engagement by prompting your audience to share their thoughts or experiences, or by hosting Q&A sessions. Remember, LinkedIn Live is not a monologue; it’s a conversation.
Maintaining Consistency of Live Sessions
Consistency is key in keeping your audience hooked and expanding your viewership. Be consistent with your LinkedIn Live sessions in terms of timing, frequency, and quality. Choose a specific day and time for your broadcasts and stick to it. If your audience knows when to expect your livestreams, there’s a greater chance they will tune in.
Regularly broadcasting high-quality sessions will not only help retain your existing audience but also attract new viewers. Even if you’re not seeing the viewership numbers you want immediately, do not be discouraged.
Building a sizeable, engaged audience through LinkedIn Live takes time. Stay consistent, keep improving and learn from any missteps. Over time, you’ll notice your follower count and engagement levels rise.
Remember, LinkedIn Live is not just about launching video broadcasts; it’s about building relationships, fostering discussions, and offering value to your audience. With good planning, relevant content, active engagement, and consistency, you’ll be able to make the most of LinkedIn Live.
It’s important that you know in which timezone most of your connections or followers are. Use that to your advantage when you plan your next live session.
Advanced Features of LinkedIn Live
LinkedIn Live, the professional social media network’s live streaming platform, offers an array of advanced features that can significantly enhance your live video experience.
Whether you’re seeking to build more engagement around your brand, promote your products, or simply connect with your audience in real-time, LinkedIn Live offers advanced tools to help you achieve your objectives.
This section explores some of the advanced features like using LinkedIn Events for promotion of live sessions, integration with third-party broadcasting tools, and the ability to view analytics and insights of live sessions.
Using LinkedIn Events for Promotion of Live Sessions
One of the significant advanced features LinkedIn Live offers is the ability to use LinkedIn Events for promoting live sessions. This feature allows you to create a dedicated event page for your live session, invite connections, and engage with attendees before the actual event begins.
Creating an event on LinkedIn serves multiple purposes. First, it reinforces the promotion of your live stream and provides details about the event. Second, it allows you to engage with attendees ahead of the event, which builds anticipation and encourages interaction during the live stream.
Also, notifications are sent out to your connections whenever you create an event, which can increase visibility and audience size.
Furthermore, by running a consistent series of events, you can build up an engaged audience who looks forward to your live streams. After each event, followers receive a notification of the next upcoming event, ensuring continued engagement.
You can manage all your past and upcoming live streams easily through the LinkedIn Event dashboard. It lets you measure the performance of each event and understand your audience better.
Integration with Third-Party Broadcasting Tools
LinkedIn Live provides integration with numerous third-party broadcasting tools that enable high-quality streaming, a necessary feature for businesses and professionals. The platform’s compatibility with external tools means you can customise your live streams to fit your brand’s aesthetic and content needs better.
Some of the supported tools include StreamYard, Wirecast, Socialive, and several others. Each brings varying capabilities such as allowing guests on your live stream, providing green screen capabilities, or adding background music. You can select a tool that best supports your streaming needs.
The integration is relatively effortless – after setting up your live video, choose your tool, log in to your LinkedIn account and begin your live stream.
Analytics and Insights of Live Sessions
One of the most important advanced features of LinkedIn Live is access to analytics and insights regarding your live sessions. Knowing who is watching your live streams and how they’re responding to them can provide valuable data in shaping future sessions.
Post-stream analytics provide various data, including viewer demographics, peak live viewer count, total views, reactions, and comments, to name a few. This robust insight can help you refine your content and delivery, making your sessions more engaging and efficient.
Utilizing these advanced features can significantly improve the effectiveness of your LinkedIn live streams. It allows you to engage your audience more efficiently and understand your viewers better, confirming your live streams are achieving the desired impact.
While LinkedIn Live is a relatively new feature, numerous successful businesses, and individuals have devised strategic methods of utilizing it for enhanced outreach and engagement.
Troubleshooting LinkedIn Live Issues
A growing number of professionals and businesses are understanding the value of live streaming and are gravitating towards LinkedIn Live. It is a powerful tool that helps in engaging the audience, increasing visibility, and promoting your business.
However, like every technology, LinkedIn Live too can face some challenges that require troubleshooting.
Facing issues with LinkedIn Live can be daunting especially when you are broadcasting important content and you expect everything to run smoothly. When such problems arise, understanding some common LinkedIn Live issues and how to tackle them can be extremely helpful.
Common Live streaming issues
There are several common issues that users encounter when attempting to live stream on LinkedIn. Getting familiar with these issues can help you prepare and prevent them from interfering with your broadcast.
- Poor Video Quality: Sometimes, the quality of your live stream might degrade, and your video might appear blurry. This can be due to an unstable or slow internet connection, or less capacity of the device being used for streaming. To overcome this, ensure that you have a stable high-speed internet connection and your device has the required storage and processing capacity.
- Audio Echo: Hearing an echo in your live stream can be very frustrating. This usually happens due to audio feedback from the speakers into the microphone. Lowering the volume of your speakers or using headphones can help solve this issue.
- Stream Not Available: At times, you may experience that your live stream is not available. This could be due to interference from conflicting software running on your device or network connectivity issues. Ensuring that no software is conflicting and your internet connection is stable can help overcome this issue.
- Lag in Stream: Another common problem is the lagging or delay in your live stream. This happens due to low bandwidth or unstable internet connection. Therefore, a high-speed and reliable internet connection is the key to preventing this issue.
How to seek LinkedIn’s support for live issues
If you face an issue that is beyond your understanding or control, getting in touch with LinkedIn’s support can be very helpful. The support team at LinkedIn is equipped to handle and resolve such issues efficiently.
LinkedIn provides several ways to seek assistance regarding live issues. The first is to submit a support ticket from your account detailing the issue being faced, and the support team will look into it. Also, you can access the LinkedIn Help Center for solutions and guides on addressing common issues.
If everything else fails, reach out to LinkedIn’s support through their social media channels. They have an active presence on Twitter (@LinkedInHelp), where they respond to help queries.
Lastly, there is a ‘LinkedIn Help’ section on their platform where you can find articles, FAQs, and guides to help troubleshoot your problems.
Remember that good planning and troubleshooting are key to a successful LinkedIn Live broadcast. Always make sure you have a reliable internet connection and that your equipment is working properly. And if all else fails, don’t hesitate to ask for help.
Impact of LinkedIn Live on Professional Networking
The nature of professional networking has significantly transformed since the advent of LinkedIn Live. From personal brand building to job hunting and recruiting, this platform has created enormous potential for individuals and organizations alike.
Understanding the impact of LinkedIn Live on professional networking unveils a wide array of possibilities.
Influence on job hunting and recruiting
LinkedIn Live has revolutionized job hunting and recruitment in numerous ways. It has simplified the recruitment process, making it more interactive and appealing to both employers and prospective employees.
For job seekers, it provides a platform where they can showcase their skills and qualifications to a broader audience. Through live videos, job seekers can demonstrate their expertise and share their experiences.
This, in turn, creates a sense of trust and transparency with potential employers as they can verify the authenticity of the information provided.
In terms of recruitment, employers have realized the potential of this platform in sourcing the right talent for their organizations.
It allows employers to host live virtual job fairs and interviews, thereby saving time and resources that would otherwise be spent coordinating physical interviews. Furthermore, through live feeds, hiring managers can address queries from potential candidates in real-time, making the recruitment process swift and efficient.
Role in building personal brand
Building a powerful personal brand has become a necessity in today’s competitive professional world. LinkedIn Live has emerged as an effective tool for personal brand building by offering individuals a platform to display their skills, industry knowledge, and personality.
Individuals can utilize it to share insightful industry-oriented content, foster discussions, and interact with viewers in real time. By consistently sharing valuable content, professionals can position themselves as thought leaders within their respective industries.
This not only enhances their credibility and visibility but also helps to establish them as a reliable source of information.
Through LinkedIn Live, professionals have the chance to engage with their audience on a more personal level. They can react to comments, answer questions, and offer insights, thereby fostering strong and meaningful relationships with their network.
Essentially, this feature has leveraged video content to enable professionals to build a strong digital presence and personal brand.
Potential for future development
The potential for future development through LinkedIn Live is vast and largely untapped. This live-based feature has set the stage for enhanced engagement, networking, and professional collaboration.
We may see a shift in how professional seminars, workshops, and training sessions are conducted, with it offering an interactive and cost-effective platform.
As more companies and individuals harness the power of LinkedIn Live for business growth and personal brand development, it’s likely we’ll see an escalation in the quality and diversity of live content available.
This may include in-depth industry analyses, live virtual skills training, and potentially even international recruitment fairs hosted entirely online.
Conclusively, the advent of LinkedIn Live has marked a significant turning point in professional networking. It has introduced more efficient and effective ways to engage, network, recruit, and brand-build, which in return has robustly catalyzed the transforming job market dynamics.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
1. What is LinkedIn Live?
It is a feature on LinkedIn that enables members and organizations to broadcast real-time video to their network. This allows for a more engaging and interactive way to share insights and connect with the audience.
2. How can one apply to use LinkedIn Live?
In simple words, you can’t. LinkedIn reviews your profile automatically and ensures that only active users with a history of community policy adherence get access.
3. Is LinkedIn Live available for all users?
Currently, it is not available to all users. LinkedIn has rolled out this feature gradually, prioritizing members with a history of activity and adherence to community guidelines. Eventually, LinkedIn noted an expansion plan for this feature.
4. Are there any specific system requirements to use LinkedIn Live?
Yes, certain system requirements are needed to successfully use this feature. Users need a strong internet connection and a professionally approved encoder. Additionally, using updated browsers helps ensure smooth broadcast.
5. Can broadcasts on LinkedIn Live be saved for later?
Yes. After one ends the broadcast, the video gets saved automatically on the user’s profile. This allows for a wider audience to view the video even after the live session ends.
6. How can LinkedIn Live be utilized for businesses effectively?
Businesses can use this feature for hosting webinars, sharing updates, demonstrating products, conducting interviews or Q&A sessions. This can help increase brand visibility, build credibility, and foster better customer relationships.
