How to use LinkedIn Live for your business

According to LinkedIn, live videos get on average 7x more reactions and 24x more comments than the usual native video content. LinkedIn Live was launched to individual users back in 2019 and then to company pages in 2020. Since then, LinkedIn Live Streams have increased by 158%, but it’s not quite as simple as logging onto your page and going live. There are steps you need to take in order to be offered the Live capabilities. But first, why should you bother? 

Why should you use LinkedIn live? 

Communities are more active and engaged when they gather in real-time, so by using LinkedIn Live, you have a much greater chance of generating engagement and loyal followers. 

What’s more, you can set up and schedule a LinkedIn Live event for a later date which will then be broadcast straight to your LinkedIn event attendees.

When using LinkedIn Live, there are loads of ways to harness the tool and engage your audience. Perhaps the most obvious use would be to host virtual events — like webinars or product launches — meaning your followers can engage with you in real-time and give immediate feedback. 

There are so many content ideas that would work well on LinkedIn Live, like serialised weekly discussions or even panels with current employees to aid recruitment. But first, you need to have access to the Live tool. Here’s what you need to do to get it.

How to get access to LinkedIn Live

Before you can start live-streaming, you need to apply for LinkedIn Live and have the feature added to your profile. To be eligible for Live you need: 

• An excess of 150 followers on your page 

• Recent shares of original content (any type)

• A history of abiding by LinkedIn’s Professional Community Policies 

Once you’ve applied, LinkedIn aims to get back to you within 10 days, to let you know whether your application has been approved, so you don’t have too long to wait.

What’s a third-party streaming tool? 

As well as applying for the Live tool, you need to sign up for a third-party streaming tool to go live on LinkedIn. This is because, unlike Facebook and Instagram, LinkedIn doesn’t offer a native streaming tool. 

Sadly, most of these tools require a fee, but subscribing is the only way to facilitate your LinkedIn Live objectives. LinkedIn does have a number of third-party broadcast partners for you to choose from though, so you can be sure you’ve gone with a trusted option. 

Once you’ve successfully connected your third-party broadcast tool to your LinkedIn page, you’re ready to go live! But, before you actually start your live stream, you’ll have the option to give the stream a title and description. You can also schedule your live to happen at a later date, and set up an event on LinkedIn that you can invite people to. 

You want to ensure that the title for your Live Stream or event is engaging whilst also accurately describing what the stream is about. In fact, there are a few things to consider when you’re setting up your event, to make sure it’s optimised for your audience.

Setting up an event: 

Use your event title to grab the attention of prospective attendees. Ensure it’s engaging whilst also signposting exactly what an attendee can expect. As for your event cover image (banner) and blurb, here are some tips: 

• Your banner should remind people of the theme. If possible show the presenters and introduce them. For example, if it’s a webinar, say that! Include the title of the event, as well as that of your speakers — this will show authority and make people more likely to click. 

• As for your event blurb, remember to include: 

  • What question will your event be asking? 

  • How will you answer the question? 

  • Why should people trust you? 

  • Give some key information, but don’t elaborate on it (this makes people more likely to attend to get more information)

  • Remember to add a final CTA to encourage people to sign up for the event. 

If you’ve scheduled a LinkedIn Live to happen at a later date and you want to create an event to invite your contacts to, remember to set it up with your objectives in mind. For example, if your objective is to generate leads for your business, make sure the event is gated (i.e ensure that you create a registration form for the event where attendees need to enter some of their details before they can click ‘attending’).

This way, you’re getting attendees for your event and also contact details for your email database, so you could send a recording of the event to the attendees after the fact, or even useful follow-up materials. Plus, of course, any leads of interest could be valuable contacts for your sales team to follow up with.

If the purpose of your live stream is to increase brand awareness or simply to relay information to your followers, you can forgo the registration form, which can sometimes be off-putting and mean that users don’t ultimately end up watching your live stream. Without a registration form, people will be able to click attending on your event straight away, and they’ll get a notification when the live stream begins. 

So, there you have it. If LinkedIn Live is something you’re interested in accessing for your business, there are a few hoops to jump through, but ultimately the process is an easy one. If you’d like any help with your digital marketing efforts, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team.