LinkedIn Live Videos are one of the best ways to build up engagement.
And, on LinkedIn, we know that engagement is critical.
They get you in front of your audience in real-time and allow you to interact with them directly.
In this guide, we take a look at how you can launch your own live video and use it to boost your growth on the platform.
What is LinkedIn Live Video?
Linked Live Video is a LinkedIn feature that allows you to stream live videos to your followers from your profile or company page.
And, it’s pretty powerful.
You can stream anything from seminars to eternal live events from the biggest professional social network in the world.
However, LinkedIn Live Video isn’t as easy to use as Facebook or Instagram live.
In fact, you need to ask for permission before you can start streaming.
The LinkedIn Live Video Criteria
LinkedIn doesn’t let just anyone start posting live videos on the platform.
You need to apply for the privilege and wait for LinkedIn to give you the green light.
Now LinkedIn does this to make sure that people don’t abuse the feature and that the platform’s standards for content are upheld.
Here are their rules:
- If you have less than 150 followers or connections, you won’t be allowed to go live on Linkedin. This shouldn’t be a problem if you’re active on the platform.
- Profiles and LinkedIn Pages that are based in the Chinese mainland do not have access to the feature.
- You need to be active in creating content on the platform. This means that moderators will be looking at your posts to check for originality. They don’t specifically say which types of content they’re looking for, so if you post mixed media, you should be generally fine.
- Additionally, you need to be of good standing on the platform. (That’s why you should never be spammy.)
Apart from these main rules, keep in mind that your profile also has to be publicly visible. Make sure you tweak your privacy settings before you make a request.
How to Apply to Be a LinkedIn Live Video Broadcaster (2 Methods)
Method 1: Manual Application
Log into your LinkedIn account and head over to the LinkedIn Live Video Application Link.
The email address associated with your LinkedIn should appear below, you have the option to enter an alternate email address as well.
Choose if you want to access LinkedIn Live as a Member or LinkedIn Page. Once you’re done paste the link of the Page or Profile into the text box and hit “Submit”.
Double-check the URL, if it’s invalid, they’ll automatically scrap your request
Method 2: Auto-Application
If you’ve met the criteria, and you want to use a third-party broadcast tool, you can apply for LinkedIn Live Video Broadcast access from your tool of choice.
According to LinkedIn, they support:
- SocialLive
- Streamyard
- Switcher Studio
- Vimeo
- Wirecast
We’re not sure if they’ll be adding more streaming services to the list anytime soon.
Just log into your tool, connect your LinkedIn account to the tool and follow the next steps.
They’ll notify you once your profile or page has made the cut.
If you follow their rules and look out for their general guidelines they should provide you with an answer within three or four business days.
Using LinkedIn Live Video
Once you’re approved, you’re good to go.
All you have to do is to hit “Live” and start going live to all your followers.
But, wait.
There’s a couple of things that you should hammer out first.
The Plan
It doesn’t have to be a complete storyboard.
(But, if you can manage one, it would be dope!)
First, of all, you need to know how long you will be broadcasting live on LinkedIn. For larger events, this is easy since you’ll probably allocate a set amount of time for each speaker, but with more intimate live videos you can easily get derailed.
Get a timer out and make sure you stick to a schedule, you don’t want to drag an event for too long.
Next, you need to plan out what topics you’re going to cover, this includes talking points, scripts, notes, and discussion material.
Remember, live videos have an element of audience participation so you need to factor this in your planning.
Ask yourself at which parts would you want to recognize the audience or have them engage with you directly.
Lastly, think about your transitions and how you’re going to end the broadcast.
Now how about if it’s a spontaneous LinkedIn live video?
Glad you asked.
It still has to follow some sort of structure.
Having some semblance of the structure shows your professionalism to the people watching your video.
Teasers
Consider having a teaser campaign before launching LinkedIn live video stream.
A teaser campaign will help you generate the buzz necessary to get a lot of people tuned in once you start streaming.
Now there are a couple of ways to go about this.
You can set up a series of posts leading up to the video, like a countdown of sorts, or you can have a trailer video made beforehand.
Set and Framing
Pick a venue that you can control.
This can be either an indoor location or a quiet outdoorsy one without a lot of distractions from traffic.
Some people can even opt to use a green screen and run the feed through some post-processing to control their backgrounds even better.
However, what’s important is that it’s under your control.
The aesthetic choice is purely yours, but you can never go wrong with a clean, calm background that offers a little privacy and noise isolation.
Lighting
Lighting is critical.
Filming outside during the daytime shouldn’t be a problem, but doing a live video in a larger room with dim lights can be problematic.
Make sure you have adequate light hitting the subject of your live video.
If you decide on doing a quick one-on-one with your followers, you can opt for a cheap ring light to do the trick. We’d advise against using the flash of your smartphone because it makes videos look a little overexposed.
If you have a choice between better lighting or a better camera, always pick the former.
Camera
Your smartphone’s main shooter is better than your selfie cam.
A DSLR is probably going to shoot circles around your smartphone.
With cameras, you should always choose the best one available.
Now, this doesn’t mean you should get yourself an 8K monster to shoot a quick live selfie video, but getting a decent camera is always a good idea.
Get a good input camera whenever you can, and make it a requirement if you’re shooting a large event.
Audio
You don’t need to have an absolutely quiet room to work in.
Sometimes a little white noise doesn’t hurt, think the soft chatter in a coffeehouse.
What’s important is that your viewers get to hear you clearly and that they can understand what you’re saying.
If you can get an external microphone to work, that will be best.
However, you don’t necessarily need a fancy audio setup to do your thing.
Quick Test Run
Take a quick video and play it back.
Does it look good?
Are there things that you can change out to make it look better?
Testing is an integral part of video production, and it’s part of the growth hacking methodology.
Title
Make sure you have a catchy title for your stream.
Think of crafting your title the same way that you would craft your LinkedIn headline.
It has to get someone to stop scrolling and entice people who’ve landed on your profile or page to spend a couple of minutes to join in on the live broadcast.
Description
The description matters.
It’s supposed to explain what your video is about to casual “scroller”.
So, here are a few things to keep in mind.
Make sure you describe what you’re showing everyone in three lines or less. It’s less intimidating for someone who’s just scrolling past to read a couple of lines of text.
You don’t have to do a complete exposé, the video will do that for you.
Include a link to your website, some CTA, and maybe a hashtag so that it’s fully optimized to convert.
Responding to People
Plan how you’re going to respond to people leaving comments as the live video goes full swing.
For large events, you can get someone from your team dedicated to checking out comments and responding to them.
What’s important is that you engage with your followers.
Engagement is the driving force of live videos, and the more you harness this engagement, the more successful your stream will be.
What to do After a LinkedIn Live Video Stream
Send People Follow-Up Material
If you’ve followed our tips above, then you’ve probably found ways to interact with your audience outside the stream.
This is now an excellent opportunity to reach out to them and follow up.
For lead generation experts, this is a chance for you to nurture your leads through your pipeline, and eventually get them to convert.
For thought leaders, this is a great way to establish your role in the industry.
Here are a couple of things that you can send them:
- A transcript of the entire event
- Free resources that follow-up on the topics discussed
- Tools that they can use
- A link to a jump-off page on your website
- A survey that enagges with them
At times, you can just simply say “hello”.
By reaching out you get to continue the conversation that you’ve started with them.
You can send them an email, message them on Facebook, and of course, let’s not forget to hit them up on LinkedIn!
Create a Short Video That Covers the Stream
Your video will be recorded as you stream it.
Now, instead of just leaving your entire video stream on your profile or LinkedIn page, you should download it and make something out of it.
By distilling the main points of your event you can create a mini video that summarizes everything that was discussed, you can then share this later on.
Since it’s being run through post-production, you can add text, narration, and even some background music. Make sure that you always have captions when you post videos on LinkedIn.
Once you’re done, you can either send it to your attendees or mark it as a piece of content that you can share later on with your connections and followers.
Create a Series of Articles Around the Stream
Events are a great way to generate new content because there’s just so much that you can reuse, we’ve briefly touched on videos, but one way to keep the buzz going is to create content around it.
The first option is to create a series of articles that goes in-depth with what was discussed in the live stream event.
The longer the stream and number of topics, the more articles you can generate.
If there were interviews being held in the stream, you can transcribe those and create articles along with excerpts of the video in them. These can be hosted on your website and released slowly.
When Can You Use LinkedIn Live Video?
Events
With LinkedIn Live Video you can easily post the stream on an events page so that you can simultaneously have a physical and digital event at the same time.
This integration helps you reach more people, and drives more engagement to your event.
Think about it this way, not only do you get to benefit from the actual people attending the event, you can also encourage a larger crowd of people who wouldn’t have access to it.
Given the current business landscape, most people choose to attend virtual events instead of physical ones.
If your primary method of hosting is, for example, Zoom, and you’re adding in Facebook as a social platform, throwing in LinkedIn in the mix allows for more widespread coverage of your event.
You get to benefit from an extra crowd coming in from a different medium.
Since that medium is LinkedIn, you automatically know that it’s of a professional nature.
B2B Product Launches
LinkedIn has the largest network of professionals in the world and this is good news for B2B marketers.
Launching a product demo or announcement on LinkedIn is a good idea given the crowd that’s on it.
Additionally, you can have the video streaming into the actual company page that’s launching the product.
LinkedIn Influencer
Adding a LinkedIn live video into your content release strategy is generally a good idea because it adds a little variety to your posts.
With live videos, you can directly interact and connect with the people following you, and this allows you to better engage with them.
As a thought leader or LinkedIn influencer, it helps with developing your brand and it shows you as someone who values personal connections.
Takeaways
LinkedIn live videos aren’t the fastest thing to set up.
But, they work.
With more and more people opting to go the digital route for events, they’re some of the most useful tools you have in your portfolio.
This is evidenced by the number of webinars that are constantly being pumped out.
More importantly, they’re great for engagement.
Engagement is one of the most powerful things that you can use to build your audience.
It shows your followers that you want to connect with them.
And, it gives them a chance to connect with you.
Video might be powerful.
But, LinkedIn live video takes it to a whole new level.
