LinkedIn Live is a relatively new feature on LinkedIn that allows users to broadcast live video content to their connections and followers. It can be an extremely powerful tool for personal branding, business marketing, lead generation, and driving engagement. However, hosting a successful LinkedIn Live event requires some planning, preparation, and strategy. In this comprehensive guide, we will cover everything you need to know to host your own impactful LinkedIn Live events.
Why Host a LinkedIn Live Event?
Here are some of the key benefits and reasons to consider using LinkedIn Live:
– Build your personal brand – By going live and sharing your expertise, you can establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry. LinkedIn Live is an opportunity to strengthen your reputation.
– Connect with your network – LinkedIn Live notifications get delivered directly to your connections’ notifications feed, making it easy to get your event in front of your target audience.
– Increase engagement – LinkedIn Live videos have significantly higher engagement rates than regular posts. Viewers can also interact via comments.
– Generate leads – LinkedIn Live events allow you to share and discuss content that attracts your ideal customers. Include a call-to-action to drive conversions.
– Promote products or services – Use LinkedIn Live to demonstrate or promote your business offerings through demos, Q&As, and behind-the-scenes tours.
– Make announcements – Share company news, events, job openings, etc. Reach your employees, customers, and stakeholders in real-time.
– Connect with thought leaders – Invite industry influencers, partners, or clients to join your Live video and expand your reach.
Choosing the Right Topic
Your LinkedIn Live topic will set the tone and impact of your entire event. Consider these guidelines when selecting your broadcast topic:
– Choose a relevant, timely issue in your industry – This could be reacting to recent news, discussing new technologies, addressing pain points, etc. Timely topics will resonate most.
– Share your expertise – Consider subject areas where you have in-depth knowledge and experiences to share. Your professional credibility will attract audiences.
– Educate your audience – Information that helps your viewers, followers and customers do their jobs better or solve issues will add value. Teach them something new!
– Entertain your audience – Live videos that are fun, lighthearted or interactive tend to perform well and be more memorable. Don’t be afraid to show your personality.
– Promote an offering – Your product launch, service overview or upcoming event make great Live broadcast topics. Be sure to describe the benefits to your customers.
– Make an announcement – Company news or exciting updates often make for a lively discussion topic. Give viewers something to react and respond to.
Best Practices for Your LinkedIn Live Setup
To ensure your LinkedIn Live event looks and sounds great, follow these best practices for your broadcast setup:
– Have adequate lighting – Position a quality light source in front of you to properly illuminate your face. Avoid backlighting from bright windows or lamps.
– Frame the camera shot – Your face and upper body should fill most of the frame without cutting off your head. Leave a little space above you.
– Use a quality webcam – Invest in an external HD webcam if your computer’s built-in camera has poor resolution. Clear video is a must.
– Check your audio – Test your mic prior to going live. Use a lavalier microphone for optimal sound if the audio from your webcam is weak.
– Minimize background noise – Turn off any music, close doors and windows, and ask coworkers not to interrupt. A quiet space is best.
– Use a tripod – This keeps your camera steadily positioned and your hands free during the broadcast. Shaky video can be distracting.
– Engage with your eyes – Look directly at your camera frequently as you talk so it feels like you’re making eye contact with the audience.
– Dress professionally – Wear solid colors (avoid busy patterns) and business attire appropriate for your industry. Your image matters.
Preparing Your Presentation
To maximize the impact of your LinkedIn Live, it’s essential to prepare and practice your presentation in advance. Here are some tips:
– Write a script or outline – Determine the segments, talking points, stories, and examples you wish to cover to keep your presentation focused.
– Time yourself – Practice to ensure your content fits within the allotted duration of your event. Shorter broadcasts typically see higher completion rates.
– Create visual aids – Images, charts, slides, product photos, etc. add helpful visuals. Just hold them up to the camera.
– Offer a handout – Provide your contact info, links, takeaways, or additional resources for viewers to download.
– Promote engagement – Prepare questions, polls, or other interactive elements to involve your audience during the event.
– Check your setup – Test your equipment, lighting, and presentation flow beforehand to troubleshoot issues.
– Do a dry run – Get feedback from colleagues by rehearsing your Live event prior to going “on air”. Make any final adjustments.
Promoting Your LinkedIn Live Event
The success of your LinkedIn Live broadcast depends heavily on the size of the audience that tunes in. Use these strategies to maximize promotion:
– Send invites – Use LinkedIn messaging to personally invite your connections to watch your Live video. Follow up with reminders.
– Post on LinkedIn – Promote your event on your LinkedIn profile and company page. Create multiple posts leading up to it.
– Use hashtags – Include relevant hashtags in your posts so they appear in those feeds. #LinkedInLive is a good start.
– Email contacts – Let your email subscribers and existing customers know about your upcoming broadcast.
– Promote on other platforms – Post your event details on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc. and include LinkedIn Live.
– Place reminders – Schedule LinkedIn posts to remind your network to attend right before you go live.
– Enlist colleagues – Ask associates, employees or partners to help spread the word about your event.
– Offer exclusives – Tease special content, deals, or promotions only for Live viewers to build buzz. Limited offers attract crowds.
– Use targeted ads – If budget allows, run LinkedIn Sponsored Content ads targeting your ideal viewers.
Executing a Seamless LinkedIn Live Broadcast
When the big moment arrives, follow these best practices for a smooth, flawless LinkedIn Live event:
– Start on time – Keep your viewers’ time respected and kick things off promptly at the advertised start time.
– Give an introduction – Welcome everyone to your Live, state your name/company, explain the topic, and set expectations.
– Monitor comments – When possible, give shout-outs to viewers and verbally respond to questions or comments in real-time.
– Stick to the script – Refer back to your outline to stay on topic and organized. But also interact naturally when appropriate.
– Insert audience participation – Sprinkle in polls, Q&As, surveys etc. to get your viewers engaged.
– Avoid filler words – Practice limiting your use of “um”, “like”, “you know”, etc. Pauses are ok.
– Handle mistakes smoothly – Brush off any fumbles or technical glitches with grace and humor and proceed normally.
– Wrap up strong – Summarize key points and end with a clear call-to-action for viewers to drive conversions.
– Say goodbye – Thank everyone for watching and encourage them to follow you to catch your next Live event. Sign off professionally.
Following Up After Your LinkedIn Live Event
Your job’s not done after your LinkedIn Live broadcast ends. Make sure you also take these steps afterwards:
– Save/download the video – Download your LinkedIn Live video to repurpose and share across other marketing channels. Videos can be removed from LinkedIn after 90 days.
– Share/embed the video – Post the video on your LinkedIn profile and company page. Embed it on your website and blog. Amplify the content further.
– Analyze metrics – Review LinkedIn’s summary analytics for your Live video. Analyze viewers, leads generated, engagement etc. to optimize future events.
– Continue conversations – Keep the discussion going by responding to additional comments and answering unaddressed questions.
– Follow up with leads – Contact anyone who expressed interest in your offerings to schedule meetings while their interest is peaked.
– Reflect on what worked – Identify the preparation, promotion and content elements that were most effective to replicate for your next video.
– Strengthen relationships – Message attendees thanking them for their time and participation. Foster these valuable connections.
– Refine as you grow – Apply lessons learned to make incremental improvements. Hone your skills with each event.
Advanced LinkedIn Live Tips and Tricks
Once you get comfortable with LinkedIn Live, try incorporating some of these advanced techniques:
– Interact with guests – Bring on partners, clients or influencers via multi-guest streaming. Highlights different perspectives.
– Switch between content – Cut back and forth between slides, product images, demos etc. Varied images engage viewers.
– Incorporate overlays – Insert polls, questions or website links directly into your video. LinkedIn Live’s “Studio” mode enables this.
– Use the mobile app – Go Live spontaneously from anywhere by using the LinkedIn mobile app. This offers flexibility.
– Stream it elsewhere – Use software like Restream to simultaneously stream your Live video to YouTube, Twitter, Facebook etc.
– Promote it live – During your broadcast, your video appears at the top of followers’ feeds. Some viewers discover it there and tune in live.
– Pin it to your profile – After you finish, you can “pin” the video to the top of your LinkedIn profile. This extends visibility.
– Post event “teasers” – Share short 10-15 second clips from your Live event. This acts as a trailer to promote viewing the full video.
– Download your data – Leverage LinkedIn’s analytics to download viewer information for further analysis and follow-ups.
Conclusion
Hosting impactful LinkedIn Live events requires planning, practice and promotion. But it’s an extremely effective tool for establishing your brand, generating awareness, and interacting with your target audience. Use this guide to hone your approach – and press “Go Live” with confidence knowing you have proven best practices to follow before, during and after your broadcast. With experience, you’ll become skilled at delivering high-value LinkedIn Live content that captivates viewers while achieving your business objectives. Stay tuned for more helpful tips and training to master LinkedIn’s robust portfolio of marketing features.