Don’t you sometimes wish the world would just stand still for a minute to give you a moment to catch up with all the new developments and changes? While we can’t make that possible, we can certainly help you stay up to date with all the new features and functionalities on LinkedIn.

After all, with LinkedIn being the most profitable platform for B2B social selling, it’s essential to know the many different ways you can utilize this platform for your success. One of these ways is LinkedIn Live, LinkedIn’s live-streaming service, which allows you to interact with your audience in real-time. These interactions can help secure connections and reach a higher ROI with social selling.

Interested in seeing how LinkedIn Live can be an excellent tool for you? Keep reading this article to find out.

What is LinkedIn Live?

LinkedIn Live is, as its name suggests, a feature that lets you broadcast and stream live videos to LinkedIn. Lives can be broadcast regardless of whether your account is a personal or a business page, and they are public for others to see. Additionally, LinkedIn will post a recording of your finished Live to your profile so your viewers can replay it anytime. 

Lives can be anything from webinars, interviews, product demonstrations, or simple Q&As. They’re the easiest way to both engage and educate your audience, so it’s critical to put your best foot forward but keep yourself comfortable at the same time. You can also schedule a LinkedIn Live event if you worry about feeling uncomfortable if put on the spot. This step gives you time to plan what you want to talk about. If you’re more experienced with Lives or feel that you’re better off improvising, then LinkedIn Live allows you to broadcast instantaneously. 

Why is LinkedIn live important?

As mentioned, LinkedIn Live is one of the best ways to engage with your favorite creators and your audience. While not exactly face-to-face, real-time interactions allow you to convey your message and clarify people’s questions rapidly. This also allows your audience to gauge your personality through your interactions. In short, your audience is learning who you are while you’re learning about what your audience finds interesting.

In fact, 37% of consumers believe that lives are the most engaging content on social media. Lives only work if they interactive and engaged with. This mutual back and forth allows you to build relationships with potential clients, which leads to higher conversion and brand loyalty.

LinkedIn Lives will become a great tool in your social selling journey. Lives are designed to establish thought leadership by sharing your expertise through live presentations, which positions you as a thought leader in your industry. The better you explain your product and the more questions you answer, the more credibility you will build in your field and among your audience. For lead generation, LinkedIn Live can help promote upcoming events, showcase products or services, and capture leads through a call to action during the stream. Viewers who responded well to or during your stream should be captured as people you want to follow up with so that you build a better relationship.

For your brand, Live video can significantly increase your reach on LinkedIn, exposing you to a broader audience and expanding your brand awareness. The more people see your Lives, the more people will talk about your product. This, coupled with the fact that questions can be clarified immediately, allows your consumers to have a more accurate depiction of your product. Live videos also have the power to humanize your brand, as the audience will also experience your personality and authenticity. It’s best to be as comfortable as you can professionally be; if you come across as too anxious or too relaxed, it can fall back on the brand.

How to use LinkedIn Live

The first part of using LinkedIn Live is making sure that LinkedIn is allowing you to create them. Unlike other social media live platforms, LinkedIn Live can’t be accessed automatically. Don’t panic! LinkedIn Live’s qualifications are easily achievable. The two requirements are that your account is over a month old and has 150+ connections. If your page is eligible, you will see an option for LinkedIn Live. Creating an Event will trigger a review of your profile, giving you continuous access to LinkedIn Live.

LinkedIn Live, at first, will look intimidating. The feature differs from other platforms’ live stream services, which are native to the platform. To use Instagram Live, for example, you set up a Live through Instagram, record through Instagram, and your audience interacts with you through Instagram. 

LinkedIn Live works a bit differently. While your audience can view and interact with you through LinkedIn, the client you are streaming from is not directly through LinkedIn. Instead, LinkedIn provides different streaming tools to connect to and allows accommodations for Zoom and Webex streaming. If you need somewhere to start, use LinkedIn’s Preferred Partners, as they are the best LinkedIn-compatible streaming tool for beginners.

Depending on which broadcasting tool you use, connecting your event to LinkedIn might be different from what you’re used to. Always make sure to check guides on how to connect your LinkedIn event to your streaming tool. These tools will require you to create an account with their site for easier connection to your LinkedIn account. Note: You actually can’t start a Live on LinkedIn, the streaming account you choose will be needed to begin broadcasting. 

From here, the Live is as you make of it. Depending on whether you scheduled it or improvised, you can plan an entire itinerary or just have some talking points to get to. Remember that a good portion of your Live comes from interaction, so expect it to be fluid and more flexible with timing than during other presentations. Overall, the best advice for someone starting a live stream is to have fun with it! The more comfortable you become, the easier it will be to host Lives in the future.

Let’s go live!

Livestreaming is a valuable social selling activity, and LinkedIn Live has made it accessible to the largest social media B2B community. Make sure you put your best foot…er, face forward; in return, you can gain a more loyal audience and customer base! Are you ready to go live?

Photo by Stanley Li on Unsplash, Photo by KOBU Agency on Unsplash, Photo by Voyage Pro on Unsplash,