Last updated on July 13th, 2021
Live streaming has become a norm today during these pandemic times. Businesses are keeping their audiences engaged by involving expert guests to share and discuss their issues. Of all the live-streaming platforms, LinkedIn Live is amongst the most popular and effective to target and engage the audience. Designhill conducted an online session with LinkedIn expert Clarene Mitchell who shared the step by step guide on how to use live streaming to your advantage.
LinkedIn videos are widely recognized for generating more interaction and engagement. Many studies have statistically proven that. These videos are expected to evoke 7 times more reactions and 24 times more comments as compared to native videos.
But just being on LinkedIn Live is not going to give you its benefits in terms of engagement. You still have to follow some expert advice on how to best explore the streaming.
Considering that, Designhill, the leading creative marketplace, conducted a session with LinkedIn expert Clarene Mitchell on 9th June 2021.
What was covered in this session?
- Steps to get approval for the LinkedIn Live application process.
- Importance of developing a ‘show’ format instead of random Lives.
- Curating and preparing guests for successful episodes
- The importance of promoting episodes.
- Fostering audience engagement, do the work.
About Clarene (Anderson) Mitchell
Clarene Mitchell owns TCM Communications LLC, a social media branding firm based in Mequon, Wisconsin. With this firm, she helps entrepreneurs and corporate leaders effectively leverage LinkedIn to generate results.
She is also an accomplished print journalist, community activist, and public relations professional. Her writing has been featured in Milwaukee’s mainstream newspaper. She has also authored a book, “Shine Online with LinkedIn: LinkedIn Isn’t Just An Online Database of Resumes!” to help readers understand LinkedIn better.
In this video, we have shared the video of the session and transcript in the form of Q/A where you can learn more about live streaming through LinkedIn to engage audience.
Transcript (Q/A): Here Is How To Use LinkedIn Live To Engage Your Audience
Why LinkedIn Live?
Clarene Michelle: LinkedIn is all about social selling. It is about building relationships and not the old traditional cold calling. Or, it is not the process of shoving our services or what we want, or whatever our LinkedIn goals are down the throats of everyone on LinkedIn.
It is about social selling
LinkedIn is about social selling, building relationships, quality, and authentic relationships. And to do that, build trust with your target audience. As you see going straight across, so going horizontally with regular content, people can build that relationship and get to know us. But it takes a long time to do that. Post by post, a little longer to do that.
But the sweet spot, as the arrow is showing, is with LinkedIn live. LinkedIn live gets right into the heart of things right in the middle of the know, like, and trust process, where we quickly build those relationships, we quickly expand. Because just as you’re seeing me now. You can see me get my sense of my personality, my energy when you look at people in their eyes and see their expressions and all of that, that happens with LinkedIn live.
Builds a sense of connectivity
It builds a greater sense of connectivity with people, right versus just content. And I shouldn’t just say just content, because the content is important. But LinkedIn provides that connectivity at a higher level. So, I want to take you through a few screenshots of what is the importance of LinkedIn.
Get analytic tools
When it comes to LinkedIn, there is a wealth of analytics LinkedIn provides. You can tap into that and maximize that data and extend your reach or your audience. Make sure that you’re getting a click on the views. That’s right up under the post and get into the analytics. There you can see the reactions, the comments, and the people who share it. This is the first level of it.
But then you can also get in deeper into the graphs that it shows in the lifetime views of that particular episode. It can help you keep on track because you can zone in. Even more specific is this tab. So, the view video performance is one thing. But looking at the audience demographics, again, it zooms you in on.
If I have this LinkedIn Live show imposter syndrome disrupt this show every second and fourth Tuesday, and my target audience is women entrepreneurs, am I meeting those? Unfortunately, LinkedIn currently doesn’t have the information that is broken down to the genders for this. But it does let me know. It gives me the titles of those who view the videos. You see the companies, the titles, the geographic areas as well.
Give information to make improvements
Clarene Michelle: I need to change the content or my promotion approach to some aspects of the broadcast, I need to improve on or continue to stay on track. And it gives me information where I can follow up with people as well. I know who works at this company. That’s the owner. She’s an entrepreneur, information that can help me continue to follow up and engage with those individuals.
LinkedIn Live is a goldmine that is waiting for us as LinkedIn users. So, if you have a native video, a video you record on your phone and then you post it, that’s great. Because videos allow people to see and hear you, which is good.
24 times more comments on LinkedIn Live
But when you use LinkedIn Live, you’re going to have 24 times more comments. So that’s where the engagement or traffic comes in. You will have seven times more reactions, 66.62% of components plan to adapt, live-broadcasting in the future. Are you a part of that 62% when it comes to starting to make LinkedIn live a part of your strategy on the platform?
But again, make sure that we understand the value that is awaiting us when we use LinkedIn live. Do not be shy, step out of your comfort zone, use the platform in this capacity with this feature, that can give you a lot of value.
LinkedIn Requirements
Application process
Clarene Michelle: I am going to talk about one of the points with the LinkedIn app requirements that some folks don’t have good feelings about. And I recently did a LinkedIn poll about this. The sentiment is not good about this overall. So, when it comes to doing LinkedIn live, there’s an application process. That’s just the way it is.
Not everyone can just go on LinkedIn live like they go to Facebook or go on Instagram or other platforms. You have to go through an application process, and there are pros and cons to it. But understand this application process to go through which keeps LinkedIn in the process. LinkedIn is a business professional platform, where certain rules and guidelines are maintained.
Have 1000 followers
While applying for LinkedIn Live, make sure that you have at least 1000 followers. There is a benchmark that everyone on LinkedIn has at least 500 connections as a good starting point. But LinkedIn looks at your profile to determine if you get approved or not. One of the factors is making sure you have at least 1000 followers or connections.
Then, if you have a company page, you have to have at least 500 followers to that page. Have a history of creating original content on LinkedIn.
Have a solid content history
With this link, you can’t just be doing video at LinkedIn Live and then forget just regular content. LinkedIn live should be a supplement to what you’re already doing. So you should have a solid history of creating content already. They are going to review your history on the platform to see how often you’re making a post. If it has not been within the last 90 days, your application is going to be rejected more than likely.
Ensure content consistency
Consistent content is the key. I say all the time content is king. It is what gets us in front of people who are having a profile. But having consistent content is how you show up in the newsfeed. So having that content and some variety with your content should be ensured. It should not be the same content every day. Some people are looking at a native video that you post and so have some variety with it. Or, have some variety when you are incorporating polls, sharing news articles. You should be creating multiple interests for people.
You should not have a bad history
Also, ensure that you have no history of violating LinkedIn rules. If you have a bad history with a platform, that violates the standards of the platform. So, in that case, you may not get approved for LinkedIn Live. Also, make sure that there is no selling on your part. LinkedIn Live is about providing value, not selling. That is because it is a social selling platform, not traditional in-your-face selling.
Things you need to do first for LinkedIn Live
Now, do not put the cart in front of the horse. That horse will go nowhere with the cart in front of it. So, even with the requirements from LinkedIn certain things have to be done in it in the beginning first, before you can get approved. I say even once you get approved, you don’t just jump in, start to show or start going live. I got approved and I launched my show in 2021, right at the first of the year.
Build interest in your brand
Clarene Michelle: But, I research and figure out what I am going to do to help provide the greatest value for a successful engaging show. So you don’t just jump right into it to create your LinkedIn live show. You want to make sure you’re going to create some interest. In this way, when you do go live, you are going to get that engagement. This is because you have a history on the platform where you built your community and your following.
Optimized your LinkedIn profile
Then, it expands from there, and has a fully optimized LinkedIn profile. One of the worst things is that you go live and people do not find your profile to know more about you. They go to your LinkedIn profile but it is not optimized. That’s not going to validate the impression you’re getting of me now. Or, someone has a LinkedIn Live show, and people are impressed with them and want to learn more. But then they go to the profile of that person, that broadcaster, and it is void of information. It is not fully optimized, the interest could be lost.
So, make sure your profile is fully optimized and you should have a history of consistent content. Having an authentically network with others is building a community on LinkedIn. That goes both ways in building those relationships. And so I went through the process of researching, figuring out how to create a show that could provide value. The value should still align with what my brand is.
Identify streaming platforms
Clarene Michelle: I use StreamYard because it is user-friendly for me. There are multiple tools that you can use to go live. You don’t just go live on LinkedIn as you do on Facebook, where you just go on the platform and hit the Live button. But in the case of LinkedIn, you have to use a streaming platform. Find the one that works for you.
Some Pre-Show Must-Dos
Here are some other things to consider when preparing for a show:
Establish an actual show and not just random LinkedIn Lives.
You should have an engaging show which is the actual show. Do not just randomly on LinkedIn when you get access to LinkedIn Live. Avoid going there without it being a show and having a schedule. That is because you want to build that momentum and interest.
When I say ‘show’, we automatically think of our favorite show on TV or your streaming services like Netflix or whatever. You know when that show comes on traditional TV, what day it comes on the time frame. Also, you know the format of the show. We have to do the same thing with our LinkedIn live. Otherwise, we are not leveraging it to its full capacity.
Create a show logo
So, have the name of the show. Make sure that you have a logo for your show. But have an actual show formatted with the schedule of what people can expect or routine or format? The logo design will help you build that interest, where people look forward to the show.
Go Live from your profile
You should go live from your personal LinkedIn profile. This is like you are an entrepreneur and you have a business or company page. Then, you will have greater success going live from your profile because people connect with people. You will have more followers, more connections on your profile than your company wants.
For instance, I have 1000 plus followers, I believe it is my latest cow and a significant number of connections and so on and so forth. I don’t remember how many followers I’m sorry I have on my company page. But people will follow you more on your profile. So go live from there. And then, if they want to follow the breadcrumbs so to speak to get to your company page, they will do that.
Be Professional
You should not take your LinkedIn Live show for granted. You need to shop up and show it up strong. Consider some little nuances that allow for a quality show. That will help with the engagement because people will know that you’re taking your show seriously. They’re going to respond in that way as well.
So you see, just like I’m dressed to impress right now, for this show, the same way I do for my LinkedIn Live shows. I make sure that everything is together in terms of equipment, the environment, lining up all the details. Make sure you are professional with it.
Have pre-planned topics and guests
Clarene Michelle: You should have your show topics and guests planned. Do not just be you all the time. There are times like I go live just by myself. For the majority of the time, I have guests because it helps to pull in their audience as well. But it is providing expert information or information of interest that is not just coming from me all the time. But again, it helps to pull them there. They are following as well. The document is my ready reference for my guests.
Give 15-30 minutes to the guests to read the reference
So when I confirm my guests to make them comfortable on the show, they receive my ready reference. This reference sheet has key details about the show. They have the reference 15 to 30 minutes before clicking on the StreamYard link. This helps them work out the key details regarding the show.
Have a unique hashtag
You should also have a unique hashtag for the show on LinkedIn. But put the hashtag imposter syndrome disrupted, It is not like you can go into a special tab to find links in lives. So, to make it easy for people to find my past episodes, and for that engagement to continue in the views to continue. Make sure you have a unique hashtag that can be used on other platforms as well, but specifically on LinkedIn. And people can easily then go in and find those episodes.
Promote the show
Then, you need to promote your LinkedIn Live show. For that make sure that you take these crucial steps.
Create promotional graphics and distribute them
For instance, I created a graphic for each episode. Then I use the graphic to promote each episode. That generates interest for the episodes and period shows. Then that qualified leads to people then attending. And then that leads to engagement. So there’s a process with it. Create it at least one week before the show not too far in advance. That is because people are busy with their lives and other things happen.
So, they don’t forget just that one week, or you know, my background PR so that that timeframe of four to six weeks doesn’t necessarily work with LinkedIn laws, especially with my schedule of having it every second and fourth Tuesday.
You can use platforms like Canva that I prefer for my graphics But any other platforms such as Designhill can be used. Use Designhill Studio to create your graphics and post on LinkedIn specifically. But then you can cross-populate the information on other platforms to generate more interest in your LinkedIn lives. So you have to be consistent with promoting your shows and getting that audience
Create a LinkedIn Event page
Another step with the promotion part of it is to create a LinkedIn Event page. This page has your event features. And those event features are a great way to build interest for your LinkedIn Lives. The pages don’t have to be just for webinars or other kinds of traditional events. You can use the LinkedIn events feature for your LinkedIn Live.
Create the page one week in advance
But create the event page at least one week prior using some platforms, but invite connections. When you create your LinkedIn event, you can only invite people your first-level, second and third-level connections to. But go through the process and invite people. Sometimes, I go A through Z because it is hard to think of who to invite. But then it breaks it down also based upon industry.
So, for my target population of women entrepreneurs, I go to the industry. Then I pick the industry option and pick the one for marketing or entrepreneurs or coaches as such. I’m sharing an event as a post and or other social media council that people get the link to the event. They can register so it goes to their calendar and creates a post on the event page to get attendees excited. So you don’t just create the event page and then just leave it you create posts on that page. Instead, you poll a question, a graphic consistently to get people excited about the show.
Engagement Prompts during the lives
Have positive energy
Clarene Michelle: It is hard to focus on the LinkedIn Live show and the person is very dry and has no personality. For me, to even mimic this process because it is so opposite of me. But if they’re sitting stiff and talking very monotone and just are not making eye contact, you have to come alive, because it is LinkedIn live for people to connect with you. So have positive energy, have a good personality.
Spend time welcoming people
Before you even get to your schedule, welcome your guests and engage with them to make them feel special. I feature them but people like having the spotlight on them. So take time to welcome people.
Feature them in the comments
You should also feature your guest in your comments. Put their location as well. That is because it is LinkedIn live. And LinkedIn is all about networking.
Have a format
Have a format as well to ensure a schedule that So schedules about your LinkedIn Live schedule and all that information through the format.
Have giveaways
Quite often I give away my LinkedIn book or something else. Again, my guest here gave away coaching time. So make sure that you have some other things that create interest in that engagement as well, or extend that and
Be flexible and responsive to the audience
If you ignore your audience, you are not going to continue to have that engagement. That is because people are going to start tuning you out. So acknowledge your audience, engage with them and be responsive.
Post-show steps
Reply to all comments ASPS
Clarene Michelle: For engagement, you have to do the work. Most LinkedIn live broadcasters miss out on the post-workshop and post-show work. I’m in StreamYard and during the process in the broadcast studio, I can’t respond. I can’t do the show and acknowledge them. But I can’t respond manually to their comments. And I don’t know if that’s the same for other platforms.
So, as soon as after the show is over, I go directly to responding, acknowledging, and replying to each comment. That helps to keep the engagement going. And then it helps to feed into the metrics of the algorithms and LinkedIn as well. That is because there’s more activity in the flow of that show.
Share the link a couple of days after
So, usually on Saturdays, maybe I’ll share the link for those who may have missed the show. And then it helps to feed more views, helps to feed into more engagement. So don’t just do it, and then be done and walk away. Make sure you’re responding to everyone’s comments. Making sure you share it so that you can extend the reach on your Facebook groups, Facebook business pages, or other business pages or professional pages. You can do that or profiles.
Designhill: How is LinkedIn Live access given and how can we increase my chances of getting approved?
Have 1000 followers
Clarene Michelle: LinkedIn requirement for LinkedIn Live is you have at least 1000 followers. And so one thing you may want to do is when people go to your profile ask them to connect to you and not just follow you, you may want to change that. That can help to increase your number of followers. And if people still want to connect with you, all they have to do is hit the More button and they still can get to the Connect option. But you want to have the first option for them to follow you. because that’ll help you get to the 1,001st quickly.
Have consistency in your content
But make sure that your content is consistent. It has variety, especially videos. So I have a history of doing videos that are native, so you’re doing them on your phone or using a streaming unit, not streaming. But you can record them and have them posted, and have that history. So, LinkedIn can see the quality of what your LinkedIn lives could potentially be. Make sure that you go through that process of having those followers having consistent content, a fully optimized profile.
Designhill: How can we capture attendee info, such as name, email, and company with LinkedIn live?
Record them manually
Clarene Michelle: So, at this time, as far as I know, you can’t capture the names from the analytics that LinkedIn provides but do the work. But I have my LinkedIn Live binder. It includes all of my information for each episode, and you have to be organized with it. But when I do my notes for my shows. I list the name you can manually go through and it is its work, it takes time.
But you can manually go through after your shows. Then, look and see who reacted, go in the comments and start recording or jotting down those names. And then you can do so because it is not LinkedIn is not going to give you the email addresses. But if you go through that process, you can go to their profiles. Then you can send them connection advice if you want. After that, you can see from their contact information, if they have their email, you can get the email from that.
Do not spam email
However, I warn you against going through that process of getting their emails and then start spamming them email-wise or while sending them direct-message. Don’t do that. Instead, build that relationship and credibility with the quality of your LinkedIn live show. And then the opportunities will come to you versus you spamming them or you doing the cold calling and selling.
Do analytics
You just have to go through your Lives, the broadcast afterward, and recording the name. Then, you are sending the contact requests or connecting requests and going to their contact information to get their email. Then, LinkedIn provides the analytics. One of the analytic pieces is your audience information. And it gives a list of different companies, or that the individuals work for their business names. So, pay attention to the analytics.
Designhill: What is the right set of metrics to measure the success of LinkedIn live streaming?
Clarene Michelle: Audience engagement is the biggest thing because that is an indicator that you are providing value. The important metrics are your attendees continue with each episode and their level of comments. Then, know how many are having second and third-level connections. How many are sending connection advice or following you?
Designhill: How to access LinkedIn life?
Get it from the LinkedIn profile
Clarene Michelle: A lot of times people don’t know how to access LinkedIn. And they are in this whole surge of updates and new features. One of the more recent features or updates they made is now all you have to do to view a LinkedIn live. So, when I do my promotions, people know that to see or access my LinkedIn live, you just be on my LinkedIn profile. It shows the day and time that my show is gonna appear, and it showcases in my banner section. So right at the top of your LinkedIn profile, it showcases there automatically now, and then all you have to do is click on that. Hence, LinkedIn banner plays a big role in gaining attention.
Designhill: Does LinkedIn have chat support?
Clarene Michelle: When you go live for LinkedIn, whatever streaming tool that you’re using, the comments section is there in this broadcast studio for you to see and acknowledge.
So even after the show, the videos don’t disappear. They stay in your activity section for people to see the replay in the comments and stay there as well. But you will see that the chat is within the streaming tool, not necessarily within LinkedIn.
Designhill: What are some engagement tricks, tips and hacks with our audience for LinkedIn live video marketing?
Engage people
Clarene Michelle: The engagement hacks are acknowledging people who are there right at the beginning. You want to acknowledge people at the beginning of the show and think of it throughout the show opportunities doing knowledge and individuals. That’s an engagement hack. And promote them to make comments.
Know their location, where they tuned in from, how their day was or how is the week going? Or, what’s the highlight of the week? But give them a reason to put comments in the chat, whether it is a giveaway. You want to put a hashtag for those or people can put questions in the chat. Those are hacks to promote engagement to the shows.
So, these are the key steps that Clarene advised to follow when you want to engage the audience through LinkedIn Live streaming. If you are already in it, check if you are doing it professionally just as advised by the expert.
Now, a brand is all about engaging people in so many ways besides using live interaction. Most importantly, when they visit your business, make sure that its visual identities like your LinkedIn Live show logo, your business website, brochure, business card, etc are uniquely designed. Then only, you will be able to leave the desired impression on the prospective clients and target audience.
Therefore, let Designhill, the largest creative marketplace design your logo, etc identities professionally as per your brief. Just start your design contest with the marketplace and get the design work within a short period of time. So, get started right away with the marketplace.
Wrapping Up
Live streaming is a big way today during the pandemic to get connected with your audience. LinkedIn Live streaming is a surefire way to interact with your specific audience. But the expert advises optimizing your LinkedIn profile, engaging people, and doing post-live promotional work to enhance the reach of your recorded video.
