In February of 2019, LinkedIn debuted Linkedin Live, a new streaming platform that gives people and organizations the ability to broadcast real-time video to groups or personal LinkedIn pages.

Live streaming on LinkedIn is a relatively new feature and perfect for businesses looking to grow their audience and reach new people. You can drive engagement using LinkedIn's built-in tools to talk to your audience. And you even get access to basic video editing tools so you can upload your content later.

In this article, we're going to discuss everything you need to know about live streaming to LinkedIn Live, the main benefits, top features, and more.

What to Expect Before you Start Live Streaming

Before you can start live streaming on LinkedIn, it's important to know that not everyone has access. You must first fill out an application. If you are approved, you’ll receive an email confirming your eligibility.

To become a LinkedIn Live broadcaster, you must review:

• Have 150 followers and/or connections
• Regularly create original content on LinkedIn
• Have never violated LinkedIn’s Professional Community Policies.

For more information on Linkedin’s requirements to live stream, please review their Live Video access criteria.

If you believe you meet these criteria, submit an access request by completing this form.

What Features Are Available on LinkedIn Live

LinkedIn Live comes with various features that can help you grow your business and connect with loyal followers.

Schedule Your Live Stream in Advance

Scheduling your stream in advance is a helpful way to generate excitement before your stream starts. When you schedule a stream, Linkedin will generate a public post visible on your feed or LinkedIn page, announcing your upcoming stream. When your live video starts, your post will automatically show your live broadcast.

LinkedIn members can RSVP to your stream by clicking attend on your post. Your attendees will receive notifications seven days, three days, and 15 minutes before your live stream. When you start your live broadcast, LinkedIn will send a message to all of your registered attendees to remind them to join.

In addition, according to LinkedIn they, “will send a notification to a subset of the followers of your profile or LinkedIn Page, targeting the ones most likely to view your video based on a variety of factors.” As a business or creator looking to grow their audience, this additional reach can mean the difference between a successful broadcast and a flop.

Automatically Generate Captions

Adding captions to your videos is one of the most important things that you can do. Captions not only provide accessibility for those who are hearing impaired, but they also increase the shareability of your video. LinkedIn Live can automatically generate captions for you, making it more accessible to a broader audience and expanding your reach in the process.

Automatically Update Profile Background

When you go live, LinkedIn will automatically update the background on your profile to your live stream. Please note: this only happens when the creator is streaming to their profile page. Your background image will not update if you are streaming to a page or event.

Comment as Page While Live

Pages admins can respond to comments as the Page rather than their profile. To do this, enter into your Admin View, open the live video, and you can start commenting on behalf of your Page. Creating this kind of engagement between your community and your brand can be an excellent way to boost interest, traffic and increase conversions.

Mute Viewers

To increase the quality of your stream and protect yourself from viewers that may be toxic, you can mute specific people on LinkedIn Live. Muting a commenter disables their ability to react or comment on that particular live video and any replays of that video.

Video Editing

LinkedIn Live also comes with light video editing capabilities. If you have a “Stream Starting Soon” screen, you trim this section out for your replay. Click on the live video you wish and enter full-screen theater mode. Click Edit Video, select Trim, and adjust the slider at the bottom.

LinkedIn Live Best Practices

You can use Linkedin Live to host interviews, live events, or your own show where you answer questions from the audience in real-time. You can also do a Q&A or talk about topics like breaking news, trends, and advice.  The most important thing on this platform is to stay authentic and answer any question that comes your way; this will help you win more people over with your content and give them a first-hand experience of who you are as an individual!

Here are some additional tips and best practices to help you live stream on LinkedIn.

• Know your schedule, and keep it consistent: Your viewers will come to expect a show at a specific time, and when you don't stick to it, they may lose interest.
• Come prepared: If you’re hosting a talk show with a guest, do your research beforehand and have questions. Don’t be caught off guard because you didn’t prepare by knowing the basics of what your guest does. This will also help you ask them interesting follow-up questions, leading to a more engaging show.
• Plan your equipment ahead of time: If you're hosting a live event, make sure you have the necessary tools beforehand to ensure that everything goes smoothly. If you need to stream live audio (for example, playing music), make sure you have all of the necessary cables and adapters.
• Be Yourself: Your audience will ultimately stay engaged if they enjoy you and the content you make. Play to your strengths and create content that you love to do.

How to Live Stream to LinkedIn Live

After you applied and Linkedin has granted you access to live to stream, you can go live in just a few clicks when you use a broadcasting studio such as Talk Studio.

Talk Studio is a browser-based live streaming studio. Streamers can create a professional broadcast and go live to their favorite platforms with just five clicks. There is no complicated setup, nothing to install, and you and your guests don’t even need to make an account. Just log in with your Google or LinkedIn account, and you are live. Talk Studio is the simplest tool for anyone to start live streaming; here’s how:

Step 1: Log in with Talk Studio

Head to https://streamlabs.com/talk-studio and sign in using your email or the login credentials of your platform of choice.

Step 2: Enable your microphone and camera.

When you first log in, make sure you allow access to both the camera and the microphone. If there are any problems, please reload the site and try again. You can double-check that access is granted by clicking on the little lock icon near HTTPS on the left side of the URL address bar. Right-click there and make sure Talk Studio has access to the microphone and camera.

Step 3: Add Yourself to the Stream

After you allow access to your camera, you will see yourself on the left-hand side of the screen. Click on “Show on stream” to add yourself to the broadcast.

Step 4: Go Live

After you’ve added LinkedIn as a live streaming destination, you can go live and start streaming to a page or personal profile.

In Summary

Linkedin Live is a popular streaming platform that allows you to connect with professionals in your niche. Features like auto-captions, moderation, and video editing tools make LinkedIn Live an attractive platform for creators.

If you run into any issues or have any questions, you can reach out to [email protected] if you require any assistance. Happy streaming!