Everything I Wish I Knew Before Livestreaming on LinkedIn
Written by Ashton Mathai
So… you want to know how to do a LinkedIn Live.
I assume that’s why you’re here. That, and this page probably isn’t doing much for you:
I’ve been in your shoes. There aren’t many resources out there that tell you what to expect beyond setup. You learn most of that by doing – trial by fire, if you will – and making mistakes and trying again.
Some good news for you: I’m here to help you skip that part.
For a little over a year, we’ve hosted LinkedIn Lives for our agency and our clients. In that time, we’ve learned a lot… landmines, opportunities, and all.
If you’ve never hosted a LinkedIn Live before, welcome. Even if you’ve hosted fifty, I bet you’ll still learn something. Here’s what the Internet, and even LinkedIn itself, don’t tell you about livestreaming on LinkedIn.
Webinars Versus LinkedIn Lives
First things first: Is there a difference between a webinar and a LinkedIn Live?
Yes and no. Technically, running a LinkedIn Live isn’t much different from running a webinar, despite a few quirks we’ll cover later.
But there are benefits of livestreaming on LinkedIn that you can’t get from a webinar:
Grow LinkedIn reach: LinkedIn Lives help grow the reach of personal and brand feeds. Approximately 60-70% of LinkedIn event attendees don’t already follow your page. This is especially true if you’re going live with another person with their own audience.
Built-in audience and distribution: Yes, you should still promote the event on your feed, your brand feed, or any other channels (like newsletters) if you can. But when the event starts, the video will automatically populate in event subscribers and your followers’ feeds. After the event ends, the LinkedIn Live recording is instantly available on your feed for rewatch.
Real-time engagement, no login needed: Attendees have to register for webinars, check their emails, find the link, and maybe even download software. With LinkedIn Live, they can register, but they can also just show up. One click, and they’re in. It lowers the barrier to entry.
Pro Tip: Similar to a webinar, you don’t have to create a slide deck for every LinkedIn Live. You can – and we have before as a helpful aid – but if the content is there, you don’t always need it.
Now that we’ve covered why you might choose a LinkedIn Live, it’s time to talk LinkedIn Live best practices for before, during, and after the event.
We won’t cover too many of the setup basics. But to make it easier on you, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do a LinkedIn Live, plus most of the considerations we’ll cover next. Every time I host one of these events, I refer to this document:
What to Know Before You Go (LinkedIn) Live
LinkedIn Live Best Practices: Before
If livestreaming on LinkedIn solo, you can stream automatically through LinkedIn. However, with two or more participants, you’ll have to use a third-party platform, set up via “custom live streaming” (refer to the checklist). We use Zoom and LinkedIn Live together, so I’ll refer to Zoom throughout this article.
There’s no technical difference between hosting via a personal feed and a company feed. The checklist I linked above will run the same whether hosting from a personal or a company feed. However, the size of your audience and how engaged they are should be a significant factor when deciding. We hosted a client’s LinkedIn Live from the CEO’s feed instead of the brand feed once. Despite the brand having almost 5x more followers than the CEO’s feed, we found that the number of attendees was relatively the same.
Yes, you can technically pre-record a video and set it up as a LinkedIn Live. When working through a third-party provider like Zoom, this is possible. Just remember, the heart of a LinkedIn Live is live, so make sure it’s not obvious that it’s pre-recorded, or viewers might feel deceived.
If choosing to use a deck and stream using Zoom, move your brand logo to the bottom left corner. The Zoom logo watermark will appear in the bottom right corner, so it will cover up your logo.
Stick between 15 and 30 minutes for event length. We’ve found the most success when the events don’t run over 30 minutes. After that, you’ll likely notice a distinct drop in attendees.
Send hosts a calendar invite ahead of time, but keep in mind you can’t give them an actual event link until one hour before going live. Here’s where we get to those “quirks” I mentioned before: if using Zoom and LinkedIn Live, you’ll need to configure the Custom Live Service through the meeting invite and link itself. To do that, you’ll need the Stream URL and Stream Key from LinkedIn.
The catch? You can only get those things an hour before the official livestreaming on LinkedIn begins. The blue “Go Live” button won’t appear on the platform back-end until then. Make sure to tell your event hosts the invite won’t contain a link until closer to the event.
When sending the invitation, build in your tech check time. We recommend 15-30 minutes before. At worst, the hosts can use the extra time for a practice run-through or to decompress and get their head in the game.
Plan to record independently if you want a copy for later. LinkedIn has no download option available – they’re notorious for wanting to keep users and their content on the platform – so if you don’t plan to get your LinkedIn Live recording separately, you’re $h*t out of luck. We keep it simple and use the “record” button on Zoom.
LinkedIn Live Best Practices: During
It’s the day of LinkedIn Live! Take a deep breath. Whatever happens, try not to panic, and follow these tips:
As the back-end producer, change your speaker view before you record so their faces are just as big (or bigger than) the presentation deck. Not only does it make for a better viewer experience, but it will save your life when creating clips for social media.
It’s the difference between this:
…and this:
As the back-end producer, mute yourself and hide all muted participants. Otherwise, the attendees will wonder who the grayed-out box with your name is. Awkward…
Press record BEFORE you configure custom live. This is your warning that after you hit the custom live stream button in Zoom – even if you haven’t pressed "go live" on LinkedIn – everything after that moment will run public on LinkedIn Live.
When you hit record in Zoom, there’s an automated voice that says RECORDING IN PROGRESS.
I remembered this the hard way, after producing my first LinkedIn Live and realizing I hadn’t pressed record just yet. It made for one heck of an awkward on-camera moment, but luckily my hosts played it off:
🤡🤡🤡
(Do as I say, not as I do…)
After going live, the first post you created in tandem with the event page will turn into the live stream and show up in both event subscribers' and followers' feeds. This is another reason to promote your event on LinkedIn beforehand.
Your back-end admin view of the video might lag way behind the actual LinkedIn Live. Don’t panic, this is normal! The most reliable way to see the real-time status of the video is by viewing it like an attendee from a different device than what you're hosting on.
It’s okay to multitask your windows. If you have Zoom open in one window on a monitor and switch your monitor’s view to another window while the video is going, the LinkedIn Live isn't disturbed. It always shows the Zoom window with the hosts and your deck.
Incorporate an interactive element by assigning someone to drop links. If you mention your brand shares more tips in your monthly newsletter, get someone on your team to drop the sign-up link. Not only does it help direct users to your website, but it’s good to get some attendees’ blood going again. This might also be a great person to send any questions from the chat to the hosts to answer in a live Q&A.
Pro Tip: Plan your links and add UTM parameters. That way, you can see exactly how many people navigated your website and how engaged they were. Another metric to measure event success!
LinkedIn Live Best Practices: After
When the event is finished, end the third-party stream first. If you only get one thing from this article, let it be this! Cutting the third-party stream (again, we use Zoom and LinkedIn Live) first ends the feed automatically, so there are no uncomfortable moments. I always instruct the hosts to sit there and smile until their meeting shuts down.
Is it a little awkward? Yes.
But what’s more awkward is your audience seeing the host break face and say, “Thank God that’s over.”
Trim your video on LinkedIn. Do it right then and there. The LinkedIn Live recording will be available to everyone right after the event ends and will begin replaying immediately. Make this the first thing you do after ending the stream.
Download your attendee emails. When you set up the event on LinkedIn, there’s an option to use a registration form. Check this box if you want to get attendee emails.
Otherwise, it doesn’t record who attends. The emails will download in a spreadsheet, and you can send any follow-up materials, like the recording, or any links you might want them to see.
Debrief your hosts. Don’t forget your hosts in the post-event craze! They’re likely sitting there wondering how they did. Give them any feedback – what they did well, how they might improve for next time – as soon as you can. It will also help forge more goodwill with you, as their producer, for the next time.
Figuring out how to do a LinkedIn Live isn’t hard, but doing it well takes more than just hitting “Go Live.”
Hopefully, this guide gives you the behind-the-scenes knowledge that people like me learn the hard way. Eventually, when it all clicks, your LinkedIn Live success will look like this:
Now go make it great — and don’t forget to hit “record.”
