Did you know that the majority of the most-watched television broadcasts in history were live events? Times have changed but not the demand for live communication. More than 1.1 billion hours of live video was watched in 2019 and the number is only growing. Brands that are striving to stand apart from the rest are already tapping into the potential of live streaming. While LinkedIn has already established itself as a great platform for brands to leverage, LinkedIn Live is becoming the go-to medium for brands as live video is proving to be a productive marketing tactic to capture the attention of professional audiences. To understand how and why to use LinkedIn Live to help boost your company, we have listed eight great ways to use the platform through the success stories of eight brands.
What Is LinkedIn Live?
LinkedIn Live is an exciting platform that brands can use to bring together professional audiences with a great dose of real-time, interactive content.
On LinkedIn, broadcasters are seeing seven times the reaction and 24 times the comments for live streams than regular videos. The live feature not just drives the amount of organic viewers but also helps bring in amazing engagement and increased view time.
Brands can use LinkedIn Live in different ways that suit their goals and target audiences. Live events, showcasing innovation and promoting talent brands are some of the trending ways to go live on LinkedIn. But it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Figure 1: Linkedin Live Video average. Source: LinkedIn
8 Biggest Benefits Of LinkedIn Live For Brands
1. Engagement through automation – Automation Anywhere
Automation technology provider, Automation Anywhere made heads turn when it decided to go live with one its biggest product launches. By doing so, the foundation, along with a strategic paid ad campaign, made sure it leveraged its strong community on LinkedIn – 100,000 plus followers.
LinkedIn Live’s impact was evident as Automation Anywhere had streamed the product launch across numerous platforms. However, 78% of its total views came from the live stream on LinkedIn. For a brand looking to establish themselves on social media, that is a definite win! While the number of people who watched the live broadcast was huge, the level of interaction and the readiness of the people to speak up on the LinkedIn Live chat was even higher.
Within a few minutes of Automation Anywhere’s live broadcast on LinkedIn, more than 400 positive comments popped up, according to Julian Foster, Head of Paid Social Media.
“Then, by the end of the hour-long presentation, we had one thousand comments… I was with the team in the campaign control room, and they couldn’t believe the quality of the conversations we were having with viewers,” Foster says.
It’s quite evident that brands looking for engagement, especially during product launches, can bank on LinkedIn Live application to get the word out in the market.
2. Organic viewership – Salesforce
Salesforce, one of the world’s leading customer relationship management platforms, decided to promote its brand using a 11-part episode series for its biggest annual event. Salesforce realized that LinkedIn was the ideal choice as the company already had a strong audience on the platform. With videos being a big part of its marketing strategy, Salesforce wanted to engage its 2 million-plus followers along with its many Showcase Pages extending to different branches of specialization in a meaningful and interactive manner.
The results were unprecedented. The 11-part series garnered over 600,000 views on the LinkedIn Live tool with an unheard of engagement rate of 3%. In a jaw-dropping piece of fact, the first episode of the series had over 83.000 views with no drop-off viewership during the entire event. By coming up with a series, Salesforce also gave their audience something to look forward to and the results exceeded expectations, something that they would not have been able to achieve with a paid media.
Figure 2: Linkedin Engagement rates. Source: LinkedIn
Brands that are looking for organic viewership for their live events are going to consider LinkedIn. At a time when companies are seeking ways to reach audiences at scale without the availability of physical events, LinkedIn Live is the best bet.
3. Cost-effective – Detroit Labs
This is an era where brands and influencers leverage even audio-only platforms. In such a climate, Detroit Labs, a custom software development company, understood that videos were the ideal way to showcase its brand to potential clients and even prospective team members. The company was able to see that standing out from the rest was the ideal way to boost engagement.
Firstly, Detroit Labs decided that it would use live videos to showcase its brand as they felt they were less-expensive and time-effective alternatives to pre-recorded and produced videos. The company used a talk-show-like format show called “Labs Live” that had their own team members discussing different topics. However, after not getting the desired results on a competing platform, Detroit Labs became a beta tester for LinkedIn Live to leverage the professional network that LinkedIn and the potential advertising options it offers.
Detroit Labs got instant results. Even before the company broadcasted an actual episode, it ran a test and witnessed the reach setting new benchmarks. The team saw a significant increase in views of the content, and overall engagement with ads increased by a staggering 61%. The company made use of video ads, launched in tandem with Live, and as many as 14 qualified leads were generated in just four months. As the videos kept churning out numbers, Detroit Labs also started bringing in external panelists, including the ones from their target client base. Not only this, Detroit Labs also was able to boost its Apprenticeship Program, which provides opportunities to learn software development skills from the ground.
View a glimpse of an episode of Labs Live here.
For brands that are looking to go one step further and find a cost-effective way of promoting it, LinkedIn Live Ads is a blessing.
4. Quick turnaround & timeliness – Katie Martell
If you thought LinkedIn Live was only for brands and big-ticket organizations, Katie Martell’s story will tell you otherwise. The marketing consultant has been using the tool to promote her personal brand. Martell is delighted with the real-time access and interactive communication mode that the live broadcast on LinkedIn offers. Timeliness is key for a marketing consultant like Martell, and she is able to use LinkedIn Live to spread the word about the latest development in a particular sector and reach a wider audience.
“If something happens in the morning, I can be live on LinkedIn in an hour to comment on it. For me, that takes away the veneer that exists, and closes the gap between a brand and its buyers in a really authentic and genuine way,” Martell says.
5. Network building – AJ Wilcox
AJ Wilcox, the founder of LinkedIn advertising consultancy B2Linked, focuses on building his own brand along with his company’s. He has found the perfect fit to achieve his goal on LinkedIn Live.
He engages with his audience through several channels but LinkedIn Live is his preferred choice as he keeps connected with the professional ecosystem that he has worked to develop over the years. Through the live broadcast platform, Wilcox generates interest by coming up with his own business series which helps a great deal in strengthening his network. This unique strategy is a great way to expand reach and engagement.
“I love LinkedIn Live because the network of people that I have curated around myself are all people that I like, and I trust, and I want to do business with,” Wilcox says.
6. Global team connectivity – Vimeo
Video hosting and sharing platform, Vimeo tried its hands at LinkedIn Live and it entered the live broadcast space on the professional network with a show called “Working Lunch”.
Tapping into the popular “Lunch and Learn Format”, Vimeo grabbed the attention of its audience by bringing in experts from business, tech, and communications to give their audience something new to learn.
Working Lunch on LinkedIn was in a series format and it only helped Vimeo garner more interest and engagement. The inbound marketing allowed the brand to focus on providing educational content. It certainly made people look forward to their shows and they kept coming back.
7. Easy knowledge transfer – BCG
Management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) took to LinkedIn Live and found an exciting and productive way of knowledge sharing. The firm partners with leaders in business and society to help tackle their most important challenges and make good use of their opportunities.
This is why BCG knew that LinkedIn was the right destination to inspire young professionals and engage with their community. The firm went live on LinkedIn and streamed advice from its partner and managing director, Elliot Vaughn for the graduating class.
In doing so, BCG found the ideal way to educate youngsters and also promote its brand as Vaughn’s live session helped showcase experience, attract new talent and strike a connection with its audience.
8. International recruitment – PwC Sweden
Global consulting firm PwC Sweden went out-of-the box by using LinkedIn Live to give a sneak peek into its working environment. While LinkedIn is the preferred tool for recruiters, PwC tapped into the interactive feature that the live broadcast offers on the platform.
PwC Sweden hosted a lively and casual panel discussion with employees, highlighting what it is like to work at the consulting firm. Employees were able to give the brand’s audience an authentic picture of why the company is a great place to work. Through a discussion, the talent at the brand was promoted in an interactive way.
Like PwC, brands can use LinkedIn Live to showcase the office environment or even have discussions with talent acquisition managers to give professionals an idea of what they need to get hired.
Reach Your Audience Live & Direct
Businesses have numerous opportunities to reach their audiences by coupling LinkedIn Live’s interactive features and the targeting capabilities and contextual environment of the world’s largest professional network.
LinkedIn Live has produced great results for some of the big players in the industry by delivering beyond expectations but also by strengthening the process of relationship building. With tools that can track performance in real-time, the platform is a great asset to any brand!
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