Microsoft-owned professional network LinkedIn has announced to integrate LinkedIn Live and LinkedIn Events to enable companies to stay connected with their online communities in real time.
Using LinkedIn Live, companies can now host virtual events by streaming live to event attendees. LinkedIn’s virtual events solution is now available to all members globally across all markets on desktop and mobile.
The integration helps companies to host live, real-time events in a trusted environment, attract the right professional audiences, drive strong reach and engagement, and get more mileage for their events with a dedicated hub for videos of the event on their Pages, the company said in a statement.
In October 2019, LinkedIn launched LinkedIn Events globally and in March this year, the platform enabled companies to create an event via their LinkedIn Pages.
“Real-time interactions are at the heart of building relationships, and now more than ever before, these real-time interactions are critical to our customers,” said Ajay Datta, Head of Product, India at LinkedIn.
“So we decided to accelerate our product roadmap to launch an integrated solution that helps bring the professional community together virtually, and strengthens relationships with targeted audiences,” he added.
Companies can drive better reach with targeted audiences by sharing the event with their Page followers and by sharing direct invitations of the event with their first-degree networks.
Organisers can drive strong engagement, both, before and after the event by posting and ”recommending” updates to them.
Once the virtual event is over, organisers can keep the conversation going with the Video tab — a dedicated hub for a Page’s organic video content.
According to LinkedIn, the Video tab will help companies extend the shelf-life of their live video content.
LinkedIn Live has seen great traction with 23 times more comments per post and 6 times reactions per post than native video.
Additionally, LinkedIn data shows that 82 per cent of audiences prefer seeing live-streams from brands than regular social posts, and 45 per cent of senior leaders are considering a more permanent shift to virtual events and conferences.
“By combining Events and Live, LinkedIn hopes to equip brands with a powerful product suite to host virtual events,” said the company.
