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Measuring the Value of Virtual Events using LinkedIn Live

Live video and virtual events were already trending. Now, with many of us away from the office and apart from our peers, “coming to you live” has never felt more necessary. 

But it takes more than trendiness to justify a new pursuit. As is the case with any marketing tactic, business leaders need to see concrete value in their investment. Here we’ll help you understand how to measure the impact of live video. 

Proving the Value of Live Video on LinkedIn

If we were to apply the diffusion of innovations theory to live video, it appears we’re currently racing through the early majority stage. The chart below shows compares the growth in overall market share (yellow line) with various adoption stages (blue line).

(Source)

The innovators and early adopters are now reaping the rewards of a technology that’s taken off. Soon, those who start using live video will do so from the late majority stage. In other words, the ideal time to get started with live video is now. 

The biggest reason live video has seen its value spike is because both audiences and marketers are benefitting mutually.  

Marketers are loving live video:

Audiences are loving live video, too:

But how can we be sure our own live video initiatives are generating a sufficient return? 

Per usual, to effectively track success, we must first define it. If you’re not sure how you’ll be using live video, start by exploring the many ideas for live events. Once you’ve settled on an approach, you’ll have a better idea of what you’re trying to accomplish with your live video strategy.

When it comes to measuring impact, the lion’s share of live video strategies can be gauged by selecting from the following objectives and then tracking your efforts against the corresponding KPIs:

Brand Awareness

  • Peak concurrent live viewers
  • Total viewers (total viewers during the live session and replays)

Engagement

  • Peak concurrent live viewers
  • Total live engagements (reactions, comments)
  • Total engagements during the live session and replays

Once you’ve selected the most appropriate KPIs for your initiative, you’ll need access to tracking data to see how you’re doing. 

How to review your LinkedIn Live analytics:

  1. Sign into your Page Admin View
  2. Click on the “Analytics” drop down
  3. Select “Updates”
  4. Scroll to the “Update engagement” section
  5. Locate the live stream within the list of updates
  6. Click on the video views number. This opens a pop-up containing all the video’s stats

Another way is to select the “View analytics” button at the bottom at the bottom of a live-stream post within your Page’s feed. 

Now you have access to the following analytics for your live videos:

Live-stream performance

  • Peak number of concurrent viewers will video was live
  • Total minutes watched
  • Total number of views
  • Viewers for both live and replay versions

Engagement highlights

  • Number of reactions, comments, and shares

Audience firmographics

  • Top Pages, titles, and location watched from

Wondering when to go live? Check out your Follower Tab under Analytics to learn where most of your audience is located. Then, go live when the largest segment of your audience can join, whether that’s during work hours or outside of them. 

No other platform gives you the same depth of firmographic data, and it can be especially valuable in providing visibility to the audience that’s engaging with your live video, so you can tailor future efforts (or other strategic marketing initiatives) accordingly. Please also note that a view is counted after three seconds of watch time. 

Lastly, it’s a good idea to take a screenshot of your engagement stats immediately after your live-stream has ended. This allows you to more easily compare your live metrics vs. your replay metrics. 

And that’s pretty much it:

  1. Pick the most appropriate objective and KPIs for your live video initiative
  2. Access your LinkedIn Live data
  3. Track success and adjust your strategy as needed

Also, there are bound to be continuing developments and opportunities with live video. Thus, to stay abreast of new possibilities and inspiring use cases, I highly recommend joining our Pages Admin Group

Looking to grow your brand and your audience with live video? Here’s a guide designed specifically to help you get started: Virtual Events on LinkedIn: An Activation Playbook.