Everything You Need To Know About LinkedInStoriesThis year, an estimated 500 million people will watch an Instagram Story every day, and shockingly enough, over one-third of those videos are business-related. With over 706 million global users, LinkedIn is the number one social media platform for B2B marketers and is known as the go-to social network for professionals. Not surprisingly, LinkedIn announced earlier this year that it will be joining the story life with its own feature, LinkedIn Stories. According to a blog written by Pete Davies, LinkedIn’s head of consumer products, the company was looking for a new way for members to interact in a professional context that’s informational but not too complex. “(Stories)spread for a good reason: they offer a lightweight, fun way to share an
update without it having to be perfect or attached to your profile forever,” Davies wrote. But should you use LinkedIn Stories? Of course! It’s similar to other platforms’ story features and would be easy to pick up. Using LinkedInStories will allow you to have a unique opportunity to show off your business from a new perspective and engage with your audience in a way they’re familiar with.
4 ways to leverage LinkedIn Stories
If you’ve already been posting Stories on other channels, it won’t be that difficult to pivot over to LinkedIn Stories once it’s released to all users. Here are three ways to use it for your business or brand:
1. Share Q&As featuring thought leaders.
People love to follow thought leaders on LinkedIn so why not feature them on a Stories Q&A session? Choose one that has a good following on LinkedIn, so you bring awareness to your brand and cross-promote it with your chosen person. Sometimes, the thought leader might already be inside your organization, which would make the story even easier to create. You can film the Q&A session with pre-planned questions, but if LinkedIn follows Instagram’s footsteps, they may also add in a feature where people can ask questions directly during the session.
2. Share customer testimonial stories.
No matter what generation you belong to, chances are you trust recommendations from people more than any other type of content marketing. That’s what makes testimonials such a valuable marketing tool. As millennials and Gen Z become company decision-makers, they’ll be looking for products and services that are proven to make their professional work lives better. They’ll create the shortlist of vendors, so filming your happy customers on LinkedIn Stores would be a great way to capture their attention and generate more sales.
3. Use stories as a new customer success channel.
Davies wrote, “The sequencing of the Stories format is great for sharing key moments (and) the full-screen narrative style makes it easy to share tips and tricks that help us work smarter.”
Meaning, you could create stories that explain how your products help professionals work more efficiently, show off how they solve industry-wide problems, and more. You can even adapt your text-based content for the same purpose, engaging people differently through LinkedIn.
4. Inspire Others
Emotional storytelling has an incredible impact on bringing you closer to your followers and your community. You can do this on LinkedIn Stories by telling a professional story and a lesson you learned from it that will inspire others. That might include how you dealt with a toxic work environment or overcoming a challenge and were able to succeed. Many will have similar experiences, and in doing so, will enjoy hearing these lessons within the business world, that they can relate to. With the transitory and authentic nature, LinkedIn Stories allows for a deepened vulnerability that inspires and helps others especially in the business world.
