How to use LinkedIn Stories – 10 ways for self & company promotion

Stories are fad now a days, started as a snap on snapchat they are now on Instagram, Facebook, whatsapp and now on LinkedIn. What makes its presence unique on LinkedIn is usage. All the earlier platforms have enabled it for showcasing personal life, interest and events therefore, I am eagerly waiting to see how people explore stories on LinkedIn for professional highlights. Thinking about this new feature on LinkedIn, I thought of writing this post “How to use LinkedIn stories” and sharing the ways we can use LinkedIn stories to promote ourselves, pages or companies.

Hence, the following people can take benefit from this post “How to use LinkedIn stories on Ahead with digital

• Individuals
• Company pages
• Groups
• Brands

Although most of us are much acquainted with stories but it is still important to start with the basics

What are LinkedIn Stories? or What is LinkedIn story

LinkedIn stories is a new feature added on LinkedIn platform. It appears at the top of everyone’s profile. Image below for reference

Sharing stories is like highlighting your individual’s or organization’s every day professional moments. One can share moments in the form of images or videos. Know more about the features in next section. If you are looking for creating your digital card or Google people card. read this post

Features of LinkedIn stories

LinkedIn stories currently are in test mode but it still becomes important to explore its features. This is an vital part of How to use LinkedIn stories

• Stories are available for 24 hrs. They will be automatically hidden after 24 hrs(cannot be accessed by your connections & pages)
• Available only in certain countries yet
• Engagement on LinkedIn stories is possible in two ways: Creating a story or viewing stories of your connections
• Who can create story: All individuals can create a story but for pages, admin can create a story
• Who can view stories: Connection of the person can view stories and members of group and pages they follow
• Stories can be added and viewed from mobile only.

How to use LinkedIn stories

Using a LinkedIn story is easy. You need to click on the plus+ icon that appears on your profile picture on top left. Something like below picture will appear

• Circle on the story will be used to create video as a story(Need to click once to click an image while continuous clicking will record video)
• Use Left hand side rectangular boxes(looks like files) to upload images/videos from the device
• Right hand side camera option is to use front camera

Now, let’s move to the most important part of this post that is 10 ways for self and company promotion using LinkedIn stories

We will also talk about how to use LinkedIn stories for company pages as part if this article

Below are ways to do self promotion

1. Show your achievements

We all are aware how algorithms of all the channels have been updating which is not just reducing our organic reach but engagement too. In simple words, if we have 20 connections our posts could be just visible to 12 or 15. So stories here become an important part to highlight your achievements. Especially now when stories are new and more people are tend to click on them just to explore and see what others are uploading.

LinkedIn being a professional network, it becomes important to adhere from spamming so one can show achievements such as

• Certifications: We normally add certifications as a post or add in our achievements column but adding to a story can be really helpful in attracting job offers or showcasing our skills to colleagues or recruiters.
• Awards: Awards are important on LinkedIn and they make people notice your profile. So, one must add awards in stories

2. Increase reach of your articles or published work

As mentioned above, reach is an important parameter on all platforms. Where other platforms like Instagram, Facebook have drastically reduced organic reach, LinkedIn has some different algorithm- As more people engage with your posts, reach increases and connection’s connections can see your posts. But in case your articles or work is not being noticed by your connections or get missed, stories can be a great way to highlight and get your work noticed by your target audience.

Therefore, it becomes vital to post the image of your article with CTA as read now. With the evolution of LinkedIn stories we can expect other features like swipe up and links to be part of stories.

3. Make people notice your job switch

Job switch is an important part of self branding and hence included in this post How to use LinkedIn stories. I can already imagine people posting in stories about Google job offer or joining Harvard business school. So, LinkedIn stories will be great way to tell about professional change like jobs or new professional journeys.

Whatever you do just make sure you inspire other with your actions. Story telling can do wonder sometimes 🙂

4. Share relevant news and causes you care about

Don’t overuse stories. We need to ensure something relevant is reaching to our audience. Though, idea behind using stories is everyday use but my suggestion would be to use judiciously and efficiently as LinkedIn is a professional network. Relavant news or updates in your industry or around your interests can be posted. Also, one can post about the causes they really care. It can be related to education, Women empowerment, opportunities for fresher etc.

5. Release teaser for your post

I have included this point in this post how to use Linkedin stories because I think this can be intriguing for your connections and audience. Try to release or incite curiosity among your connections by posting a crisp & catchy intro of your post/article. This will help you get more and relevant views. People are more prone to read when they encounter catchy intro.

If you want to know what work on social media, you can read my post on social media post ideas

Read to know how Linkedin stories can help companies or organizations

6. Hiring can be an announcement now

Stories can be a great escape route to unnoticed posts. So, whenever it comes to something really important which you can’t afford to get missed by audience, include in Linkedin stories. Hiring is also part of it. Hence, it becomes important for companies/organizations to include vacancies, job openings in stories especially when actively hiring.

This can be a great point for companies that are thinking of exploring LinkedIn stories for company pages

7. Share company achievements

As in the case of individuals, company achievements need to be part of your story calendar on LinkedIn.(so, included this pointer in this post on How to use LinkedIn stories). All companies should include the following as part of stories

• Awards
• Win as in clients or projects
• Press Releases
• Leaders/CEO’s/ Management messages

Looking forward to seeing new additions in the content calendar around LinkedIn stories. A very apt point for companies looking for using LinkedIn stories for company pages

8. Don’t forget to showcase company mentions

Whenever company name is mentioned in news (obviously positive) or event is highlighted, do include these in stories. This can help in creating a good image of an organization and obviously a great way to attract new talent.

9. Make a difference can be a theme for story

CSR initiatives and humanity projects are important for organizations and these steps by organizations can help in building a great connection between employees , clients or prospects. So, whenever organizations participate in such projects or initiatives, include these in stories

10. Industry updates can be a game changer

Why just stick to your own company activities? In today’s times, organizations should promote learning culture and hence sharing updates from Industry becomes important. So, I would like to end my post on How to use LinkedIn stories with this essential point. If you are an agency or software company(basically any company), promote learning and sharing knowledge. One can include updates that are happening in industry or new courses or changes in sector, international updates etc. This will provide your employees/prospects/investors something to look forward.

Hope you like this post on How to use Linkedin stories. Experimentation in digital should not be just limited to just individuals so looking forward to seeing LinkedIn stories for company pages
Subscribe to get regular learning from Ahead with digital. Do comment in case you like this post