With personal brand gaining more importance by the day, we take a look at how netizens can add the fundamentals of storytelling to their narrative on LinkedIn. A quick hint – the key to this whole thing is YOU.
As of July 2022, LinkedIn has at least 849.6 million members – creating a sea of talented and experienced individuals. Considering even 0.1 percent of this number could be of your field or profession – what makes your profile unique? The answer is simpler than you think – it’s you. You make your profile unique & you define your personal brand. However, storytelling can be of huge help here.
There can be thousands of Data Analysts but there is only one you. Your background, your understanding, your vision, your opinions, your goals – your story makes you unique and it’s time to share this story on the rapidly growing professional networking platform.
Building the right narrative is key for you to establish a voice that stands out. Storytelling is a powerful tool that can be used on LinkedIn to build a Personal Brand.
LinkedIn as a platform is mainly built for professionals but does your tone have to be strictly formal? Well, not really. The idea is to stay true to your personality while sharing stories from your work life or anything that inspires you which could help you build a network.
Create a profile that highlights your professional skills, achievements, experiences, and your personal (not private) stories that depict the kind of person you are.
Keep reading as we deep dive into how to marry the art of storytelling with the communication that goes up on LinkedIn.
Is the first thing your audience reads, hooking them?
After your name, the first thing that a viewer would see is your Title. Is it telling a story or is it the same job position shared by you and a hundred others? Some people stick to sharing their purpose in one sentence, which keeps it descriptive enough for the audience to know more about them. Your LinkedIn page is perceived as your landing page, so make sure you have a smacking ‘Title’ & an ‘About Section’ which describes your career trajectory in a way that brings out your personality too.
Do you like to keep your tone conversational, humorous, formal, or simply stick to clarity in what you say? Implement it in your ‘About Section.’
A visual story leaves a better impact
Back your content with photos. The most intriguing part about a story is the characters. Thus, keep the visuals of your ‘character’ right in front of the eyes of your audience. Even if this character is you, don’t shy away from sharing an image of you in your element, with your team, or even taking some downtime. The goal is to resonate with the audience and to give them a clear picture of what your life looks like. The image you share conveys emotions and helps you set the tone for the audience. In fact, using a photo can yield 650% more engagement.
These visuals could include photographs, short or long-format videos, high-quality graphics, and charts. It helps the audience retain the information leading to higher recall in the long term.
Readers favor the takeaway
A story has a plot and it revolves around that. It is the heart of the story and leads the audience to the takeaway, eventually. Similarly, when it comes to LinkedIn, if you are posting content, learn to deliver value as your key objective – it could be entertaining, inspiring, or teaching the audience something.
The better your takeaway will be, the more your audience will wait to hear from you again.
As illustrated in the example below, Mark starts his story with a personal inference and takes us to an important lesson. He starts with a very catchy hook, moves to building intrigue around the character (himself), portrays the struggles, shares his own observations, and then takes us to the takeaway.
Some cheeky humor hurts no one
Yes, it’s true. Audiences on LinkedIn do have the appetite for some humour. In fact, it also happens to be a platform where professionals indulge in some fun banter. Injecting humour into your posts is a great way to get noticed, showcase your personality, and make your posts potentially viral.
However, there are guardrails to showcasing your funny side and it includes using irony in an appropriate manner. Make sure you’re not hurting the sentiments of your colleagues or renowned professionals in the industry. You could also use interactive features like polls to invite audience engagement.
The stories in Recommendations act as building blocks of trust
When it comes to giving or receiving Recommendations, be as authentic as possible. Request your managers or peers to describe anecdotes that actually led you to have a positive experience with the professional, this helps build trust within the community and walk everyone through your story. It also shows you have connections who have worked with you and like your work enough to give endorsements and add authenticity to your narrative.
These were a few ways to integrate storytelling with what you wish to communicate on LinkedIn.
While these ways would boost your performance, the most important factor remains authenticity and how you converse with your audience when they reach out to you.
Happy posting.
If you liked our blog on adding storytelling fundamentals to your personal brand on LinkedIn check out our blog for more amazing content from the world of storytelling.
