LinkedIn added a story feature like Instagram and most other Social Media platforms and with that offers new opportunities for personal branding on LinkedIn.
I think it's great. I've talked about this a lot in the book I wrote on personal branding: We hire people, buy from people, engage with people. More often than not our decision to do either one of those things is driven by how pleasant the interaction with the person is. Character matters (often more than skills)!
The feature has been criticized a lot, mainly for mimicking Instagram, Snapchat & Co. and the fear that LinkedIn, a professional network, is turning into just another social media platform.
I honestly believe that most things we do today need a social angle in order to attract an audience. And isn't that what we want to achieve on LinkedIn? Attracting potential employers, clients, partners, co-founders or like-minded people in the industry? Stories are great for that.
That being said, does it really matter if the feature is similar to the ones available on social media platforms? I don't think so, because the demographics are different, the goal of the stories is different and the targeted audiences are different.
We consume Instagram Stories for leisure, but LinkedIn Stories for business!
That means, if someone watches LinkedIn Stories, they're in a business mindset. They're receptive of career- and business-relevant content right in that moment! It's a brilliant way of engaging a customer right at the point of sale - utilize that! Utilize it to sell yourself at your personal Point of Sale. What does that mean?
LinkedIn Stories are 20seconds long. On average, that's the maximum amount of attention we invest in something before we decide whether it's interesting and worth our attention or not. That being said, if you want to promote and market yourself, you have to make these 20 seconds count.
Here's how you can do that.
As I mentioned above, companies and people hire people. Character and personality matters. While it's rather difficult to market your personality in the usual LinkedIn posts, it's very easy to do so in stories. Use LinkedIn Stories to record videos of yourself.
LinkedIn Stories are a great tool to highlight that personal brands are personal. That personal brands are not things else but human beings who understand how to market themselves. It's a beautiful tool for your audience to connect with you and learn about who you really are. The more authentic and consistent you are, they quicker you'll be able to build trust and a lasting reputation.