What Law Firms Need to Know About LinkedIn’s New Stories Feature

LinkedIn recently announced a redesign complete with some new features to create a friendlier platform. In line with social media giants Facebook and Instagram, LinkedIn will now offer “Stories” – or content that is posted to a profile and disappears after 24 hours. Users can post text, videos, or images for a brief period (up to 20 seconds). LinkedIn announced these changes as part of an effort to encourage more authentic conversations. Here’s what your law firm needs to understand to make the most of the new Stories functionality.

Stories are only available through the LinkedIn mobile app. For those new to the concept of Stories, they disappear after 24 hours and are 20-second video or photo clips where you can add text, filters, GIFs, emojis, music, and much more. LinkedIn will share the story for 24 hours once posted, and it can be seen and shared by your connections and followers. You can also block a member from seeing your Stories if you want to. 

When you launch the mobile app, you can see Stories you’ve posted by viewing the Stories section at the top of your homepage. You can also save individual posts from your story within 24 hours of posting. It’s important to note that you can’t edit a Story once it’s posted, but you can always delete and start over. During the 24 hours that the Story is shared on LinkedIn, you can proactively share it with first-degree connections using messaging. You can also view insights, such as views and comments, for each Story’s post during the 24 hour span that it’s posted.

This feature was created with some specific benefits in mind. The hope is that professionals will engage in more authentic conversations. Specifically, in a time when people are feeling increasingly disparate due to remote work, Stories provide an additional avenue for feeling connected. LinkedIn Stories will be another channel to demonstrate your firm’s creativity and authenticity in a way that’ll build and nurture your professional relationships.

4 Ways to Leverage LinkedIn Stories

For lawyers who want to embrace their authentic personal brand using LinkedIn Stories, here are 4 ways to do so.

1. Adapt blog content to a Stories format.

Not sure where to start? Consider leveraging the blog content you already have to create a guideline for a Story. For example, if you’ve written a step-by-step guide-styled blog post, you can consider making each step a page of your Story.

2. Educate your audience with an “Ask Me Anything”

LinkedIn Stories provide you with a more authentic way to educate your audience. An innovative way to educate your audience is to launch an AMA (ask me anything). There is even an AMA sticker you can include on your content. Have your audience send you questions, and then answer them in your Story.

3. Share Q&As featuring thought leaders in your industry.

One way to pull LinkedIn viewers into Story content could be to feature a thought leader with a decent following in your Story to offer insights into an interesting topic, such as industry breaking news and trends in your industry. Simply film the Q&A session with pre-planned questions. Tag the thought leader in your Story so they can re-post it to their profile, significantly extending your reach.

4. Inspire others.

Emotional storytelling has an incredible impact on bringing you closer to your community. Tell a professional story, such as a challenge you overcame and a lesson you learned from it. A lot of people will have encountered similar experiences, and in doing so, will enjoy hearing camaraderie within the business world.

Takeaway

LinkedIn Stories are similar to Instagram and Facebook’s Stories features. If you’ve already leveraged those tools to market your firm, LinkedIn Stories might not be that big of a stretch for you. Use Stories to embrace your personal brand and to spark conversations on topics that matter to your industry and your law firm. Remember that LinkedIn is a professional social network, so be sure to keep your Stories professional while demonstrating personality.

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