7 Ideas For Personal Branding Using LinkedIn Stories Many working professionals are trying to build their personal brand on LinkedIn to increase their credibility in the workspace

LinkedIn has introduced a new feature called LinkedIn Stories wherein people can upload videos and images which will be present on the platform for 24 hours. The feature works like Instagram Stories. However, since LinkedIn is a platform dedicated to professional conversations, LinkedIn Stories can be a powerful tool for personal branding.

Many working professionals are trying to build their personal brand on LinkedIn to increase their credibility in the workspace. Here are seven ideas for personal branding using LinkedIn stories.

Give tips about your area of expertise to build your niche

Sharing your expertise with your followers can help to grow your niche. Moreover, it can also help you to network with people who have the same interests as you, thereby increasing chances of future collaborations. Since personal branding involves portraying yourself as a leader in the industry, your stories need to have qualities of a leader. You need to give more advice to people which can help them in the long run. This will not only help you to earn more respect from your peers, but will also help you to gain a decent number of followers who share your interest.

Shreyasi Singh, co-Founder of Harappa Education, has harnessed this power often. Singh posts content about personal growth in the workspace which resonates with the philosophy of Harappa Education. Since, her content follows a theme and is narrowed down, it helps her to associate connect with her audience. According to student Sanjna Mishra, who has been following Singh since a long time, "I can relate with her content because it's always niche. I know that it will be about personal growth in some way every time."

The same formula applies to LinkedIn Lives where posting content around a theme can help you build a niche.

Go the extra mile and attach a personal branding logo to each story

LinkedIn stories can be pre-recorded using a camera before being posted to LinkedIn. If you want to establish your follower base, you can add a personal logo to the stories. This ensures that when people see the stories, they connect with your brand name faster. Moreover, since the page is all about professional connections, adding a logo to your story can make it more professional. Just like we connect better with brands which have logos we easily remember, it is a good idea to have a personal logo which can be used in numerous places to add recall value. Ankur Warikoo, LinkedIn personal branding expert, uses his signature as his logo. It is present on every slide show and video he has posted on LinkedIn. Adding a logo has a psychological effect on the audience because they see you as a well-known personality.

Talk about your work and don't shy away from highlighting its impact

LinkedIn stories have added a more personal touch to virtual conversations. It is much more interactive than reading what someone has typed. In the pandemic era, where people are not meeting each other, LinkedIn personal stories can play a role in increasing trust between two professionals who have never met before. To build your personal brand on LinkedIn, you need to highlight more about the work you are doing and how it is impacting businesses and stakeholders involved. When people realize that you are impacting a lot of people, they want to associate with you. Everyone wants to be a part of a larger story.

Tannisha Avarrsekar, founder of Lokatantra, highlights, "It is important to talk about the impact you are creating. On LinkedIn, I often talk about the impact of my work and I think it plays an important role in drawing people towards me. With LinkedIn Live, I will be sharing the impact of my work with people because I know that everyone wants to be a part of an impactful story."

Use the power of storytelling

When followers watch LinkedIn Lives, they want to see the person come alive. Posting images which are not related to your personal brand only for the sake of posting could make your followers feel disconnected with your personal brand. Going live yourself and telling your personal story to the audience can make them feel more connected with you. Professionals are more likely to associate with the people they feel connected to. It is a good idea to talk about your struggles, challenges and story. You could even talk about your company, brand, work, hobbies or your passion. As long as you say a story, it is likely that people will feel more connected to you. People tend to remember stories more than facts.

If you don't use storytelling to convey more about yourself, you could lose a winning hand. Since, there are several people trying to build their personal brand on LinkedIn, not telling a story could mean losing out your audience's attention.

According to marketing expert Rahul Bajaj, co-founder at Everest Digital, "It is important to tell your personal story on LinkedIn Live because it will make people connect with you. During the pandemic, people are feeling increasingly disconnected. A little bit of genuine storytelling and connection can do wonders on the platform."

If you are a working professional, appeal to the student audience

There are many students who are on LinkedIn who are exploring content and are unsure about their interests. Talking about generalized interests and experiences can attract student viewers to your profile. This could be beneficial in the long run as these students will grow to be working professionals. Moreover, students can be an entry point for you to enter interesting college panel discussions and judge competitions physically. You should not underestimate the power of student users of LinkedIn. Students are early professionals who may have dynamic and trendy ideas. If you connect with them, it will be fruitful since you will be exposed to new startup ideas. Moreover, the atmosphere will also be dynamic and interactive.

According to Jenissa Paharia, co-facilitator at JAM productions, "I joined LinkedIn to connect with future mentors and to build connections for future job searches. When I watch LinkedIn Lives, I tend to connect with people who give interesting advice to students or early professionals. Whenever I start my business, I will reach out to mentor like people on LinkedIn to help me, possibly offering them a stake. That is my strategy for growth."

Appealing to student audiences may be more powerful than you think at first. To appeal to young professionals on LinkedIn, you can talk more about the journey of starting your own business and highlight the hustle philosophy. Adding a dash of humour always helps with the youth.

Focus on what's trending

There are various professionals who shift the focus of their conversations based on the trend. This ensures that they are relevant when they speak. Even for LinkedIn Live, it is important to talk about topics which are trending. If there is a new trend in the industry of which you are a part, you can highlight innovations based on that trend.

Harsh Karamchandani, co-founder of Edunify, says, "Since my startup is in the education space, I post content about changes in education trends on my LinkedIn. This helps me resonate with my niche as well as create something meaningful for them. Posting about a trend is always helpful. Talking about trends on LinkedIn Live can help you be more relatable"

Go live as a mentor

There are many people on LinkedIn who are looking for guidance and opportunities. Serving those groups and helping them by answering their questions will help you because it will build more trust with your audience. Mentoring people will also put you in a position of power because you will be creating something valuable for your audience.