How to tell stories on LinkedIn to help promote your insurance agency

Breaking down the basics of LinkedIn: Part 3 of 4.

Creating content for LinkedIn

Whether you don't know what to post on LinkedIn or you're wondering why your insurance-jargon-filled posts aren't gaining traction—let's discuss the gold-standard for content sharing, storytelling, plus some other quick ways you can share your thoughts.

Telling a story on LinkedIn

Social media experts believe that LinkedIn changed its algorithm to promote posts that are more personal and conversational. That's why most marketing professionals recommend utilizing story-driven anecdotes—rather than jargon-filled, corporate speak—to help you build relationships, encourage conversations and showcase your expertise.

Not only could storytelling help your content get a boost in LinkedIn's algorithm—stories in general are 22X more memorable! And if you're not confident in your writing abilities, don't let the term “storytelling" scare you. Telling a story doesn't have to be long or complicated—in fact, sometimes simple is best. It's all about piquing the reade​r's interests, evoking emotions or inspiring action.

Here's an easy method to help you tell a story:

First, establish three things:

• Situation: The subject of your story—or what you'd like to write about.
• Conflict: Add excitement or pause by considering why that subject is important, why it's a challenge, what's missing, etc.
• Resolution: The solution to the conflict.

Then, try the “and, but, therefore" method to connect your main points.

For example, let's tell a story using this method about why you're here:

LinkedIn is a growing platform and could be a great way to help you grow your book. But you may still be a bit uncomfortable using it and unsure what to post. Therefore, we hope you'll read this article to feel more confident on the site.

Once your story is succinct and easy-to-follow using this method, you can keep it as-is or add more content to add some personality. You can either do this on your own using a few best practices or try out LinkedIn's built in tools (more on that below) that help make the process quick and easy.

A few simple storytelling best practices:

• Start and/or end with a question or attention grabber to help foster engagement. This is important because LinkedIn algorithms prioritize the number of comments under posts above everything else.
• Focus on one topic per post—you can add more nuances to your story if you'd like, but make sure it's all telling the same story.
• Use a mix of sentences and short paragraphs that are separated by line spacing to keep the content digestible.
• Focus on personal opinions, expertise, thoughts and experiences—rather than using jargon or business-speak.
• Weave-in why you're the best broker for the job—rather than making it the focus. It's fine to promote your business and what you do—but it should feel like a part of the conversation rather than a pushy sales pitch.
• Optional: Add emojis to show personality or hashtags to help categorize your content.

Consider trying LinkedIn's built-in AI!

Making story telling even easier and faster, LinkedIn has a built-in AI tool to help you write in a conversational, emotion-driven tone. 

All you have to do is start a post on LinkedIn, select “draft with AI", explain the main points of the message you'd like to create (with at least 30 words) and it will create a more engaging, LinkedIn-friendly post. You can even send it the same content multiple times and it will develop several different options!

Sharing content beyond storytelling

While storytelling is the gold-standard when it comes to content—it's not the only type of content worth sharing. You could also share things like: 

• Pictures from latest work event or conference.
• What conference of networking event you're heading to.
• An exciting professional or personal accomplishment.
• A post congratulating a client or team member on their recent accomplishment.

Sharing existing content on LinkedIn

If you're not ready to write your own content on LinkedIn yet, another option is to share existing content. (However, ideally—a combination of both is best.)

For example, you could share posts directly from other LinkedIn pages, including:

• Glatfelter's, VFIS' and other carriers' pages with valuable resources and tips for your clients.
• Insurance-related or risk management pages, like the Insurance Information Institute. 
• Companies and individuals that you find helpful or inspiring, maybe TED Conferences, Forbes, etc.
• Articles from industry thought leaders or risk-reduction experts in the industries your clients are in.

When sharing, you can also add your own content to accompany the posts you share, like:

• #HomeHealthcare Professionals: What are your thoughts on this?
• What an interesting article on [insert topic]!
• Have questions about how your organization can help address this concern? Reach out—I'd love to help!
• Starting my Monday off with a little inspiration from [insert author].

We hope this helps you gain confidence to create your own posts on LinkedIn. And, if you're wondering just how to get more people to see the content you post, check out our final article in the LinkedIn series on building community and making meaningful connections.