From Snapchat all the way to LinkedIn, Stories have grown up right before our eyes. LinkedIn becomes the latest social media platform to release the stories format (we’re patiently waiting, Twitter.)This is an exciting new development that could alter the way companies approach corporate communications. Unlike IG Reels vs. TikTok, which vie for similar if not identical use cases and demographics, LinkedIn’s position as a professional networking platform presents an opportunity for new types of stories content to be created for a totally different purpose and audience than IG or Snapchat.For brands that aren’t yet creating content, it’s just one more mile-marker reminding them that it’s time to catch up or be left behind.We at Slate do not think this is going to be a passing trend. LinkedIn Stories has the potential to change the way companies engage with their followers, showcase their employees, build and promote company culture, and recruit. The ones who take it seriously and do it well are going to have a leg up in brand loyalty, corporate communications, and in attracting top talent. Here are seven ways brands can win on LinkedIn Stories.

1. Embrace transparency and authenticity.

For consumers, employees, and recruits, the authenticity of a brand is more important than ever. People want to know who you really are behind those shiny, pre-produced IG feed posts. There is no better content format than stories to showcase the authenticity of what it’s actually like to work at your company.Spotlight your employees, give a behind-the-scenes look into home office setups (and real offices when they come back), showcase the cafeteria, the events, even some of the decision making process! Yes, you want to protect the secret sauce, but the brands that show a little bit more of the “real” will go a lot further in building loyalty and defining their voice.

2. Turn everyone in your office into a content creator.

Another place to post social content means more that you have to create, which means more time, effort, and resources to do it right. But the beauty of stories is that the best content is often shot and posted from a phone. This means you don’t have to go out and get a team of videographers and designers to create and deploy a successful and consistent LinkedIn Stories strategy.  Turn anyone and everyone willing in your organization into a content creator. And, guess what, most of your employees are expert stories creators already! If you are looking to empower anyone in your organization to create stories content that is on-brand and consistent, take a closer look at Slate. We help brands maintain consistency on social no matter who has the phone in their hand, all while saving time and leveling-up their content.  Case Study: From Softball to Football, Ole Miss Athletics Stays On Brand With Slate

3. Stand out, as only your brand can.

Brands that will separate themselves on LinkedIn Stories will be the ones that use the platform to showcase the true personality of their companies. This includes reinforcing their brand style, colors, tone, and overall aesthetic.The standardization of creative elements like fonts within a format like LinkedIn Stories gives companies the opportunity to stand out, and further define their brand against competitors and the average poster. At Slate, we believe in a simple formula to win on social media as a brand in today’s landscape:

Authentic + On Brand = Winning Content

The Slate platform gives you the ability to still capture authentic content and also incorporate your brand. You no longer have to choose between real and authentic vs. packaged and pre produced (#ad).Don’t ditch the important brand style guides, colors, fonts, logos, and looks you have spent so much time to build and reinforce for some random font and colors just because LinkedIn threw them into their stories format for folks to use natively.  ? Take control of your brand on your most important platforms!Case Study: The Houston Rockets Accomplished Their Brand Mission with Slate

4. Ensure Social, HR, and Corporate Comms are aligned.

Social media managers are already expected to do it all. I recently saw a post for a director of social job at a University and the description said: “Must be able to shoot/edit video, design graphics, program content for all channels, write successful copy, & work cross-functionally with sales and marketing.” That’s a lot of jobs wrapped into one! Go ahead and add HR recruiting and corporate communications to the list. Successful brands on LinkedIn Stories will invest in tools that empower their social team to take on this new platform and align them with the HR and PR teams to plan, strategize, and execute in line with the company’s broader goals.

5. Find your LinkedIn Stories voice, it’s different than your IG Stories voice.

The powerful stories format can now be used to engage a different audience for a different purpose on LinkedIn, one that is focused on corporate culture, highlighting “what it’s like to work here”, encouraging leadership, career advice, job hunting, and more.For companies that already have an audience on IG Stories, the smart ones will avoid the temptation to repurpose that content and put it on LinkedIn. They will instead find a unique angle for LinkedIn Stories content that better suits their goals for that platform.This is also an opportunity for companies that haven’t naturally found a voice on Instagram, Snapchat or TikTok to thrive with stories in this space that may align closer with their core demographic and brand identities.

6. Corporate influencers are on the rise, leverage them.

Influencer marketing is now recognized as an extremely effective tool in any brand’s marketing war chest. But the influencers that have built their audience on IG or TikTok won’t have that same impact on LinkedIn. LinkedIn stories makes the Corporate Influencer more powerful and engaging than ever before. Embrace the ones in your company that can help represent your culture, and work with ones outside of your company that can help you achieve your business goals.

7. Keep your recruits in mind.

All of these opportunities support recruiting better talent. Talent will be viewing LinkedIn stories to get a sense of company culture and brand values well before the step foot in your office (or meet you on Zoom). Create content intended to attract the talent you want in your organization.

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KEY LINKEDIN STORIES FEATURES OVERVIEW

The feature set on LinkedIn Stories resembles Instagram with a bit less creation options. At least to start, there is one font to choose from in two styles, one with a drop shadow highlight and one without a highlight, and only 6 colors each:

In terms of stickers, there is a scrollable, but not searchable library to choose from. The Facebook purchase of Giphy looks like it affected LinkedIn’s ability to launch with a robust sticker library. There are also two interactive elements: an @-tag and a “question of the day” where LinkedIn is prompting content creation around a preset theme.

Crucially, you are able to upload LinkedIn Stories from your camera roll which gives rise to creative possibilities and adding brand elements outside of LinkedIn.