It’s here: LinkedIn Stories has been launched in the Netherlands.
Stories are completely part of social media. We watch them daily on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and WhatsApp. But now LinkedIn also jumps on the story-train. LinkedIn Stories was rolled out in the Netherlands on May 13. This makes it the first European country to test this function. What does LinkedIn Stories mean? And are we ready for this?
The basis of LinkedIn Stories is the same as, for example, the stories on Instagram. You provide images, upload this as a story, and then it is highlighted at the top of your account for your connections to watch. Your story will be visible for 24 hours, after which it will be automatically removed from the platform. Of course, you can also extensively keep track of how often your story has been viewed and by whom on LinkedIn.
We all have an idea of stories to tell. You often see personal stories, what people are doing in their free time, what they cook, with whom they meet, and so on. But with the focus on business connections, this approach may be a bit different. LinkedIn shares some tips to consider when it comes to LinkedIn Stories content:
The main difference between stories on LinkedIn and the other channels is in the content you share. Stories that you now post on your business Instagram channel may be able to transfer 1-on-1 to your company profile on LinkedIn. But the stories you post on your personal Instagram page are probably not transferable 1-on-1 to your personal LinkedIn profile. You don’t share what you are cooking with your business network unless you’re a professional chef of course.
We launch LinkedIn Stories because we are convinced that it is more important than ever to actively engage in conversation. More than 2 million contributions, videos, and articles are shared on LinkedIn every day. That provokes discussions and inspires people.
PIETER CRANENBROEK, EDITOR AT LINKEDIN
LinkedIn identifies three main advantages of LinkedIn Stories:
With these three points, the difference between the stories on the other social media platforms is immediately visible. LinkedIn naturally focuses on the business market. Where the business stories on, for example, Instagram mainly focus on the B2C market, on LinkedIn the opportunities for the B2B market are rising.
Now that our normal way of working has changed dramatically since the corona outbreak, it has become even more important to maintain remote contact with your network. Working from home has also blurred the boundaries between work and everyday life. If something has become even clearer, it is that work and private life are closely intertwined.
Pieter Cranenbroek, editor at LinkedIn
“At LinkedIn, we understand that. That is why we are launching a new product that connects these two worlds: LinkedIn Stories. The Netherlands is one of the first countries to launch this. With more than 8 million users on the platform compared to a total workforce of over 9 million, we can say that the Dutch are real networkers. With Stories, LinkedIn offers an extra possibility to keep in touch with each other.“
As I pointed out above, creating a story on LinkedIn is not very different from creating a story on another social media platform. But of course it looks slightly different.
Via your profile picture at the top left of your screen, the one with the + sign, you enter the “Stories camera”. You can then take a photo (short tap) or video (press and hold) at the bottom of your screen with the round button. You can also, as usual, add existing photos from your photo folder by clicking on the photo icon at the bottom left of your screen.
For LinkedIn, your video can last up to 20 seconds. A little longer than on Instagram (15 seconds). You can also add the famous stickers. Customized stickers as well as stickers with a specific theme and work-related stickers.
Done with your story? Then you can share it with the button “Share your Story”. All your (Dutch!) connections and followers can then view your story for 24 hours. And you can also share your story with someone via private message. What is interesting is that you can only receive responses to your story from your first degree connections. After publication you can keep the statistics in Story Analytics.
LinkedIn also shares a number of do’s and don’ts that nicely frame the use of LinkedIn Stories:
Do’s
Don’ts
I was one of the first in my LinkedIn network to test and use this new feature. And I absolutely see the power of LinkedIn Stories, but there are a few major editing options missing in my opinion. I made a comparison between LinkedIn Stories and Instagram Stories:
| Instagram Stories | Linkedin Stories | |
| Choosing pictures from your camera roll | yes | yes |
| Changing size of picture | yes | no |
| Drawing | yes | no |
| Color of text | unlimited | 6 colors |
| Stickers | yes | yes, but just a few |
| Limiting who can view your story | yes | no |
| Tagging of people | yes | yes |
| Tagging of location | yes | no |
| Boomerang, Timelapse, Filters, Superzoom, etc. | yes | no |
| GIF | yes | no |
| Music, Polls, Questions, Hashtag, Countdown, etc | yes | no |
| Different fonts | yes | no |
| Length of Story | 15 sec | 20 sec |
| Who can see your story | Everyone or only friends | Only 1st degree connections |
| How long will your story be live | 24 hours | 24 hours |
| Live? | yes | no |
As you can see, LinkedIn is not even close to what you can do with Instagram. But it’s just the start. They’ve only rolled LinkedIn Stories out in the Netherlands and I know for sure that they will expand these options soon.
The first question that comes to mind when it comes to LinkedIn Stories is: were we really waiting for this? Personally, I am happy with the tips that LinkedIn shares. Because that would be my first problem with stories on LinkedIn. There is already a lot of overlap between the content on my Instagram and Facebook nowadays by posting posts and stories. If we now do this en masse with LinkedIn, this will be much the same. And who wants to see the same story on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook on the same day… nobody.
LinkedIn indicates that especially now, we can make extensive use of LinkedIn Stories. Due to the current corona crisis, we work remotely. We see each other less often or no longer in real life, so we look for other ways to stay connected. LinkedIn sees a 20% growth in conversations between colleagues and there is currently three times as much engagement on posts as “normal”. In addition, 40% of LinkedIn members say they read the news more often and 30% check social media more often.
So make LinkedIn Stories part of your content strategy, show yourself from a different perspective, and use this new feature in your benefit.
I am curious about your opinion about LinkedIn Stories: yes nice! Or rather not? Leave your thoughts in the comments!
