Two months ago, I started an experiment. I was always sure that blogs including personal stories perform much better than content without a story. Over time I noticed how they generate more likes, shares and comments with people telling me how much they relate to the story.

So, two months ago I started an experiment on LinkedIn. I began to write on a regular basis using my personal stories to communicate a business message.

When it comes to posting on LinkedIn, I know that it is not all about likes, shares and comments. But they are an excellent indication of whether your content is relevant, and this is the point of posting on LinkedIn. Your posts should be relatable and helpful.

The Results

The results show that my posts, without a personal story, received on average about 3,000 views.

In contrast, my posts with personal stories received on average 30,000 views.

That is ten times more traction, ten times more effective.

Personal Stories Going Viral

I have had a couple of posts sharing personal stories that have hit 50,000 or even 150,000 views. Needless to say, I was very excited about this. One example shared a story about my daughter Alex negotiating her work experience wage.

Last week in honour of Mother’s Day, I shared a story about my Mum and the advice she gave me when I was seventeen. Let’s just say that this post certainly struck a chord because as of yesterday it had clocked up over one million views.

MUM HAS GONE VIRAL!!!

Here is the post in full that I shared on LinkedIn.

Thanks Mum

When I was 17, I was applying for full-time jobs.

I went for an interview and felt it went OK.

However on the weekend, I noticed the job was advertised again – I am showing my age here but this was when jobs were only advertised in the Saturday newspaper (I know, ancient I am).

I said to my mum, ‘Obviously I didn’t get the job’.

She replied with, ‘Obviously no one else got the job either’ and she then suggested I apply again. It was a chance to write a stronger letter with everything that I had learned during the interview.

I was initially reluctant, thinking that would be really embarrassing but Mum convinced me to do it.

So I did.

And I got a second interview where they asked me why I applied again.

I told them that I really wanted this job and I knew I would be good at it.

They offered me the job on the spot.

Thanks Mum for always encouraging me to give things a go… and if they didn’t work out then try something different.

P.S.

If you know anyone that would benefit from getting better at sharing stories then let them know about my only scheduled virtual public workshop on Strategic Storytelling for the year, next Friday 27^th May.

I am also conducting a virtual Powerful Presentations workshop on Monday 6^th June.