“We’re excited to announce that our Q3 results exceeded expectations.”
“Thrilled to share that our team has grown to 50 employees.”
“Proud to have completed another successful project for a valued client.”
You scroll past these posts every day on LinkedIn without giving them a second thought. So does everyone else. The problem isn’t that these updates lack importance. The problem is they lack a story. Without narrative, even the most exciting business achievements become forgettable noise in an already crowded feed.
Why LinkedIn needs stories, not statements
Your brain is wired for stories. When someone shares a list of facts, your mind processes information passively. When someone tells a story, your brain activates areas associated with experiencing those events yourself.
On LinkedIn, attention spans are measured in seconds, and competition for eyeballs is fierce. Storytelling is essential. Stories help people remember your message long after they’ve scrolled past your post.
Stories give your audience a reason to engage. When you announce “We hired five new team members,” people might hit like if they’re feeling generous. When you tell the story of why you needed those five people, what problem they’re solving, and how the search process revealed something surprising about your industry, people stop scrolling.
People comment. People share. People remember.
The story structure that works on LinkedIn
Every compelling LinkedIn story follows a simple three-part structure: the setup, the struggle, and the shift. Your business update becomes the shift, but without the setup and struggle, nobody cares about the shift.
The setup establishes context. Where were you or your business before the thing you’re announcing? The setup grounds your audience in a specific moment so they understand what comes next.
The struggle introduces tension. What challenge did you face? Struggle creates investment because your audience wants to know how you resolved the tension. Even simple business updates contain struggle if you look for it.
The shift is your business update reframed as a resolution. When you’ve established a setup and struggle effectively, your shift becomes meaningful rather than mundane.
Transforming common business updates
Revenue milestones are important to you because you understand the work behind them. To your audience, “We hit £1M in annual revenue” is just a number. Change that update by sharing where you started, what you believed about the market, and why you chose your approach. Add the struggle. Talk about the moment you almost gave up. Now your revenue milestone becomes a story about market validation, strategic thinking, and persistence.
Product launches work better as stories about the customer problem you observed, the assumptions you tested, and the insights that shaped your solution. Walk your audience through your thinking process. Make the launch about the journey, not just the destination.
Award wins and recognition are more interesting when you share what you did differently that judges noticed or what unconventional approach led to results worth recognising. Your audience wants to understand your success and celebrate your achievement.
Finding the story in everyday moments
The best LinkedIn stories often come from mundane business moments you’d usually ignore. Start paying attention to moments that surprise you or make you think differently. Those moments contain stories. When you catch yourself saying “I never thought about it that way” or “That’s not what I expected,” you’ve found narrative gold.
Your failures contain more powerful stories than your successes. When you frame challenging moments as learning experiences rather than defeats, you create stories that resonate deeply. Stories about overcoming or understanding failure are vulnerable, honest, and genuinely useful.
The elements that make stories work
Specific details make stories real. Don’t say you worked with a “major client.” Share the specific industry, challenge, or constraint that made the project interesting. Don’t mention “several months of development.” Tell us it was 127 days, three complete direction changes, and one near-cancellation.
Talk about a moment that stands out in your memory. When you mention the quiet that fell over the conference room, the knot in your stomach before the pitch, or the expression on the client’s face when they understood your solution, you help readers experience the story rather than just read about it.
After sharing your story, explain what you learned, what surprised you, or what you’re doing differently as a result. The reflection gives your story purpose beyond entertainment. Reflection provides value that makes engaging worthwhile.
Storytelling mistakes to avoid
The biggest mistake on LinkedIn is burying the story in a preamble. Don’t spend three paragraphs explaining context before getting to the interesting part. Start with the moment of highest tension or most surprising insight, then add context as needed. Grab attention immediately or lose it completely.
Avoid stories without stakes. If no real challenge existed, you’re not telling a story. You’re sharing a sequence of events. Find the tension and identify what could have gone wrong or what seemed uncertain.
Resist the urge to tie stories into overly neat lessons. When you force artificial clarity onto genuine experience, your story loses authenticity. Share the nuance. Acknowledge the complexity.
Making storytelling sustainable
Good stories take more effort than announcements. The return on that investment, however, makes it worthwhile. Start small. Choose one business update this week and spend an extra ten minutes finding the story within it. Notice what changes in how people respond. Track the quality of conversations that result. Over time, storytelling will become natural.
Your business is full of stories waiting to be told. What story will you tell today?
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