From the course: Publishing on LinkedIn for College Students and Young Professionals

Share firsthand accounts - LinkedIn Tutorial

From the course: Publishing on LinkedIn for College Students and Young Professionals

Share firsthand accounts

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- [Instructor] Storytelling is a really powerful tool. It's what makes articles, speeches, marketing campaigns, and a host of other things great. It's what captures an audience and makes them pay attention. That's why first-hand accounts make good fodder for post ideas. This might include obstacles you've overcome, challenges you've faced, or whatever inspires you. In sharing your first-hand account or your real life story, you'll be able to engage your reader and make them connect with your content. Take this post from DJ who graduated from San Jose State University. As an undergraduate she wrote about being a first generation college student and how it affected her family. She was actually reluctant to publish this post because it was so personal and she talked a lot about the struggles that her family went through. But what was great about it is that she offered a bigger picture of rising tuition costs. It's an excellent example of writing a first-hand account while framing it in a larger topic or issue. She got tons of feedback from this post and a lot of encouragement from readers, especially readers who could relate to her story. She also got some good messages from recruiters. This next example is from Ofo, who is a young entrepreneur. He launched a start-up while he was still an undergrad at Temple University where he's since graduated, and the post talks about his struggle to get funding for his start-up, something that many start-up founders can relate to, but not all of them are really detailing it in the way that he did. In the post he talks candidly about what he overcome and detailed what he learned from that experience. As you can see from these two examples that I've shown you, personal elements are used to really draw in the audience. So whether it's a challenge or a triumph, use first-hand experiences to tell your story.

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