The more traction you have, the easier it is to raise money.
And once you have closed the round, showing continued progress and momentum keeps investors happy.
But investors aren’t the only ones who care about your traction. Customers want to see that others like them have made the decision to go with your company. You attract quality partners. It becomes easier to hire top talent. And you get more media coverage.
LinkedIn offers a great platform for sharing your story in exactly the way you want investors and other stakeholders to hear it. You control the narrative and the timing.
Figuring out the content and format that best tell your traction story is pretty straightforward, but how you share it is more art than science. You want to be strategic, comprehensive, and consistent and build a story that shows your credibility and worthiness for potential investors. Consider these best practices for content, format, and timing.
Content That Tells Your Traction Story
Gather news from your company journey, including:
Press Coverage: Has your company been in the news? Share a link to the online story or broadcast. Coverage by mainstream media — the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Business Journal, or TV news programs — impresses investors and shows that your work is generating interest.
Attention from industry press is worthy of sharing, too. If you or the company have been honored with awards, be sure to share that. When others notice and talk about you (in a positive way, of course), you’re on the right track, and you want to make it part of your public story.
Funding Announcements: When you secure your next round of funding or hit a fundraising milestone, share that announcement on LinkedIn. It elevates your credibility by demonstrating that the company is receiving outside investment and validation.
Partnership Announcements: As you collaborate or form new partnerships, share that news on LinkedIn, too. Each one tells investors that the company is expanding and exploring new opportunities.
Hiring Announcements: Announcing new key hires or job openings suggests that the company is growing and scaling its operations. As you fill out the C-suite and bring in strategic new team members, share that news on LinkedIn.
Product Announcements: Each new product announcement shows investors that you’re making progress and doing what you set out to do.
Customer Announcements: News about customers demonstrates momentum and builds the company’s reputation, so share:
- When you sign new or significant customers or clients
- Feedback and testimonials from satisfied customers
- Customer success stories
Company Announcements: And don’t forget to share internal wins and milestones — celebrating success builds excitement about the company and shows you’re making progress.
Formats to Tell Your Traction Story
LinkedIn offers multiple formats in which to share information: updates (posts), videos, events (audio and/or video), and blogs. You can start by simply posting updates with news and announcements, but you’ll tell a richer, more compelling story by using a variety of formats.
Updates: Posting news and announcements is the fastest and easiest way to share news on LinkedIn. You can post almost any news, but don’t just share. Always add an insightful comment or your perspective on what the news means or why it will be interesting to your audience. If you want help in writing introductory text or comments, check out this mini guide for creating hooks for LinkedIn posts.
Videos: Short videos (1 minute is perfect) with news, product announcements/demos, speaking engagement or interview highlights, and big announcements generate energy and excitement about your company. You can do talking head videos or interact with customers, partners, and employees.
Events: Take advantage of LinkedIn’s events offering by hosting webinars or product demos, engaging in helpful conversations and interviews, or hosting a panel discussion.
Blogs: Publishing longer articles on LinkedIn offers you the opportunity to tell a more complex story about how you got where you are, what the company is doing now, and where you’re going. To keep your audience interested, use anecdotes or stories they can relate to.
The Art of Telling a Traction Story
Craft a comprehensive and dynamic traction story by developing a strategic communication plan. Though it may sound counter-intuitive, do not post everything as soon as it happens. And do not post a big burst of activity and then go radio silent for months.
Plan your posts and orchestrate the news to show meaningful, connected, continuous activity:
- Announce your launch
- Follow with funding announcements
- Share your partnerships and collaborations
- Welcome new hires and share open jobs
- Share marketing campaigns
- Tell product and customer success stories
Plan the posts so they tell a consistent, ongoing traction story that reflects momentum — what you got, what you did with it, and how it succeeded. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
Pro Tip: Maximize your impact via LinkedIn by posting from both your profile and the company page. While the company page is a great place to share updates, most CEOs have 10x the number of followers compared to their company’s page on LinkedIn.
Use that influence by alternating the initial posting between the company page and the CEO’s profile, knowing that people who visit the CEO’s page expect an insider’s view of what is happening in the company. Post news on the company page and then share it (with insights, of course) on the CEO’s page, or first post it on the CEO’s page, then share it on the company page with a new introduction.
Tell Your Traction Story
Telling your traction story on LinkedIn is a great way to demonstrate your company’s credibility and worth to potential investors. By crafting a strategic communication plan that shows consistent, ongoing traction to reflect momentum, you can build even more momentum and propel your company forward.
If you’d like to know more about how to make LinkedIn work for you, contact me at jschramm@proresource.com, or book a quick call. Our team of LinkedIn experts has helped hundreds of CEOs and companies use LinkedIn to tell their stories and reach their goals — faster.