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It’s National Backyard Games Week, Reader! Remember when our parents sent us out to play with Jarts?

In today’s edition:

• Today's Tip of the Day is for capturing inspiration

• Follow this model for LinkedIn engagement

• YouTube expands self-certified timestamps feature

• LinkedIn introduces threaded messages

• Additional industry news from Instagram, YouTube, and more

Losing too many good ideas? Need a way to digitally capture and organize inspiration as it strikes?

Google Keep

This no-cost digital note-taking feature lets you capture notes, organize them by folder, and share them with others.

Then, anyone can access your notes from a computer, phone, or tablet. 

Today's tip is inspired by Tiago Forte, a featured guest on the Social Media Marketing Podcast.

16th Annual Social Media Marketing Industry Report [NO-COST Download] 

Want to know how other marketers use social media to grow their business? We asked thousands of marketing pros about their social media secrets and how they're adapting for the future.

Here's a sneak peek at the juicy bits:  

🔥 TikTok is still growing

🔥 Facebook drives the most traffic  

🔥 Instagram and YouTube are the top platforms marketers want to master

And this is just scratching the surface. 

Get your copy of the Industry Report now!

A LinkedIn Post Formula for Long-From Storytelling

As a content creator on LinkedIn, your primary objective is to engage your audience, spark meaningful conversations, and establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry. 

The key to achieving this lies in the art of storytelling.

The most compelling stories will come from the pivotal moments that have shaped your career trajectory: triumphant victories that left you feeling accomplished and proud, setbacks and failures that taught you valuable lessons and helped you grow, and transformative experiences that altered your perspective and set you on a new path.

Pro Tip: To ensure that you never run out of story ideas, document your experiences regularly. Carry a small notebook or utilize the notes app on your smartphone to capture interesting conversations, thought-provoking insights, and significant milestones as they occur.

3 Ways to Open

The opening lines of your post are critical in determining whether your audience will stick around to read the rest of your story. You need a strong hook that immediately grabs their interest and makes them eager to learn more.

One option is to begin with a thought-provoking question that challenges your readers' assumptions or sparks their curiosity. Inviting them to reflect on a particular issue or idea creates intrigue and encourages them to keep reading to discover your unique perspective.

Another powerful opening technique is to begin with a compelling quote that sets the tone for your story and hints at the insights to come. Choose a quote relevant to your topic, emotionally resonant, and delivered by someone your audience respects or admires. This can help establish credibility and generate interest from the outset.

A third approach is to use a cliffhanger opening that hints at your story's climax or turning point. By providing a glimpse of the most exciting or transformative moment, you create a sense of anticipation and make your readers want to know how you arrived at that point and what lessons you learned along the way.

Once you've hooked your audience with a compelling opening, it's time to delve into the meat of your story. 

Focus The Narrative

As you share your narrative, focus on creating a clear and logical structure that is easy for readers to follow and emotionally engaging from start to finish.

While including every aspect of your experience can be tempting, too much extraneous information can distract and confuse your readers. Ruthlessly edit out unnecessary details or tangents that don't directly contribute to your core message or purpose.

Instead, highlight the key moments and turning points that drive your story forward and illustrate the lessons you learned. Use vivid descriptions and sensory language to transport your readers into the scene, allowing them to experience the events as if they were with you.

2 Ways to Close

As you conclude your story, it's essential to tie everything together with a clear and powerful lesson or takeaway. This insight is what you want your readers to remember and apply to their own lives and careers long after they've finished reading your post.

People are more likely to remember the first and last things you say in your post. So, make sure your closing message is as impactful and memorable as your opening hook.

One effective way to deliver your key takeaway is to weave it seamlessly into the fabric of your story, allowing it to emerge naturally as the narrative unfolds. By subtly highlighting the lessons throughout your post, you create a sense of coherence and purpose that makes your message more impactful.

Alternatively, state your main lesson explicitly at the end of your post, using strong, declarative language to drive home the significance and relevance of your insights. This approach can be particularly effective if you want to leave your readers with a clear call to action or a memorable sound bite that they can easily share with others.

Your Call to Action

As you conclude your LinkedIn story, consider how you can maximize its impact and encourage meaningful engagement with your audience.

End your post with a call to action that encourages engagement and relationship-building. Invite comments, ask thought-provoking questions, and provide ways for your readers to share their own stories and perspectives.

Today's advice is provided with insights from Michaela Alexis, a featured guest on the Social Media Marketing Podcast.

Microsoft’s AI-Powered Translation: Microsoft Edge will soon offer a new AI-powered feature that provides real-time video translation on various websites, including YouTube, LinkedIn, and more. The feature will translate spoken content through both dubbing and subtitles live as users watch videos. Source: The Verge 

Instagram Tests ‘Lately’: Instagram is testing a new feature called "Lately," which allows users to highlight their stories from the past seven days. Source: Hammod Oh via Threads

Instagram’s Send Rates: In his most recent Q&A session on Instagram, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri addressed a question about expanding reach in the app and the top considerations factored into the algorithm at present. He stated that send rates, specifically the number of sends per reach, are more important than watch time or like and comment counts in determining overall reach. Source: Social Media Today 

LinkedIn’s New Threaded Messages: LinkedIn has introduced a new feature that allows users to create threaded messages within the platform's messaging system. This feature lets users reply directly to a specific message by long-pressing on it. Source: Social Media Examiner Editorial Staff 

LinkedIn’s Saved Posts: LinkedIn’s “Saved posts” will now be accessible via the left side panel on mobile. Source: Lia Haberman via X

LinkedIn Adopts AI Standard: LinkedIn is adopting the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA) standard to identify AI-generated content on the platform. C2PA helps trace the source and authenticity of digital content, including detecting generative AI use. LinkedIn will label detected AI-generated images and videos with a C2PA icon, displaying metadata when clicked. The icon will be added to user-generated AI content and visible to all viewers during creation. Source: LinkedIn

TikTok’s New Fan Spotlight Feature: TikTok has launched Fan Spotlight. This new feature allows artists to showcase up to five of their favorite fan videos at a time by pinning them to the top of their music tab for up to seven days. After that, the artist can choose to pin new fan videos. Creators whose videos are chosen as a Fan Spotlight by the artist will receive a notification. The new feature is now available for all artists on TikTok. Source: TikTok 

YouTube Tests ‘Dream Track’: YouTube is testing a new feature called “Dream Track,” which generates AI-generated instrumental-only soundtracks for Shorts. YouTube is expanding the experiment by enabling creators to create 30-second, non-looping instrumental soundtracks by entering English-only text prompts and selecting a music genre, such as pop, hip-hop, or country. Source: YouTube 

YouTube’s Self-Certified Timestamps: YouTube is expanding its self-certification timestamps feature. Over the coming weeks, users will see timestamps accompanying yellow icon appeal decisions. If users receive a yellow appeal after self-certifying, they can appeal and have YouTube review it. When the review is complete, the issues found by YouTube that led to a yellow icon will appear in Studio for desktop alongside timestamps of where in the video they appeared. Source: YouTube

Did You Know?

The attack of a mantis shrimp is one of the fastest and most powerful in the animal kingdom. Its attack speed is 23 meters per second, which means it boasts a 51-mile-per-hour punch! Plus, it’s pretty to look at.