Creating one of Mary Barrett’s best performing LinkedIn posts

Often, people reach out to me to outsource graphic design work. What they really get is a strategic communication partner when they involve me in their keynotes, training, and presentations.

In this case study, you'll see how I work with clients to identify the content they need to amplify their impact on their audience. You'll also get a simple technique to humanise an idea that you can use to engage with your audience.

Who is Mary Barrett?

Mary Barrett is The Mind Coach who successfully empowers High Achievers to master their minds to maximise their results.

Mary's goal

We worked together to illustrate her Empowering Mind Mastery Coaching Model.

As a Coach, Trainer and Keynote Speaker, Mary effects change through the power of her words and engaging stories.

Illustrations would elevate Mary’s impact by reinforcing her verbal content with visual aids. They would also help Mary reach and engage with more people on LinkedIn and Instagram.

While Mary identified 5 main ideas to be illustrated, my experience told me that there are usually gems embedded in speakers’ supporting content. My job is to be a detective to find these hidden gems.

In addition to the content Mary shared in the brief, I attended her Creativity for Wellbeing workshop to understand not only her content but also who she is, how she speaks and how the audience reacts to her messages.

That led to the discovery of this additional idea, which turned out to be one of the best-performing LinkedIn posts for Mary.

One of Mary’s best performing LinkedIn post

With 44 likes, 28 comments and 1 repost, this visual became one of Mary’s best-performing posts.?

Behind the scenes: How I created this visual

Step 1: Identifying the idea

During the workshop, Mary told us about a conversation she had with her daughter:

"Happy birthday baby! This is the first year you'll be eight years old, so it's an experiment. It's Mummy's first time having an eight-year-old daughter, so it's an experiment for me too.”

Laughter erupted across the room.

That’s a sign of a good idea. When you entertain, you educate.

After relating the whole conversation to us, Mary delivered the key message:?“There’s no failure, only feedback. It’s just an experiment.”

Looking around the room, I noticed people shift in their seats, sit back, take a refreshing breath, and generally look like they’ve put down a heavy backpack after a long hike.

Although this isn't part of the 5 concepts that Mary asked me to visualise, it deserves its illustration.?

If people resonated with this message in a workshop, people online will enjoy it too.

Step 2: Making it easy to share

Mary’s conversation with her daughter is a story only she can tell. It’s her signature story. But that’s not enough because it’s not easily repeatable or repostable.

If an idea cannot be easily repeated, the impact is limited.

As a speaker and trainer, Mary would be remembered. But to reach more people, she would need to?be repeated.

What can I capture to help Mary be repeated?

The answer came a few minutes later. Mary told us what we would have thought at one time or another: "What if I fail?”

And then she challenged us: "What if not trying is failing?”

There it is - “What if I failed?” is a question that’s personal to everyone. We’ve had doubts before and we’ll have doubts in future.

The rebuttal, “What if not trying is failing?” opens our minds to possibilities.

Again, I noticed people shift in their seats. We’ve got three moments that matter now:

1. The initial laughter from Mary’s conversation with her daughter,?
2. The moment when the idea was revealed (“There is no failure, only feedback. It’s just an experiment”), and finally,?
3. When Mary gave us a moment to reflect on this question (“What if not trying is failing?”)

The reflective moment formed the basis of this illustration.

Step 3: Visualising the idea

There are many ways we can portray this conversation:

• Two stick figures having a conversation like a comic, or
• Two speech bubbles

But since I know Mary would be sharing her visuals on platforms like LinkedIn, I opted to use a WhatsApp-esque format.

Why? Because there’s a fair chance that people will see Mary’s LinkedIn post while scrolling on their phone. The WhatsApp message format taps on the context of the readers’ physical experience on the phone. We encounter lots of text messages so often daily that it’ll be a familiar experience.

Step 4: Optimising the audience experience

It’s also helpful to present the voice of doubt and the voice of wisdom as two characters. In storytelling, the main character often resolves challenges with the help of a guide.

In conventional text messaging user interfaces, the messages you send are on the right, and the ones you receive are on the left.

I now have a choice. Do I want the readers to be the main character with the voice of doubt or be the guide with the voice of wisdom?

My sense is that most people would enjoy being helpful over being doubtful. That's why the advice is on the right. From the readers’ perspective, you’re the one providing the coaching advice.

It’s a subtle but important shift.

Comments from Mary

I asked Mary for her thoughts, and here’s what she said.

How do you feel about this visual??

I love how you, very cleverly, made it a conversation image that everyone would be able to relate too! Genius!

What kind of reactions or responses have people given you for this visual or the set of visuals in general?

As we know 'a picture speaks a thousand words' and the immediacy of understanding the message is the crucial success factor here I believe.

Would you encourage people to consider using visuals?

100% - it's wonderful to see your thoughts and words come to life in engaging and powerful impactful ways. People are busy and the need to get your message communicated and understood in seconds is a business necessity.

How was your experience working with me?

I loved working with you because you took the time, care and feedback to get the visuals 'perfect' for me. Your depth of understanding of the messages I want to convey and your fantastic imagination and creativity made the whole process delightful and rewarding. Thank you so much. I am very grateful.

Is there anything else you’d like to say?

We live in a fast paced, time demanding world and the ability to capture people's shortening attention span is getting harder. I think some businesses think that they can't afford to invest in your services, but they must realise they are limiting their audiences and potential clients by not doing so.?Your visuals offer businesses an opportunity to gain some unique, evergreen images to support them in growing and maximising their results.

Next, we look at the techniques you can apply in your own communications.

Techniques you can use

Technique 1: Observe your audience

If you speak to a live audience, one thing you can do is to observe your audience. When do they laugh? When do they nod? When do they take in a big breath of relief? When do they sit back or otherwise adjust their posture?

Those are the moments that matter. You’ve struck a chord. If you capture what you said preceding those moments in writing or pictures, you’ll be able to share it online, confident that people will relate with your idea.

The technique: Pay attention to audience reactions to spot impactful ideas.

Technique 2: Use dialogue

Ideas are more easily accepted when people see it play out in a story than when they're told directly. The easiest way to do this is to show your message by having characters conversing with each other.?

Recall the main message: “There is no failure, only feedback. It’s just an experiment.”

It’s sensible but difficult to remember.

The dialogue feels much easier to remember because firstly, we’ve probably asked ourselves “what if I fail?”?

This follows two rules of effective communication:

1. Show, then tell: People don’t like to be told what to do. People want to make their own choices.
2. Active voice: Don't tell us what somebody said. Put us into the moment. It's a more immersive and engaging experience.

The illustration would work even if the illustration was simply two stick figures having a conversation with each other.

The WhatsApp text format takes it a step further by placing reader in the position of the wise guide. It signals that you’re providing the illuminating question - “what if not trying is failing?”

The technique: Insert advice into character dialogues to make it easier to accept. You can choose to take it a step further by positioning your audience as the wise guide.

What’s next for you?

You’ve just seen how impactful ideas can be found hidden in the body of your content and delivery. They can be found by observing your audience for their reactions. You’ve also seen how dialogue can be used to smoothly and seamlessly explain ideas.

As you can see, when you work with me, you’re working with a strategic communicator. I work closely with my clients to identify impactful ideas from their body of work and elevate them with illustrations.?

If you’d like to clarify and amplify the impact of your message, here are some options for your consideration:

• Engage me to design your words and visuals for you.
• Engage me to coach you individually in effective communication strategies.
• Engage me as a keynote speaker or trainer to bring this skill into your organisation.

You can reach me at [email protected]

Want to see more visuals and stories from me?

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