Turbo-Charge Your Posts With The Story Tracker Framework

In today's Newsletter, I'll share a framework you can use to increase engagement in your posts.

We'll cover:

1. The framework - Dan Manning 's Story Tracker
2. How to use the framework in a post
3. Story post performance against my "average post"
4. Dan’s feedback after reading my post (he saw it after it went live)

Let's jump in!

Dan Manning's Story Tracker Framework

Dan posts regularly about his story framework. I've seen him and his clients use the framework with great success. So I decided to give it try.

The framework lays out 7 things you need to do to nail your story.

The framework centers around item 4 - The Moment of Change.

Let's dive into how I used it to craft a story I posted on LinkedIn.

How to Use the Framework in a Post

The post I'm unpacking can be found here.

1. Preamble - Tease The Change, Promise A Lesson

In a few seconds, I had lost $350.

On a student’s shoestring budget.

And, I was about to lose a bunch more.

I didn’t know it then, but I should have been grateful for what was about to happen.

2. Before Change - Old, Everyday Life

The scene was a poker club in Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

I was 24 year old graduate student.

The room was on the second floor of a building off of Broadway.

It contained people from all walks of life.

Students. Corporate professionals. Poker professionals. Gamblers.

I didn’t want to take big risks in the game.

But, sometimes it was unavoidable…

3. Specific Challenge

[Summarized: I lost a big hand with two aces as a huge favorite to win].

Over the course of the next couple sessions,

I was all-in before the flop as an 80% favorite 4 more times.

I lost all 4 of those too.

The odds of losing 5 times in a row as a 4:1 favorite is 0.032%.

I felt like the unluckiest player in the world.

I couldn't understand why this was happening.

4. The Change - THE POINT OF THE STORY - What Event Separates Before From After

Reflecting on the hands, I noticed:

I felt entitled to the wins.

But, I felt like a victim to the losses.

My mindset was broken.

Five big losses in a row helped me see it.

5. Specific Challenge Now Solved Because Of The Change

I eventually concluded:

→ I'm not entitled to anything in poker or in life

→ All outcomes (good or bad) have a “luck” element

→ I should focus my mind on where I've been fortunate (rather than unfortunate)

6. After Change - New Everyday Life

I showed up in the game very differently afterwards.

Feeling grateful for the hands I previously felt entitled to win.

And taking the losses in stride - not letting my brain convince me that “I’m unlucky”.

7. Meaning - Why I Am Sharing This? What's The Lesson?

Those 5 big losses in rapid succession hurt.

But, they shaped a world-view that has served me well since.

That mindset shift cost me over $2000 at age 24 on a student's budget.

And I'm so glad it happened early at (what now feels like) a bargain price.

Story Post Performance

1. Views

• This story post got 4,980 views
• My average post gets 3,069 views

That's a 62% increase in views.

2. Likes

• This story post got 37 likes
• My average post gets 21.6 likes

That's a 71% increase in likes.

3. Shares

• This story post was shared (reposted) once
• My average post gets shared ~20% of the time

That's 5X more shares than I'd expect.

4. Reads

LinkedIn doesn't provide content creators data on what percentage of readers read the post all the way through.

But Medium, another platform I'm doing a little writing on, does share metrics on what percentage of readers get all the way through.

The data?

• Story posts (using this framework) - 51.5% read rate
• Other posts - 30.6% read rate

That means 68% more people read all the way through.

What Does The Data Say?

By any metric I can get my hands on, Dan's Story Tracker framework seems to be helping me connect better with my audience.

Dan's Feedback After Reading My Post

Dan had the following feedback for me:

1. The Hook Lines - Because I attached an image to the post, I only had 3 lines before the "see more" link on mobile. My hook was 4 lines, so I might have gotten even more engagement without the image (or with a tighter hook).
2. Poker Lingo - I used to talking about poker with other poker players. I tried to make my language accessible to non-poker players, but I might not have done enough.
3. The Center Of The Story - The focal point of the story was losing 5 hands in a row where I was a huge favorite to win. I framed it as: here's the details of the first loss, and by the way this happened 4 more times. Dan would have shifted the focus to losing a hand as a big favorite. And then, he would have shared how it happened again. And again, and again, and again. The reader could have experienced the devastation with me.
4. The Lessons - Dan saw other lessons in the story as well. In particular, he saw "incredible fortitude to see failure after failure where the odds said you 'should' have won but lost and still stayed in the game." That might have been a more universal lesson with broader appeal.

In 3 months, I plan to re-post this story with Dan's feedback. I'll report back here with the results.

This Week's Takeaways For New Creators

1. Learn To Tell Stories - If you want to connect with other people on LinkedIn, study how to tell stories. Dan Manning 's daily posts are an excellent resource and how I'm learning right now.
2. Use Stories In Your Posts - Stories (as defined with the Story Tracker framework today) have a material impact on post views, engagement, and readership. I'll continue to gather more data on this and share it in this Newsletter.
3. Stories Are Just One Post Framework - It's unlikely all your posts will be stories. In this Newsletter, I'll share other post frameworks I've found to be effective.

In the next Newsletter, we'll talk about

• Profile Views - Do They Matter?
• Feedback I had on a friend's post and the impact it had on its performance

Appendix

Summary Post Stats (3.25.22 - 9.24.22)