Morgan J Ingram's Storytelling Tactics Can Work For You Too
Master Viral Content Styles From Top LinkedIn Creators
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*This is Morgan's total engagement numbers from his 8-year journey (through August 6, 2024)
Introduction
I've been following Morgan since he's been with JB Sales. That's not very long when you look at how much time (in his LinkedIn lifetime) but it's been long enough for me to notice his powerful tactics (that work).
He's been a notable figure in sales training and content-driven marketing. Here are a few things to highlight:
- Morgan established AMP, a strategic media company that focuses on revolutionizing B2B go-to-market strategies.
- He has years of experience delivering sales training to major companies such as Salesforce, Google, Slack, and Snowflake, helping teams enhance their sales techniques and achieve better results.
- Morgan has been honored as a 4x LinkedIn Top Sales Voice, for his influence and expertise in the sales community.
- He also holds an Inbound Certification from HubSpot, which demonstrates his proficiency in inbound marketing strategies and methodologies.
- Morgan is frequently invited to speak at industry events, where he will discuss modern marketing challenges and opportunities. He also advocates for a shift from traditional outbound sales methods to content-driven conversations that foster meaningful customer engagement and drive revenue.
His most recent post on August 16, 2024 states that he's held 522 pipeline generation workshops. That's wild. Over how many years is that Morgan? That's a LOT of traveling and I'm sure it hasn't been easy.
Content Style: The OG Storyteller
Why am I calling him the OG Storyteller?
Well, to have run 522 pipeline strategy sessions, you need to really understand how to tell a good story. He's worked with John Barrows at JB Sales (who I've looked up to since I joined Salesforce in 2008).
Back then, it was all about Basho and Sandler submarines.
Now, it's about leveraging LinkedIn to influence pipeline.
The point is, Morgan is able to adapt and adopt to whatever is happening in the market.
I believe that I was able to capture all his posts but it's unclear to me if he was posting before October 2016.
But regardless, let's get into the story.
We All Start Somewhere
Morgan started posting on LinkedIn in October, 2016.
Around this time, many LinkedIn users only post once a while. LinkedIn posts were usually about starting a new position, getting a certification, attending a professional event, or when they find something really noteworthy. But that's not the case with Morgan.
It looks like Morgan hit the ground running with his LinkedIn content creation.
Despite kick starting his journey in the 10th month of the year, Morgan still shared 37 posts in the same year - this is way more than many people posted throughout the entire year, back then!
He shared his first post on October 19, 2016, with the hook;
"Never look back unless you are planning to go that way." —Henry David Thoreau (11 reactions)
Actually, that was not just the hook. It was the entire content.
A one-line post. A quote. And that’s it!
And yes! He had only 11 reactions on his first post.
Little or big as it may seem for a first-timer, that was the beginning of Morgan’s 2.5k+ posts, 425k+ reactions, 129k+ comments, and 7k+ reposts (as of August 2023) on LinkedIn!
Moving on, I’ll be reviewing some of his most-performing posts on LinkedIn.
Sundays are the best because you get time to plan for the entire week to execute! (14 reactions)
If you could work with three of these entrepreneurs, who would you pick? (90 reactions, 194 comments, 11 reposts)
This is one of the few times a newbie would record such a magical spike - that huge number of comments despite having way less number of reactions. Morgan was just 1 month into sharing posts on LinkedIn - One month!
Check the post again and guess why it had such a great performance.
Even when you read it, you probably picked your favorite 3 as well (subconsciously) - and that’s why it had a great performance despite the time and his experience as a creator on LinkedIn.
Testing Phase
It looks like Morgan had a big determination to hit the ground running in 2016, but his determination in 2017 is even bigger.
Despite being his first full year on LI, Morgan shared 348 posts in 2017. Remember there are 356 days in a year! It’s mind blowing to find a creator that would post that many times in 2017.
He posted almost everyday - including weekends.
Today I was promoted to Sales Development Manager at Terminus. (831 reactions, 117 comments, 9 reposts)
When you get a selfie with the one and only Trish Bertuzzi, it's a must you have to be fired up about it!! ���� (108 reactions, 4 comments)
You have to stick with it. (206 reactions, 9 comments, 11 reposts)
Despite being his first full year, Morgan has several posts that really performed well. And taking a quick glance at this post for instance, three things are glaring.
- Delivery of a short valuable post.
- Good white space use - improved readability
- Mentions - Morgan mentioned Jim Brown.
Out of curiosity.
Who uses LinkedIn on Saturday or Sunday? (805 reactions, 401 comments)
You can call this a reverse psychology.
Asking people who uses LinkedIn on weekends? - on a weekend!
That may sound like a paradox, but not until when you think outside the box and put your thoughts out there, you’ll never tell how many people would resonate with the same.
Who says LI posts only thrive on business days? Think again!
Who are the best sales enablement people that you know? (126 reactions, 196 comments, 2 reposts)
The phone is not dead. (269 reactions, 33 comments, 5 reposts)
You could say that Morgan is a little ahead of many creators on his content creation journey. His use of white space is superb and he began engaging his comments in January 2018.
Although he posted a little less content in 2018 - 244, against 348 in 2017, Morgan was still consistent with his frequency of posting on LI.
My message to millennials this morning is to focus on having the right attitude even when you are starting out a job that you did not want straight out of college… (360 reactions, 36 comments, 13 reposts)
Update, I will be interviewing Gary Vaynerchuk in September for the SDR Chronicles. I am super fired up about this one. (403 reactions, 112 comments, 3 reposts)
Finding Morgan's Creator Style
Cold calling tip: If someone says to reach out in 3-6 months. Always ask what is going to change between now and then that is preventing you from taking this meeting now? (989 reactions, 168 comments, 25 reposts)
This is the first time Morgan moved so close to 1k reactions. In all, he had 1k+ engagements on this single post. Again, He continues to engage his comments and that also adds to the metrics.
Here is my message for all of my SDRs this morning that I believe to be the top 10 things you need to be doing to be a successful SDR. (634 reactions, 120 comments, 27 reposts)
I almost quit my SDR role three months after I started. (1151 reactions, 140 comments, 43 reposts)
The first time Morgan crossed 1k reactions (although he almost did in January)
Cold calling Tip 1: If someone says to reach out in 3-6 months. Always ask what is going to change between now and then that is preventing you from taking this meeting now? (1158 reactions, 203 comments, 41 reposts)
Remember this post from January 2019??
It was the post that first took Morgan the closest to 1k reactions. This time, he added more to the first tip, included a second tip.
A post that has performed well before will give a good performance again, with or without tweaking. But tweaking is always better!
Welcome to December.
One of the hardest months when it comes to prospecting because of the holidays. (1084 reactions, 196 comments, 38 reposts)
So far, certain things have been consistent with Morgan’s post aside from showcasing his good copywriting skills.
His copies are brief. Writing short posts shows that you respect your audience’s time and don’t want to keep them there for too long, unnecessarily. The shorter, the better!
He constantly delivers value. This post for instance briefly shares 5 ideas to manage the holidays so that SDRs can do more despite less people in offices.
Cold Caling Tip: Wait three seconds after your prospect is done talking and don’t interrupt them… (1779 reactions, 242 comments, 66 reposts)
COLD CALLING TIP: Start leaving frictionless voicemails. (1510 reactions, 433 comments, 77 reposts)
If you want to suffocate racism, then it’s time to overload the world with Positivity. (878 reactions, 119 comments, 10 reposts)
Struggling with your cold calling intro? (2094 reactions, 634 comments, 245 reposts)
This was Morgan’s first time crossing the 2k reaction line. He also had more than 500 comments on this single post.
Of course, it has a video. This time, Morgan began posting videos more than other media.
Thank you LinkedIn for recognizing me once again as a LinkedIn Top Sales Voice. (3 years in a row 
) (1184 reactions, 322 comments, 8 reposts)
Allow me to re-introduce myself to you all here on LinkedIn. (2052 reactions, 307 comments, 1 repost)
Sales reps..please don't go looking for silver bullets and magic formulas. (1163 reactions, 121 comments, 19 reposts)
This is the best waiting music of all time when you are cold calling. (1417 reactions, 354 comments, 54 reposts)
Tell me a worst feeling in sales. Hold on I’ll wait. (1716 reactions, 310 comments, 45 reposts)
Okay. Deep breath…
I am going back to the trenches. (1608 reactions, 260 comments, 3 reposts)
Be brief, be brilliant, be gone. If you remember this phrase you will be solid. (3469 reactions, 220 comments, 69 reposts)
Morgan crosses 3k reactions and this shouldn't be surprising with his level of dedication, diligence and consistency on LI.
He also does what he says. See the post again and check his brevity. He says what he preaches.
Of course, he continues to further reply his comments and give more tips in the comment section - this alone drives further engagement and reactions.
Here is an example of what his comment section looks like;
Please stop the madness. (1728 reactions, 233 comments, 22 reposts)
Never skip leg day. (1314 reactions, 74 comments, 27 reposts)
Sales call 1 - 
(779 reactions, 94 comments, 28 reposts)
I interviewed the CEO of Slack, Lidiane Jones at #DF23.
Here are 5 things I learned. (678 reactions, 65 comments, 7 reposts)
You can already guess the reasons for this performance on this post.
Starting with the hook, Morgan’s mentions are powerful. Interviewing the CEO of Slack is a key moment. The rightful use of hashtags also helps.
Also from the hook, you can already tell what you’re going to get from reading the post - 5 lessons from the CEO of Slack.
Check the post again and see the use of white space. Even if you have only 30 seconds to read the post, you can easily pick the 5 points.
Media use is another key note with this post. The mid-action picture is quite perfect for the post.
Adding a side twist is always a good icing on any post. It’s the PSS note in this case.
I've analyzed thousands of cold calls. (556 reactions, 112 comments, 19 reposts)
I use this one tactic to schedule 20-30 meetings a month.
LinkedIn voice notes. (554 reactions, 164 comments, 24 rerposts)
4 months ago, I moved from Atlanta → Arizona. (536 reactions, 289 comments)
Conclusion
Here’s what you should take away from Morgan's journey:
- Find something helpful for ONE specific role (Cold Calling Tip)
- Use short and brief posts (asking engaging questions)
- Connect two disconnected things (cold calling and leg day)
From running The SDR Chronicles to JB Sales and now running AMP to help SaaS companies generate pipeline through innovative marketing strategies - Morgan is one to follow.
To me, he's been successful (on LinkedIn) because he's been able to focus on these three tactics over and over again.
If you're planning on building your personal brand on LinkedIn, it's important to recognize how YOU can weave these tactics into your strategy.
Let's dive a bit deeper into why each of these are so important.
1
Find something helpful for ONE specific role (Cold Calling Tip)
Morgan continues to surprise and delight his audience on his tip he keeps coming back to: Cold Calling Tip
The magic through his journey is how he's been able to continue to speak to the same audience with a type of post that works incredibly well.
He found something that Sales People (AEs and SDRs) love help with. Cold calling.
They are also one of the largest groups in the Sales arena on LinkedIn.
By helping one of the largest groups on LinkedIn solve a problem they all have (and want to learn more about), he was able to tap into emotional responses and create engagement.
But, what I didn't expect was to see the hook a few days ago that is the complete opposite that attracts attention in a new and interesting way: Cold Calling is Dead (and that's why it works)
It's a book by Nick Cegelski and Armand Farrokh and it grabs your attention in a new and interesting way.
Check it out:
The point to take away from here is to find one thing that you can OWN and build your content strategy around it. Morgan has done a fantastic job of owning Cold Calling Tip over the years and finding a way to position the new book by Nick and Armand as a different flavor of the same thing. What's your flavor?
2
Use short and brief posts (asking engaging questions)
Look, we all love a good question that pokes at emotion and triggers engagement.
Morgan has been able to use that at the right times in the right ways.
Here
Finding your way of using an insightful question to trigger engagement (while being brief and brilliant) is the way to go.
Don't be afraid to write short posts. Be powerfully concise.
3
Connect two disconnected things (cold calling and leg day)
I love this one for sooo many reasons.
I love connecting two things that are seemingly disconnected.
I connected content strategy on LinkedIn to how Deadpool loves Wolverine.
If you can connect two things that don't seem connected, you're winning.
Here's why:
It gets your mind to stop and think. It gets your thumb to stop scrolling and hit that 'See More' text on the post.
Here's how Morgan has done it so well:
My point here is find your way of connected two disconnected things that your audience would understand. Most sales people workout (or should) and most humans hate leg day (I love it - but that's for a post in the future).
I appreciate you getting this far and I hope you've enjoyed learning more about Morgan's journey.
If you enjoyed it, remember to come back next week. We'll be breaking down John Barrows who has been around longer than Morgan so it should be a good one!
Master Viral Content Styles From Top LinkedIn Creators
Each week, I breakdown how (and when) a top creator hit their viral moment, so you can weave it into your strategy.
100% Free. Unsubscribe anytime.
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ANDREW MCGUIRE
Pipeline Catalyst Founder
From burnt out exec (3 exits & 15 years experience) to effortless growth by finding my creator style.
Living in Bend, Oregon and taking advantage of all the outdoor adventures.
If you can't find me, I'm probably lifting some weights in the gym, sweating in a sauna or freezing in a cold plunge.
Now I'm on a mission to help you understand how top creators have gone viral so you can weave it into your growth strategy.
Copyright 2024 Andrew C McGuire, all rights reserved.