Adding Posts using the database

Somewhat new to Php/mysql/wordpress, and need to transfer a bunch of “listing data” to the wordpress site. Is there any easy way to take a normal MySQL table and create a new post for each entry in the original table? I have tried running a query to insert new posts in the wp_posts table for the top 100, but nothing comes up on the site (the entries are in the database). Is it because I’m missing the postmeta, or are certain column values null but should be blank? I was going to start adding the postmeta entries but I figured the 100 i added would at least show up in the dashboard even without the meta. Do I need to link anything in another table? I am hoping adding the postmeta will fix the problem…

I am using the wordpress business directory plugin if that helps/makes a difference.