New Strategy to Get Past the New LinkedIn Connection Limit

“Ah! These monstrous number of sales messages on LinkedIn.”

“People are trying to sell me out the gates”

If that’s your concern, it’s absolutely valid. Because LinkedIn wasn’t created to push as many people for sales as possible, rather a network-focused community.

When someone agrees to be a part of your community/network, he/she doesn’t give you the license to be sold right from minute 1.

Yet, what was designed to build relationships with like-minded professionals turned into a way to blast people with as many messages as possible.

How LinkedIn combats this problem?

LinkedIn has lowered the weekly new connection limit FOR SOME ACCOUNTS to as low as 100 per week or 400 per month.

Does that call you in for a surprise?

Of course, it would if you are a company/individual who heavily relies on LinkedIn for its business activities.

So, what does the new LinkedIn connection limit mean for you?

Major problems due to the New LinkedIn Connection Limit

This LinkedIn connection limit affects everyone, some for the better, and some for the worse.

It helps to those who:

• Use LinkedIn for networking

• Feel bombarded by messages as soon as they log into their LinkedIn account

• Put time and efforts in crafting every message they send across

• Sit down and work through to know who their ideal prospect is, their needs, and where they are looking to go.

But…but…but…

If you are the one who sends over 2000 connect requests in a month, this LinkedIn connection limit is a shock. With weekly invite limits dropping off massively to just 100, your results are likely to drop by 80%.

But did you ever realize? If your LinkedIn search yields 1000/2000+ possible fits per month, is it worth relying on?

Don’t scratch your head trying to understand what I said! You probably know that LinkedIn filters are unreliable. Going after prospects that fit within a few LinkedIn filters won’t get you in front of the right people.

It’s more of a pig in a poke rather than generating quality and relevant leads for your business.

Read: How to Speed up your B2B Lead generation process?

So, if you rely on this pig-in-a-poke approach to LinkedIn, this connect limit is going to hurt.

However, if you think deeply, this new LinkedIn connect limit is a good thing!

Why weekly LinkedIn connection limit is a good thing?

• It will reduce the overall volume of messages or the noise of spams on LinkedIn

• It will hurt and stop people doing massive spammy outreach on LinkedIn

• As irrelevant spammy outreach messaging reduces, high-quality outreach will have a better chance to stand out

• With targeted and highly relevant personalized messages, you’ll increase your overall engagement rates

Read: How to Launch a Safe LinkedIn automation Campaign without Spamming

So, is there a solution to get past the LinkedIn connection limit?

Solution to LinkedIn connection limit doesn’t mean violating it and not letting LinkedIn know about it. You can boost your LinkedIn outreach with LinkedIn automation tools like Linkedojet.

But take the following precautions:

DON’T: Sell right away

Though social selling is a leading strategy, but sending a sales pitch without building any connection with your leads puts them off and kills any chances of further conversation.

Therefore, before selling, try to get to know your prospects by engaging in conversation with them. Find out their interests and build your selling point from there.

Read: How to Connect with C-level Executives on LinkedIn the Right Way?

DON’T: Add all your connections to your leads list

With an automation tool, you might get tempted to send a message to everyone in your connections list. A single click might save you hours, but you’re also setting yourself up to be marked as spam.

When a user doesn’t know much about your business, receiving unsolicited messages from your end is a sure way to ruin your first impression.

DON’T: Take conversations outside LinkedIn without their permission

It’s natural to talk to someone outside of LinkedIn after the initial conversation. However, don’t start messaging your leads with your sales pitch outside the social platform, without their permission.

Instead, if your leads accept your connect request on LinkedIn, use it as an opportunity to build trust and eventually convert it to a sale. Don’t rush the social selling process. Sending them messages on a different platform will just slow it down further, if not completely put you on their blocked list.

DO: Filter your connections as per whether they allow InMails or not

InMails are an extension of LinkedIn’s basic messaging feature, and allows you to send requests and messages to your 3^rd degree connections on LinkedIn. However, the feature can be used by only those having a premium LinkedIn account.

LinkedIn places some limitations on sending out InMails as well, and for good reason.

It’s tempting to send mass messages without truly taking the time to connect with every user.

For one, you can’t send another InMail message to a user until they respond to the first message you sent. But there’s no need to worry; an automatic reminder is sent to the receiver within three days.

Another rule is that InMail messages that don’t get a response within 90 days won’t be credited back to you. Auto-replies are considered as a response, in case your prospect is away for a while.

New Strategy to Get Past the LinkedIn Connection Limit

If you really wish to win relevant and quality leads on LinkedIn, drop your pig-in-a-poke approach first.

Filter out your connections based on if they have enabled InMails or not. Prospects who have enabled InMails should be sent messages in InMail only, otherwise, send connection message.

How to Write InMails that Evoke a Response

Though writing InMail messages that guarantee a response is not easy, but you can always improve your pitch.

1. Mention your mutual connections

Always mention mutual connections between you and your prospect. Look for a common friend, colleague, connection, or maybe you and your lead went to the same university or worked in the same company. This can improve the response rate by 21%.

2. Keep it short and sweet

While LinkedIn allows 2,000 characters in your InMails, it’s best to keep your InMail messages shorter. Engage quickly but make it fruitful.

3. Catch their attention with the subject line

To convince that your lead opens your InMail message, keep your subject line short and personalized. You can opt to include their name, send it on a weekend, or even pose a question.

4. Don’t shy away to personalize

Always personalize your content up to the very small details as possible.

Mention as many references as you can– their skills, interests, recent LinkedIn page updates, etc. A small point to something personal can help show your leads that you spent the extra time and effort to get to know them.

Role of Linkedojet in this strategy

With Linkedojet, a cloud-based automation tool, you can:

1. Run a drip campaign for your LinkedIn outreach. A drip campaign is a kind of marketing communication divided into bits and spread across an extended period, to gently nudge your prospect to take an action instead of selling directly. Since it is based on user behaviour and considers their unique needs and preferences, it engages your leads in a highly personalized manner

2. Have your customized dashboard to analyze the results of your LinkedIn marketing campaigns.

3. Manage multiple LinkedIn accounts, even with LinkedIn connection limit, from a single dashboard

Conclusion

LinkedIn new connection limit is a boon to your lead generation by avoiding spams and irrelevant messages on the platform. Avail it to your maxim by using LinkedIn automation tools to get past the new limit and generate quality leads for your business.

This content originally appeared here on : https://linkedojet.com/blog/new-linkedin-connection-limit/