When you have networks like TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram why would you even think about a veteran platform like LinkedIn?
But there’s a reason why LinkedIn is still around. It meets the needs of a well-diversified network of professionals and creates a virtual meeting place for both individuals and businesses. In fact, LinkedIn has over 722 million members!
True, it may not be what Instagram and Facebook have, but no one goes on LinkedIn to watch memes or cute cats.
Everyone who is on this network has one purpose in mind: networking. After all, where else could you reach out to your favorite world-famous entrepreneur and have a solid chance at catching their attention?
Plus, businesses can use LinkedIn automation to gather valuable data on possible leads and partners. So the network does a fantastic job in allowing users to connect with people, projects, and organizations they find interesting.
However, you’ll often hear people complaining that LinkedIn campaigns don’t yield results. This can be scary, but on closer look, the problem is not with the network (usually) but with the approach. So if you want to reach out to someone on LinkedIn, here are a few things to keep in mind:
#1: Tell Them Who & Why
If you’re the kind of person who just sends connection requests without any sort of explanation, chances are you’ll be rejected or ignored.
After all, would you be happy if a stranger on the street handed you a flier saying “Hey, I want to be your friend!”? In most cases, you would be creeped out.
While the feeling is less intense on LinkedIn, no one wants to let you in their network if they don’t know who you are or what you want. Sure, they could check your profile, but who has the time for that?
To make your connection request count, send a short message where you say who you are and why you’re reaching out. This is the right way to do things whether you’re an individual reaching out to someone you admire or a business looking for leads.
#2: Make it About Them
Whether they’ve agreed to connect with you or you’re at your first step, it’s important to keep things about you short. On the other hand, you can talk a bit more about them, or what you can do for them, to be more exact.
Here are a few tips that may catch someone’s attention:
- Use their name and position in the company (shows you invested enough effort to check their profile)
- What you admire/like about the person/company you want to connect with (be specific)
- How connecting with you could be beneficial to the person (discounts, knowledge, friendship)
#3: No Spam!
If your reaching out strategy involves sending 1,000 messages at once, you’ve already lost. First, LinkedIn will probably flag your account for spam, and second, even if you don’t get flagged, no one will even bother replying.
People are fed up with spam messages and anyone worth connecting with won’t ever bother even looking at your message. To catch their attention, you have to personalize your message and adapt it for each person.
Now, this is incredibly difficult to do when you’re trying to connect with 1,000+ people, but that’s why automation tools are so useful.
The right tool can easily gather and use information about the accounts you’re interested in. Plus, it can also get the initial conversation going, thus saving you time and effort.
#4: Create Value
Why should these people agree to talk to you? What can you offer?
Besides what you’re proposing in your initial message, another way to prove you are worthy of their attention is through your LinkedIn account. If you don’t bother to create value for your followers via articles, posts, shares, and so on then why would anyone be interested in connecting with you?
Many people don’t understand that you can use LinkedIn as a marketing tool. The current version of the platform allows you to be as active as any other social media network by providing you with the tools for blog posts, opinions, and more. Still, it’s important to keep in mind that LinkedIn is a network for professionals, so a certain decorum is needed.
So the best way to prove your value in front of leads or future collaborators is to work hard on your account and use content marketing to your advantage.
Wrap Up
In short, the elements for a successful reaching out campaign are personalization, clear communication, and solid content marketing. Of course, it also helps to have the right automation tools that will help you speed up the campaign and keep track of quality leads.
At the end of the day, a successful campaign requires a bit of effort and some initial investments, but otherwise, it wouldn’t be fun, would it?
