Tips, Tricks, and Recommendations to Keep your LinkedIn Account Safe in 2021
Updated: Feb 5, 2021
Many use LinkedIn to build strong business relationships and to demonstrate thought leadership and expertise. As we continue to shift to a much more virtual business world, LinkedIn has become more crowded than ever before. Some of the increased activity is good, but with this comes an over-abundance of spammy messaging and LinkedIn’s more sophisticated algorithms to keep out the junk. Here are a few tips and tricks to keep your account safe.
Personalize Your Message
People love to feel important - give the people what they want! Craft messages that start conversations and build relationships rather than attempting to sell right off the bat; LinkedIn is a social platform, not a sales site. Users now have the power to report messages they receive as spam, so watch out - too many dings might land you in LinkedIn jail.
Tip: Ask great questions and be other-focused; be conversational
Be Specific
Another detail that ensures personalization and keeps the algorithms happy is using names and referring to something specific within a profile when reaching out. We all get the totally generic Let’s Connect messages; differentiate yourself by referencing something a template is unable to do - a company or location, being alumni of the same university, something in their profile you found interesting, etc.
Tip: If you are using an automation tool, incorporate %company%, %location%, or something similar to personalize on a mass scale; if you are manually messaging, same concept, different delivery
Change Things Up
Change up your messaging. Whether old school manual or high-tech automation, many use templates or standard messaging. Beware: LinkedIn is paying attention - that repetitive messaging may trigger the LinkedIn police.
Tip: Automation users - incorporate Spintax into your messaging in at least 3 places {Hi|Hello|Greetings} to automatically create variations of the same message.
Manual users - create a few templates for each message you’d typically send and incorporate a text expander to keep things simple and organized (we like Text Blaze - here’s a short video about what they are and how they work.)
Focus and Intentionality Win the Day
Know your goals. Many sit down with no idea how to spend those precious minutes each day - don’t let that be you!
Tip: Ask yourself what your purpose is, what you hope to achieve on LinkedIn, then devise a strategy to get you there
Wanting to connect with prospects and collaborators? Use Sales Navigator to create highly targeted lists that make conversations and personalization easy and natural
Looking to build a strong personal brand? Rather than info dumping, address pain points and share insights or reflections. Remember: content that draws your audience in and humanizes you will drive engagement!
Choose to be Different
Like we mentioned before, LinkedIn is crowded. Now, more than ever, it’s essential to stand out, to look and feel different from the masses - it is sure to make an impact on future clients!
Tip: People want to feel connected, make yourself relatable by being genuine and authentic.
In a world where online presence is increasingly important, make a few minor adjustments for major impact. Your LinkedIn community will thank you for it.