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Whether you're a small-time business or a Fortune 500 company, it's essential to make sure your marketing efforts reach their full potential. One of the most effective ways to do this is by using LinkedIn as an avenue for outreach.
LinkedIn is a powerful tool for marketers, but it can also be dangerous. Many people have been using the LinkedIn messaging function to send out mass messages with little regard for whom they are sending messages to and which message they are sharing. This has created an issue many marketers know as "LinkedIn spam".
Therefore, while it may be tempting to use LinkedIn mass messaging capabilities as a way to blast out messages to maximize efficiency, such an action might come with a cost.
How Can Mass Messaging Affect Your LinkedIn Presence?
Mass messaging is perfect for marketing purposes because it allows you to reach many people in one fell swoop without having to type individual messages or use email blasts manually.
However, not everything is rosy, and misusing LinkedIn can get you banned or worse. Solomon Thimothy, President at Chicago, IL.-based OneIMS, shares with us some of the ways misusing LinkedIn can affect your brand:
- Using LinkedIn as a mass marketing tool will get you banned: "It's easy to forget that everyone on LinkedIn are professionals who can spot a mass-produced message from a mile away," Timothy reflects. Remember that using shady extensions to shoot hundreds of messages will upset LinkedIn policies and look insincere.
- Poorly written cold messages do more harm than good: "Cold messages should be well-thought of, well-constructed, and specially curated for the recipient," Timothy points out. Before you think of sending a message, learn about your prospect and use that knowledge to draft your message.
- Bots aren't worth the risk: "It's better to use in-app automation tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator, LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms, and LinkedIn Inmail to eliminate the risk of your account being banned," comments Thimothy. LinkedIn bots break LinkedIn rules and can get you banned, which can be catastrophic if you've spent time building your profile organically.
Related Article: What Really Drives LinkedIn Follower Growth?
LinkedIn Messaging Tips
LinkedIn Mass Messaging is a great way to send out messages to all of your connections at once. You can choose who you want the message sent to based on their job titles, company name, location and other criteria. But it's possible to get it wrong, which is why we share some tips with you.
Drop The Salesy Tone: Try coming across as personable, not salesy. This means studying a specific account or business and customizing your message to them. Dawn Gribble, CEO at Barnstaple, England-based, Virtual Solutions Global shares her keys to proper LinkedIn messaging. She says, "customization, appreciation of their time, and a respectful approach are more likely to be engaged with than making wild claims, bold statements or trying to sell without any sort of preamble."
Remember, if you're sending the same scripted message to dozens of recipients, people will notice you haven't put the time in to learn about their business personally. As a rule, the cold message you send to one business should have enough personal and individualized detail about the recipient that it shouldn't make sense to send to any other recipient.
Create a Template You Can Personalize: Mass messaging can work on LinkedIn if you take the time to curate each message you send. While using a template is often looked upon unfavorably, it can work. But be careful, because as Devin Johnson, CEO at Indianapolis, IN.-based Kennected "Everyone knows when a message is copy-pasted. On a networking platform like LinkedIn, it's not appreciated as it is a space to make real connections — not to advertise."
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Take the time to personalize each message. For example: if you're messaging ten people per day, there's no problem with using the same structure and framework for your introduction. But to maximize your success, make reference to their company, some of their popular posts, or even content that they've been featured in online.
Show Genuine Interest: People love talking about themselves; it's human nature. So if you can steer the conversation towards the recipient rather than yourself, you'll cultivate a great environment to start a productive discussion. Bear in mind that "although a brand can be advertised, sending a generic message to someone's inbox is annoying and not appreciated," adds Johnson.
Also, showing interest allows the recipient to get a chance to warm up to you before you proceed with your sales pitch. That's going to help you convert more prospects and generate a ton more leads.
Try Video Responses: Alternatively, you can avoid cold messaging altogether at work on some kind of video response, as this already ups the ante in terms of authenticity and engagement. Sending someone a video is a good idea as it shows you as a genuine person looking to create a connection with the person you're sending the video to. You can still prepare a script and have some templated phrases, but a video is much more effective and intriguing than a block of text with a link that starts with "Dear Sir/Madam."
Final Thoughts
All in all, mass messaging might be hurting your brand if you don't take the time to figure out the right message. It's hard to write a natural message but can still be used as a mass message.
Take the time to think through who you're targeting, what problems they have that your business can solve, and what message they need to hear. It may feel like a waste of time to do all the planning upfront, but it's a worthy investment that will save you money and increase conversions in the long run.
