How to reach out to someone on LinkedIn after registering on the platform? What do you do now that you have a new LinkedIn connection? It’s a beautiful idea to send a message to someone you just connected with on LinkedIn. In the modern world, LinkedIn cold messages typically have a poor image.
You have gotten at least one spam message from a LinkedIn contact. So, it shouldn’t be surprising that sending cold messages on LinkedIn can get old. Therefore, it shouldn’t be a surprise that cold emailing on LinkedIn can get tiresome whether you’re seeking a position or new clients. Nobody wants to be blacklisted, ignored, or rejected, but selling yourself to a stranger while being enthusiastic and not spamming them is challenging.
Since there isn’t a single template, you can use for all your messages and expect your response rates to spike overnight, reaching out to people you admire on LinkedIn can be difficult for many users. Interestingly, you are not the only one who finds it difficult to reach out to people using LinkedIn cold messages.
In this write-up, we will look at how to reach out to someone on LinkedIn, how to connect with people on LinkedIn, and the people you can connect with on the platform. If you are new to LinkedIn, it is the perfect way to get your profile spiced up as you connect with people that will add value to your career.
What is LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is a professional social networking site where users can interact, share, and learn. The equivalent of Facebook for your profession. Even though LinkedIn is one of the most popular social networks today, many people still don’t know what it’s for or how it could help them.
LinkedIn is for anyone who wants to take their professional life seriously by looking for new ways to advance their careers and networking with other professionals. You can eventually add your incoming job on LinkedIn just like you can add your incoming jobs on your resume, which is a good option to build networking. You can easily connect with other professionals in your field and stay up-to-date.
LinkedIn is like the high-tech version of going to a traditional networking event, where you meet other experts, talk briefly about your work, and exchange business cards.
Are LinkedIn connections important?
Yes. Connecting with the right people on LinkedIn has several advantages:
You have access to vital information
On top of expanding their network, professionals can publish content on LinkedIn. Connecting with people in your area of expertise can lead you to great resources to help you grow and expand your network.
You can apply for quality jobs
A robust job search function is available on LinkedIn. Finding jobs pertinent to your field and line of work is easier when you have the right connections.
Employers frequently use LinkedIn as their primary resource for hiring employees. As a result, having contacts at those businesses can put you in direct contact with new job openings.
You have more bargaining power
You can unlock some doors if you connect with the right individuals. This can come from employment, greater awareness, and new partnerships. Making the appropriate connections can boost your value by increasing your marketability.
How to Connect with People on LinkedIn
Job seekers have a lot of advantages if they understand how to use LinkedIn. On the networking site, which lets you connect with millions of working professionals, finding the right people to reach out to when you’re looking for a job is easy.
LinkedIn is an excellent place to start your job search, whether you are interested in working for a particular company or wanting to break into a new industry with no experience. Nevertheless, how can you send a LinkedIn message to someone about a job?
Participate in their Content
Start by researching and checking the profiles of the people you’re interested in speaking to before messaging them about a job on LinkedIn.
These days, a lot of professionals use LinkedIn, making it simpler than ever to connect with relevant people. Using the platform’s search function, you can see the positions of people who work for companies that interest you.
Those with direct hiring or recruitment duties are the ideal people to contact. Other workers can teach you a lot, but they don’t have much influence regarding opportunities.
They might be able to give you more information about the business and even a recommendation from someone who works there. Still, you should talk to recruiters and hiring managers if you are looking for a job.
When you locate the appropriate parties, curb the impulse to get in touch immediately! Cold texting is the term used to describe unexpectedly contacting someone. It resembles the idea of “cold calling” in sales.
Recruiters expect to get messages from people they’ve never met or talked to on any platform. Before you get in touch, it is critical to becoming visible to them.
How do you go about that? Through participating in their content.
Professionals can share their knowledge on LinkedIn, where a lot of individuals produce content, you can comment on, share with your friends, and more. LinkedIn delivers notifications regarding post engagement, just as other social media sites. You can approach someone on LinkedIn for advice through their content or posts.
So, commenting on that content is a great way to get your name in front of people who might want to connect with you. Here, we’re trying to “warm the waters” a little bit. Although you don’t want to overdo it, a little interaction might go a long way.
You can immediately get the person’s attention by interacting with the information generously. Keep in mind that you are also genuinely assisting them by doing this. With this kind of participation, they might make more connections and get their work seen by more people.
But more significantly, you’re establishing your reputation. Even though you aren’t making direct contact, the person you contact will still see your name. They could be more likely to pay attention when you finally send a message.
Make Your Own Message
Using the same message repeatedly when messaging someone on LinkedIn about a job is one of the biggest mistakes job hunters make. We understand that using a single template and changing the recipient’s name is much simpler than starting from scratch each time. This strategy, though, can backfire.
One reason is that most managers and recruiters have experience spotting pre-written messages. Those messages are typically icy and fake. They have no personality, which makes them immediately recognizable as pre-written.
Such messages are less effective. If the recipient feels you are “mass mailing” to all recruiters, they will see right through them and be less likely to respond or accept your offer to connect.
Because of this, sending personalized messages is the best line of action when contacting someone on LinkedIn regarding a job. They exude amazing energy and convey your seriousness. They display an air of sincere inquiry. Basic templates and scripted emails don’t provide you with any of that.
Additionally, you risk unintentionally sending an identical email to coworkers. Think about contacting two team members using a template! What happens when they spread that message and discover you didn’t have the time to create individual messages?
They can conclude that you didn’t put much work into it. That minor point might be the thing that causes important decision-makers to look elsewhere if you want to be taken into consideration for a position.
Don’t let a minor problem stop you from advancing your career and getting a good job. Writing personalized letters for each person will take a little longer, but the outcome will be worthwhile.
Don’t Send Long Messages
Finally, try to keep your remarks concise. This is yet another technique to help the person you’re speaking to and avoid wasting their time.
When contacting someone on LinkedIn about a job, it is unnecessary to write a long message. The reader will become irritated by this. They might not even try to read a large block of text if they see it.
They might glance at it if you’re lucky. Even then, it would be difficult to get a response.
What is the ideal message length?
There isn’t a perfect answer to this. However, setting a word count restriction of 100 is a decent concept. Instead, aim for a word limit of 50 to 75 to stay brief. That will enable you to cut out the filler and ensure you get right to the point.
Don’t attach anything
You should refrain from including attachments in your LinkedIn messages. If you want to get more responses, it’s advisable to keep your initial outreach text-only.
When you send a message on LinkedIn, the receiver will first see the bottom of the message when they open it. You don’t want the first thing they see to be a lengthy document or paragraph with links.
Think about receiving it from someone you have never spoken to. It comes across as extremely aggressive and will immediately give the incorrect impression. They won’t likely answer at all if you do this.
Here’s an illustration: If someone emailed you with a particular query regarding their resume, such as, “Where would you say that the usual hiring manager expects to see a skills section on your resume?” Does it need to be near the top? Or near the bottom, following employment experience?
In contrast, if someone simply links their CV and asks me, “Can you look at my résumé and tell me what to improve?” You will be less likely to respond.
Who to connect with on LinkedIn
The primary reason for LinkedIn Connections and outreach is to help users build solid relationships with other LinkedIn users. You can have up to 30,000 connections with a maximum of 5,000 invitations. Therefore, making the right connection is important if you are starting new.
However, with whom should you connect on LinkedIn?
Finding people to connect with will be simpler if you know why you’re on LinkedIn. If your LinkedIn purpose is:
- Discovering a new job
- Locating new collaborative partners
- Generating new leads
- Developing brand identity
- Establishing connections with other businesspeople in the same sector
The following are the individuals to contact on LinkedIn.
Colleagues
People you work with can provide reliable recommendations and endorsements that support the abilities listed on your profile. On LinkedIn, endorsements and recommendations are only available to first-degree connections. Connecting with your coworkers is beneficial since they might know someone you try to contact on LinkedIn in the future.
Existing customers
Keeping in touch with your clients is important because they can lead you to new customers and help you keep the ones you already have.
Prospective customers
Who you want to work with should be well defined, including their sector, size, industry, location, and job description. If your search parameters are clear, you can find these people quickly with LinkedIn’s advanced search. Reaching out about this opportunity on their feed can help you get your desired clients.
Those who are acquainted with some of your potential clients
These are people whose businesses might not be relevant to you, but who might be able to recommend you to potential customers or put you in touch with them.
People you recently met
Even a quick interaction with you at a networking breakfast, an exhibition, or a conference will ensure that person remembers you for at least 24 hours. It just takes a few minutes to connect with most of these individuals on LinkedIn, most of whom will be pertinent to your network.
People who can help you
Initially, LinkedIn would only propose connections with people you knew, but things have since evolved. Anyone can get an invitation, but you should first give them a compelling reason to connect.
Ways to Connect on LinkedIn
Connection requests
The most straightforward way to interact with a person on LinkedIn is to send a connection request. You only need to visit someone’s profile and click the “Connect” button to send one. However, when reaching out to someone on LinkedIn, ensure you use a customized message.
LinkedIn Searches
Even though it might seem obvious, we can do more to make sure you talk to prospects you wouldn’t usually be able to reach. It doesn’t matter if it is someone you’re not connected to on LinkedIn.
You might already know that you can change the results of your LinkedIn search to connect with more specific people. You can, for example, look for people in your area who work in the field of digital marketing. Individuals who work for a specific business, sector, or offer a particular service.
LinkedIn events
One of the best ways to network on LinkedIn is by attending events, as nothing stops you from interacting with most attendees. This is particularly true if you’re new to LinkedIn and unsure where to look for like-minded individuals.
If your profile is complete and you have a few connections, LinkedIn will suggest some events based on your industry.
LinkedIn Groups
Not to mention, LinkedIn groups are yet another well-liked networking strategy. LinkedIn groups allow you to connect with people by sharing interests with them and reaching out to a specific community of business professionals.
Furthermore, you can also reach out to someone on LinkedIn for advice, especially if they are professionals in your industry. You can choose from many LinkedIn groups by just typing in keywords related to the industry.
FAQ
Is It OK to Reach Out to People on LinkedIn?
Reaching out asking for help on LinkedIn is not strange because it is a forum for professional networking. Therefore, it is expected. Nevertheless, be careful with your outreach. Personalize your communications and interactions while remaining professional.
What Do You Say When Contacting Someone on LinkedIn?
Firstly, you might want to introduce yourself to the person you are contacting. Furthermore, mention how you found them and make your intention clearly defined. LinkedIn is a business-oriented platform; most people are there for business-related activities.
How Do You Message Someone You Don’t Know on LinkedIn?
Without really being connected, you can message second-degree connections if you have LinkedIn InMail. Just access their profiles and click the “InMail” option to send them an email.
When Should You Connect with Someone on LinkedIn?
You can feel more comfortable contacting someone once you believe you’ve spoken to them frequently enough for them to recognize you.
Is It Weird to Connect with Strangers on LinkedIn?
While reaching out to strangers may seem scary, it’s an essential networking component. When you connect with strangers on LinkedIn, you are taking a risk because you don’t know if the individual is honest or not.
Conclusion
How to reach out to someone on LinkedIn is a straightforward process if you understand the simple tricks. You don’t have to send lengthy messages. When reaching out to a stranger on LinkedIn, it is essential to define your purpose and keep your message as short as possible.
Ensure you have a common ground with such a person to make the process easier. Lastly, keep a positive attitude and don’t give up if some people don’t answer or return the connection.
