by Kathy Bernard
LinkedIn is limiting the number of invitations that you can send to 100 per week. Right now, this only affects some accounts, but the limitation will likely affect everyone soon. If you use LinkedIn to reach hundreds of prospects, this limitation will hurt!
LinkedIn implemented the limit because its members have been deluged by unwanted solicitations, particularly from companies using automated invitation/messaging tools.
To make the best of the change:
- Be more selective with whom you invite to connect.
- Personalize your invitations in friendly ways to improve your acceptance rate.
- Join LinkedIn groups with your prospects. Once you are accepted into a group, such as Lean Warehousing and Distribution, you can send messages to up to 15 members per month.
- Start your own free group by clicking Work > Groups > Create a group to attract prospects to you. For example, name the group St. Louis CEOs and Executives if that is your target audience. Populate the group discussion board with interesting posts and then use the Invite your connections option to invite people to join. Also, accept new prospects who find your group organically.
- Encourage people to invite you to connect by posting interesting news, job postings and conversation-starting questions on your LinkedIn home page news feed.
Don’t let the LinkedIn invitation limitation cramp your ability to reach your prospects. Go around the system!
Kathy Bernard (kathy@wiseru.com), CEO of WiserU.com, is a St. Louis-based LinkedIn expert/trainer who equips businesses to maximize LinkedIn for sales, marketing, or fundraising.
Submitted 3 years 182 days ago