Getting accepted on LinkedIn sometimes seems like a mission impossible, but what about starting a sales-oriented conversation with a complete stranger? What kind of a LinkedIn Message Template should be used so you don’t come off as too mild, too aggressive, but, the way Goldilocks likes it - just right. 

We’ve been there and know how hard it can be to scale up your business. That’s why we’ve decided to speak about what happens after your LinkedIn Connection Message goes through. That is, how to approach your lead in a way to get more sales. 

Of course, no recipe works for everyone and on everyone, but there are some common ground rules that you can follow when sending cold messages on LinkedIn to get more sales. 

In this blog, we’ll cover: 


Cold LinkedIn messages won’t get you sales unless . . . 


You fully optimize your LinkedIn profile. 

We cannot stress enough the importance of an optimized LinkedIn profile. Whether going for a LinkedIn outreach, a cold emailing, or a multichannel approach, nowadays, the first thing anyone does is check your and your company’s profile on LinkedIn. 

Your LinkedIn profile is your online business card, available to anyone at any moment. Make sure it looks neat and professional. 

As the bare minimum, you must: 


Set up your LinkedIn profile compete guide banner with text: Earn the LinkedIn all-star status


You define your ICP.

Not defining your ICP equals gambling with your money, resources, and time.

And just like with casinos, the statistical probability is against you. 

The house always wins, so don’t put it all on red. You’ll end up being in the red. 

Catastrophic predictions apart, for getting more sales you need to define the companies that match your Ideal Customer Profile

Now, how do you define your ICP

  1. Take into consideration both your target industry and sub-industry. 
  2. Understand the location of your ICPs. 
  3. Take into consideration the revenue that your best customers bring to your business.
  4. Highlight your top 5 current customers that you’d like to replicate if you could and outline their positives and negatives. 

If you need more details on how to define your ICPs, the difference between ICP and Buyer Persona, and downloadable ready-to-use templates for defining both check out 4 Easy Steps To Create ICP For Lead Generation and 6 Key Steps To Create Buyer Persona For Lead Generation


You target what you’ve defined.

Since you’ve spent your time defining the ICP and the Buyer Persona within, and your money on Sales Navigator, you better use them to their full potential. 

With 29 Sales Navigator Lead Filters and 15 Sales Navigator Account Filters, the possibilities for quality targeting are endless. 

Whether a LinkedIn lead generation expert or a newbie to this process, having a deep knowledge of the tools at your disposal is the first step toward successful prospecting on LinkedIn. And, if you “have the moves” and know how to:

... the sky is your limit! 

For detailed instructions (and more) check out: 


How long should a LinkedIn message be? 

LinkedIn gives you up to 300 characters for your LinkedIn Connection Request Message.

On the other hand, the LinkedIn InMail character limit is:

A regular LinkedIn Message that you can send only to your 1st-degree connections and to members of the same LinkedIn Group, only in case you are a member too, has an 8000-character limit. 

However, there is no need to use them all. When writing any of these, keep in mind that you have only few seconds to catch your prospect’s attention. Furthermore, no one wants to read a novel in their Inbox.

In your LinkedIn Message make sure that you: 

LinkedIn claims that messages up to 600 characters are 50% more likely to get a response. Also, remember to fit the catchy information at the beginning as this is what recipients see in their Inbox preview. 


How to cold message on LinkedIn: Dos & don’ts


DOS


DON’TS


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10 LinkedIn message templates for 10 LinkedIn scenarios

We’ve listed for you 10 ideas of how to approach your leads and get more sales based on different business goals and LinkedIn scenarios. 


Scenario #1: Express interest in your lead’s work to form a partnership


Connection request template 

Hello {{firstName}},

I saw on your profile that you’re associated with the {{industry}} industry. 

I work in {{yourIndustry}} and would love to connect with you! 


LinkedIn Message Template For Potential Partnership, Invite To Connect

LinkedIn message template #1

Thanks for connecting! 

I don’t know if you’ve heard the news, but {{yourCompany}} has {{customizedSellingPoint}}/{{uniqueSellingPoint}}.

You can check it out in more detail on our website {{link}}. 

I believe that {{currentCompany}} could benefit from it!

Let me know what you think! 

{{personalizedGIF}}


LinkedIn Message Template For Potential Partnership, LinkedIn Message 1

Personalized GIF 

LinkedIn Message Template For Potential Partnership, Personalized Gif

These templates work because you’ve:


Scenario #2: Investigate your lead’s current solution to pitch your product/service   


Connection request template 

Hi {{firstName}},

What is the hardest part of being a product manager? 

Explaining what you do to your parents and friends. 

Jokes apart, I would love to connect! 


LinkedIn Message Template Scenario 2 Humor In Outreach Invite To Connect

LinkedIn message template #1

Hey {{firstName}},

Thank you for accepting my Connection Request. 

I saw that you are {{occupation}} at {{currentCompany}}, so I decided to reach out. 

I was curious to know if you and your team are using any customer survey tools? If yes, which one, if you wouldn’t mind sharing that info?

Thanks,

John


LinkedIn Message Template To Inquire A Solution LinkedIn Message 1

LinkedIn message template #2

The reason for my outreach was to introduce {{descriptionOfSolution}}. 

Briefly, {{uniqueSellingPoints}}.

How does that sound? 


LinkedIn Message Template To Inquire A Solution LinkedIn Message 2

These templates work because you’ve: 


Scenario #3: Content distribution and promotion


Connection request template 

Hey {{FirstName}},

I came across your profile and was really interested in your background as a {{occupation}} at {{currentCompany}}. I share a lot of content about the {{industry}} industry that could be useful to you. 

Looking forward to connecting with you! 


LinkedIn Message Template To Promote Content, Invite To Connect

LinkedIn message template #1

Thank you for adding me to your network. 

I thought that this blog {{nameOfblog}} might be particularly useful for you {{link}}. 

Check it out and let me know if you have some comments and suggestions! 


LinkedIn Message Template To Promote Content, Message 1

These templates work because you’ve:


Scenario #4: Reach out to people who attended your event


Connection request template

Hey {{firstName}},

Thank you for attending my webinar {{webinar’sName}}! 

I would like to keep in touch. 


LinkedIn Message Template To Reach Out To People Who Attended An Event, Invite To Connect

LinkedIn message template #1 

Thank you for adding me to your network! 

Quick question - {{question}}.

{{personalizedImage}}


LinkedIn Message Template To Reach Out To People Who Attended An Event, Message 1

Personalized image

LinkedIn Message Template To Reach Out To People Who Attended An Event, Personalized Image

LinkedIn message template #2

Thank you so much for sharing your feedback!

I also took some time to research your company {{currentCompany}} and wanted to share with you some resources that might help you with {{problem}}/{{roomForImprovement}}. 

Here’s a link to it - {{link}}


LinkedIn Message Template To Reach Out To People Who Attended An Event, Message 2

LinkedIn message template #3

Hey {{firstName}},

I hope that you liked the blog I’ve sent.

If you would like to know more about it and you found that resource valuable, there’s plenty where that came from! 

Let me know if you would be interested in {{service/product}}, I would be glad to help! 


LinkedIn Message Template To Reach Out To People Who Attended An Event, Message 3

These templates work because you’ve: 


Scenario #5: Invite relevant leads to join your community


Connection request template 

Hello {{firstName}},

I saw the post that you shared about {{topic}} and I really like the part where {{thePartYouLiked}} / {{postParagraph}}. 

Would love to connect! 


LinkedIn Message Template To Invite Leads To Join Your Community, Invite To Connect

LinkedIn message template #1

Thank you for accepting my Connection Request.

I saw that you are {{occupation}} at {{currentCompany}}. That’s so interesting! I actually have this community dedicated to the {{industry}} industry and I wanted to invite you to join! 

We discuss {{mainTopics}}

Here’s the link - {{link}}

Wе would love to have you!


LinkedIn Message Template To Invite Leads To Join Your Community, Message 1

These templates work because you’ve: 


Scenario #6: Invite a speaker/lecturer to your event


Connection request template 

Hello {{firstName}},

I loved your article {{title}} on {{website}}. 

Anyways, I am truly an admirer of your work and would love to connect! 


LinkedIn Message Template To Invite A Speaker To Your Event, Invite To Connect

LinkedIn message template #1 

Thank you for adding me to your network!

As mentioned before, your article really meant a lot to me {{reason}}. 

Actually, I am organizing a seminar on an adjacent topic {{topic}} aimed at {{occupation}}. I would love to have you as a guest speaker. 

Let’s hop on a call and discuss it further one day this week. What do you think?


LinkedIn Message Template To Invite A Speaker To Your Event, Message 1

These templates work because you’ve:


Scenario #7: Connect over a mutual friend to pitch a product/service


Connection request template 

Hello {{firstName}},

I noticed that we’re both connected with {{mutualConnection}}. I worked with {{MutualConnection’sName}} at {{company}}/{{project}}, so I thought it would be nice to get in touch with you!

How do you know {{MutualConnection’sName}}? 


LinkedIn Message Template To Pitch A Product, Invite To Connect

LinkedIn message template #1 

Hey {{firstName}},

Glad to connect!

Anyways, I saw that you work as a {{title}} at {{company}}. I have a question if you don’t mind me asking. {{question}} 


LinkedIn Message Template To Pitch A Product, Message 1

LinkedIn message template #2 

The reason I asked is that we have a new tool that {{benefit}}. 

If this is something that your business needs, I would be glad to hop on a quick call and give you some details. 

No strings attached. Let me know! 


LinkedIn Message Template To Pitch A Product, Message 2

LinkedIn message template #3

Hi {{firstName}},

You are probably very busy, so I just wanted to check in with you one last time and see if you saw my last message. 

I would like to tell you how to {{uniqueSellingPoint}}:

{{sellingPoints}}

You can see more details here - {{websiteLink}}

Can you take a call {{time}} to discuss it further?

No pushy sales manipulation, I promise.

I hope to hear back from you!


LinkedIn Message Template To Pitch A Product, Message 3, Part 1
LinkedIn Message Template To Pitch A Product, Message 3, Part 2

These templates work because you’ve: 


Scenario #8: Recruit the perfect candidate for your business


Connection request template 

Hello {{firstName}},

I am a recruiter at {{company}} and I came across your profile.

I would like to talk about a newly-opened position at {{company}} for which I found you to be a perfect fit. 

Let’s connect! 


LinkedIn Message Template Recruiting, Invite To Connect

LinkedIn message template #1

Thank you for accepting my Connection Request. 

As I was saying, I came across your profile and you seem to be exactly the person that we seek - {{background}}/{{skills}}. 

{{yourCompany}} is currently seeking a {{position}} with your skillset to carry out a series of tasks I would like to further discuss with you, in case this sounds interesting.

What do you say? 


LinkedIn Message Template Recruiting, Message 1

These templates work because you’ve: 


Scenario #9: Target leads who attended the same LinkedIn event as you did


Connection request template 

Hello {{firstName}},

I saw that you too attended the {{eventName}} event!

I found {{topic}} particularly useful! How about you?

Let’s connect! 


LinkedIn Message Template For Reaching Out To Leads Who Attended The Same Event, Invite To Connect

LinkedIn message template #1

Thank you for adding me to your network! 

I saw that you are {{title}} at {{company}}. I help {{niche}} companies generate more leads through deep personalization on LinkedIn. 

Let’s jump on a Zoom call sometime this week? 

{{personalizedImage}}


LinkedIn Message Template For Reaching Out To Leads Who Attended The Same Event, Message 1

Personalized image 

Personalized image 2

These templates work because you’ve: 


Scenario #10: Reach out to a lead who asked a question in a post comment 


Connection request template 

Hey {{firstName}},

I found the question that you asked in {{author’sName}} post on LinkedIn very interesting!

I would love to suggest several resources that could help you solve that issue. 


LinkedIn Message Template For Reaching Out To Leads Who Posted A Comment, Invite To Connect

LinkedIn message template #1 

Thank you for accepting my Connection Request. 

You asked {{question}}. Have you ever heard of {{product}}/{{service}}? 

I would love to hop on a call with you and explain why I find it to be a good solution to what you need right now. 


LinkedIn Message Template For Reaching Out To Leads Who Posted A Comment, Message 1

These templates work because you’ve:


Frequently asked questions


How do response rates for these templates vary by industry or job role, and are there adaptations recommended for specific sectors?

Response rates to LinkedIn sales message templates can vary significantly by industry and job role. It's beneficial to customize these templates and their follow-ups to align with the specific language, challenges, and goals of your target sector to increase their effectiveness and engagement.


What follow-up strategies should be employed if there is no response to the initial LinkedIn sales message, and how soon should one follow up?

If there's no response to an initial LinkedIn sales message, a best practice is to wait for a week or two before following up. The follow-up after no response should add value, perhaps by sharing relevant content or insights, and express genuine interest in helping the recipient.


Are there any data or case studies on the long-term effectiveness of these strategies in building lasting business relationships or closing sales?

While we didn’t mention case studies on the long-term effectiveness of LinkedIn sales strategies, we used these messages in our outreach templates library, so you can check them out and see the measurable results for each sequence. Generally, consistency, personalization, and providing value are critical factors in building lasting business relationships and achieving sales success.


To sum up

The hardest part on LinkedIn is getting your lead’s attention. Despite the fact that having your Connection Request accepted represents a small victory, bigger “battles” are about to happen. LinkedIn members are being bombarded with so many messages and sales offers, that the majority of them don’t even bother reading them, let alone answering. 

That’s why we’ve listed 10 LinkedIn Message Templates for different business scenarios that can help you attract that “ideal” lead’s attention. 

Whether you’re using them for networking on LinkedIn, getting new clients, partners, or doing any kind of outreach, these strategic templates could grow your chances for success.

Use them, tweak them, get inspired by them. 

And when you feel ready to scale up your business, we’ll be right here waiting for you. 


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Attention is the real capital in this day and age. Being noticed in a sea of information in a distracted world is considered to be a privilege. To stand out, you must take what you have to the next level. The same rules apply to your LinkedIn headline.  

However, figuring out a LinkedIn headline can feel like navigating a maze for many folks, and let's be real, some platform members aren't even sure what it is or where to find it on their profile. 

That's why we're here to break it down for you in plain language and give you some practical suggestions and LinkedIn headline examples that work from our own experience. 

These tips have helped our sales team stand out on LinkedIn, improve rankings and visibility in LinkedIn search results, and ultimately gain more credibility and more quality leads for Skylead. 

Let’s check it out how it’s done! 


What is a LinkedIn headline? 

A LinkedIn headline is the text below your name in your profile's introduction. It's a vital section of your profile because it impacts your ranking in LinkedIn searches and plays a crucial part in forming the first impression. When well-written, a LinkedIn headline is a prime eye-catcher in search results. 

This is your LinkedIn headline. 



How to edit a LinkedIn headline

You can edit your LinkedIn headline as many times as you want, although it is recommended to keep some consistency and not to change it too often. 

The maximum length of your LinkedIn headline is 220 characters

Edit your LinkedIn headline by clicking on the Pen icon right here. 



Then, scroll down to the LinkedIn headline section



As you may see, you can insert it manually, or use LinkedIn’s AI assistant to suggest LinkedIn headlines for you. This feature is available only for paid LinkedIn plans.

If you click on the Write with AI option, LinkedIn will suggest a LinkedIn headline for you based on the information on your LinkedIn profile. 

You can ask it to generate a LinkedIn headline for you as many times as you want, or just click Revert to go back to the one you had before. 



Click Save to save the changes to your LinkedIn profile. 

Generally, we suggest using ChatGPT for sales to speed up certain processes. You can also independently brainstorm your LinkedIn headline in Chat GPT from LinkedIn’s AI assistant. In this blog, we gave you 13 LinkedIn headline examples considered to be a good practice. Use them to get inspired by them or as a prompt in Chat GPT to generate variations. It’s up to you! 


What to put in a LinkedIn headline

The number one rule is not to make your LinkedIn headline misleading. 

Rule number two is that there is no rule number two. 

As long as your LinkedIn headline is informative, relevant, and catchy, you are on the right track. Yes, creativity is highly appreciated even on LinkedIn. Stay within the professional frames and you can still play with your LinkedIn headline as much as you want. 

Easier said than done (we agree), but your LinkedIn headline should summarize your skills, ambitions, and experiences within the 220-character limit. As this is not as simple as it sounds, most LinkedIn members decide to leave their current job title and forget about it. Big mistake.

It is exactly your LinkedIn headline that sets you apart in the “sea of the same”. It is the first thing your prospects read when they visit your LinkedIn profile and it is one of the things that keeps them scrolling to get a deeper insight into your professional achievements through LinkedIn summary and other LinkedIn sections. 

Formulas to write an effective LinkedIn profile 

Here are 2 formulas to write an effective LinkedIn profile. 

The first one is to imagine I know nothing about your industry and, with that in mind, to explain to me, in one simple sentence, what you do. 

The second one is to imagine you have to create a billboard advertising yourself and think of a catchy slogan that would sell you the best. 

If this doesn’t help you come up with an appealing LinkedIn headline, try using one of the following formulas where


LinkedIn headline templates

If these still seem too abstract to you, don’t worry, we’ve listed 13 real-life LinkedIn headline examples to illustrate what an effective headline is and to help you get inspired for yours. 


Common mistakes in LinkedIn headlines 


The 6 common mistakes when writing a LinkedIn headline

On the other hand, here are the top 6 most common mistakes when writing a LinkedIn headline. 

  1. Using codes or professional jargon that only people from your industry know such as “BDR”, “SDR”, “AE”, etc. 
  2. Showing off by using words such as “expert”, “top-performing”, “superior”, “best” or mentioning any success without offering valid arguments that support it. 
  3. Not using keywords that are relevant to your potential prospects. When writing your LinkedIn headline keep in mind that the most commonly used filter on LinkedIn is the “keyword” one. Make sure you show up in your prospect or recruiter’s search results. 
  4. Writing a headline that reflects your former professional engagements that are not relevant to your current or future professional aspirations.
  5. Not including your unique selling point. Without it, you are just one more professional in a sea of others. 
  6. Making your LinkedIn headline about how “awesome” you are instead of how you can help others succeed. 

Top 13 LinkedIn headline examples [and why they work]

After all, there is no explicit rule for what you should put in your LinkedIn headline. 

The examples below show what works in practice. 

We’ve included the “why it works” section to understand why, from our experience, these LinkedIn headline examples are effective, and to inspire you to create yours accordingly. 


LinkedIn headline example #1


LinkedIn headline example 1

Why this LinkedIn headline works


LinkedIn headline example #2


LinkedIn headline example 2

Why this LinkedIn headline works


LinkedIn headline example #3


LinkedIn headline example 3

Why this LinkedIn headline works


LinkedIn headline example #4


LinkedIn Headline Example 4

Why this LinkedIn headline works


LinkedIn headline example #5


LinkedIn headline example 5

Why this LinkedIn headline works


LinkedIn headline example #6


LinkedIn headline example 6

Why this LinkedIn headline works


LinkedIn headline example #7


LinkedIn headline example 7

Why this LinkedIn headline works


LinkedIn headline example #8 


LinkedIn headline example 8

Why this LinkedIn headline works


LinkedIn headline example #9 


LinkedIn headline example 9

Why this LinkedIn headline works

LinkedIn headline example #10


LinkedIn headline example 10

Why this LinkedIn headline works


LinkedIn headline example #11


LinkedIn headline example 11

Why this LinkedIn headline works


LinkedIn headline example #12


LinkedIn headline example 12

Why this LinkedIn headline works


LinkedIn headline example #13


LinkedIn headline example 13

Why this LinkedIn headline works


How to use a LinkedIn headline for lead generation


Using a LinkedIn headline to personalize your Connection requests, LinkedIn messages, or LinkedIn InMail messages is a powerful LinkedIn lead generation strategy. 

Referring to something from the individual's headline can be incredibly effective because people enjoy discussing their achievements and interests. By complimenting them or showing genuine interest in something highlighted in their headline, you can increase the likelihood of starting a conversation. 

We'll take inspiration from this member's LinkedIn headline to showcase different ways you can personalize your messages on LinkedIn. 

By incorporating different elements from their headline, we'll illustrate the full range of possibilities for crafting a personalized outreach approach. 

All examples below are inspired by the way our Head of sales, Andrea, utilizes Skylead’s ideal lead’s LinkedIn headline to connect and start sales-oriented conversations. 


LinkedIn headline for lead generation

Example #1: Use the lead's current position to personalize your approach

Hello Thamina, 

It’s nice to meet someone who’s working on creating growth opportunities for businesses on LinkedIn! I love this platform, it helped scale up my business in a matter of months.

I would love to add you to my network. 


Hello Thamina, 

I checked out Femme Hive Podcast! Helping female professionals feel less overwhelmed in their 20s is outstanding. I wish I had someone to encourage me back then. It sure was a bumpy ride. 

I would love to have you in my network!


Example #3 Use industry/background to personalize your approach

Hello Thamina, 

I am searching to connect with professionals that have a finance background, and I loved yours very much!

Let’s connect! 


Example #4 Use something that your lead advocates for to personalize your approach 

Hey, 

I love to meet professionals who advocate for women’s rights and make them feel more confident on their career paths! 

I would love to have a person like you in my network, Thamina! 


Example #5 Use your lead's university to personalize your approach

Hello fellow-alumna! 

I also graduated from Duke University! It was such a great experience, wasn’t it? 

Let’s get in touch and exchange experiences! 


Example #6 Use the part of the headline that caught your attention 

Hello Thamina, 

Sharp headline! Love the last sentence! 

Would love to have such a go-getter in my network. Let’s connect! 


Summary 

Yes, we always encourage our clients to take advantage of AI, but no platform beats human creativity and wittiness so far! Use Chat GPT as a tool to speed up and perfect some of the ideas you come up with. 

In the meantime, follow the above instructions and LinkedIn headline examples we listed for you, and you might find yourself brainstorming your ideal LinkedIn headline much quicker than expected.

At the end of the day, no one knows you better than you!  

And, speaking of quicker, if you want to make your entire lead generation and outreach significantly faster while booking 3x more meetings than before, you should check out Skylead and its 7-day FREE trial to learn how its groundbreaking solutions could get you faster to your business goals.


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LinkedIn is the largest professional network, and it is no stranger to many subscription options. Naturally, every LinkedIn Premium subscription plan is a monthly-based service. However, have you ever thought about how wonderful it would be to try LinkedIn Premium free of charge?  

Luckily, you can. Here are six different ways to get LinkedIn Premium free. As a bonus surprise, we’ve even thrown in a way you can even get a LinkedIn Premium discount. But surprises do not end there…



LinkedIn Premium subscriptions explained

The words “LinkedIn Premium” became synonymous with Premium Business plan. However, LinkedIn Premium is a true name for all LinkedIn subscriptions plans. So, to avoid confusion, we will make a note of what type of LinkedIn Premium subscription you can get for free with the methods described below.

First, let’s see what every LinkedIn subscription plan has to offer.

Did you know that we have detailed comparisons of every LinkedIn subscription plan? Be sure to check them out:


How to get LinkedIn Premium free?

LinkedIn really tries to give back to the community. And giving away LinkedIn Premium free for use is one way they do it. However, it is worth noting that, even though each of the ways described below will allow you to use LinkedIn Premium free, it won’t be forever. 

Nevertheless, there is plenty of time to test out and decide if you wish to use this subscription package to jump-start your career or for LinkedIn lead generation. Let’s jump to the ways you can try LinkedIn Premium free.


LinkedIn Premium free trial

If you wish to test out the features, you can always opt-in for the LinkedIn Premium Free Trial. This way, you can explore every subscription plan and find which one suits you best. 

The free trial lasts for 1 month, and everyone can initiate it. In addition, you would need to insert your credit card details at the beginning of the trial.

After the free trial ends, your subscription will start automatically. Consequently, your credit card will be charged. Thus, if you decide not to pay for the subscription plan, you need to cancel the LinkedIn Premium free trial before it ends. You can also cancel the free trial at the beginning of the trial period, as you will get the entire month for free either way. 

Furthermore, if you start a LinkedIn Premium free trial, you won’t be able to have another one for at least the next 12 months.


Starting LinkedIn Premium free trial - Steps

Here’s how you can start your LinkedIn Premium Free Trial. 

Firstly, click the profile icon at the top of the homepage. Then, select the Settings & Privacy option.


Image of how to start free trial to get LinkedIn Premium Free

Secondly, click the Account preferences. Then, navigate to Subscriptions & payments and click the Change button next to Upgrade for free option.


Image of Subscription and Payment option in LinkedIn account

Next, the new page will open up. LinkedIn will ask you what you would like to achieve with an upgrade so it can suggest the plan for you. Thus, you can choose the subscription from the recommended section. Or you can check out all the plans and select one from there.


Image of questions LinkedIn asks to recommend the plan to start LinkedIn Premium free trial

Here is where you can read more about the Premium plans. So, choose one that best suits your needs. Since Premium Business is versatile and many job hunters, recruiters, and sales managers use it, we will use it as an example.


Image of LinkedIn Premium subscription plans

Lastly, click on the Start my free month button, enter the credit card details and complete the upgrade.

In addition, please note that the price displayed below the button doesn’t include the tax or VAT. So you need to be aware of that if you wish to continue to a paid subscription afterward.


Image of the last step of starting LinkedIn Premium free option

Getting LinkedIn Premium free from employees 

One of the perks of working for LinkedIn is that almost every employee gets the LinkedIn Premium free subscription for 6 months. In this case, most of the employees give away these coupons to give back to the community. 

However, many have certain conditions you need to fulfill to receive a LinkedIn Premium free coupon. Nonetheless, this is a great way to help those that need it the most.

To find an employee that is giving away LinkedIn Premium free coupons, first go to your LinkedIn search bar. Then, type either #linkedinpremium or #PlusOnePledge and hit enter. Click on Posts, and either sort them by latest or those posted in the last week.


Image of LinkedIn employees post offering LinkedIn Free coupons

Then, you can reach out to that person and ask them to provide you with that coupon. Simple as that.

The best-case practice is being honest and providing detailed information on why you need LinkedIn Premium free. In addition, describe your life circumstances and how you will use that to develop your career.


Linkedin Premium free for military veterans

LinkedIn joined forces with SheerID, an identity verification platform, for a special occasion. They wanted to offer 12-month access to LinkedIn Premium free of charge for all U.S. military veterans. In addition, all those granted to use LinkedIn Premium free will also have access to more than 16,000 courses.

The reason behind this initiative is that LinkedIn understands how difficult it is to move from military to civilian life. Thus LinkedIn took steps to help U.S. military veterans as much as possible. In addition, LinkedIn offers LinkedIn Premium free use for military spouses, as well. 

Here are the benefits that military individuals can expect using the special LinkedIn Premium free membership:

So, how to apply for the LinkedIn Premium free program for veterans? All you need to do is to go to their Veterans subscription page and fill in the required form. 


Image of form for getting LinkedIn Premium Free for veterans

Tip: Be sure you reference that you are a veteran or have military experience on your LinkedIn profile before applying. 

Set up your LinkedIn profile compete guide banner with text: Earn the LinkedIn all-star status


Lastly, please note that if for any reason, you already started a LinkedIn Premium free trial or subscription, you would need to cancel it first before applying to the LinkedIn Premium free veterans program.


Students and graduates can use LinkedIn Premium free too

Sometimes LinkedIn forms partnerships with different educational institutions as a part of their student program. The result of this partnership is that students and graduates can use LinkedIn Premium free for a 12-month period. 

To check if your school partnered up with LinkedIn, go and ask if they have access to these subscriptions. If your university says they do not have access or partnership, ask them to reach out to LinkedIn. This way, they can check if they can become a part of the program and offer students LinkedIn Premium for free.

Keep in mind that you need to have an email from the school's domain to be granted free LinkedIn Premium subscription.

If, however, this doesn’t work for you, you can always check for other active LinkedIn Premium free programs for students.  

For example, LinkedIn partnered up with Amazon to allow students to use subscriptions for free. So, if your Amazon account is Prime Student, then you are eligible to get a LinkedIn Premium free subscription for 6 months.  

All you need to do is sign in to your Prime Student and LinkedIn account and redeem your Premium Subscription.

Yet, keep in mind that if you have an active Premium subscription plan, then you won’t be eligible for this offer.


Image of LinkedIn Premium Free offer for Student Prime

Visual Studio users get LinkedIn Premium free of charge

Visual Studio Dev Essentials is a developer program created by Microsoft. Among the benefits, they provide various tools and training courses, and the LinkedIn Learning center is one of them. In other words, LinkedIn offers a Premium Career plan free for all Visual Studio Dev Essentials users. 

This way, you get access to the LinkedIn Learning courses, acquire certificates and develop your skills. This offer lasts for 1 month, and you don’t need a credit card to start the subscription for free. 

To use this LinkedIn Premium free offer, firstly, you need to have a Microsoft account. Once you create it, go to Visual Studio Dev Essentials and click the Join or access now button. Once there, navigate to the Benefits page. Then, find the LinkedIn Learning offer and click the Activate button.


Image of Visual Studio dashboard benefits

After you’ve done it, you will go to the LinkedIn page, where you can activate the subscription.


Quarterly-based LinkedIn Premium free subscription for journalists

If you are a journalist who strives to perfect the craft, and join the journalist community, then, LinkedIn has a nifty solution for you. They offer access to journalist network, insights, and webinar. In addition, you get LinkedIn Premium free. LinkedIn offers this promotion each quarter.

However, only qualified health journalists can apply for the webinar and receive a free one-year subscription to LinkedIn Premium Business. In other words, qualifications include but are not limited to the following conditions:

To apply for the webinar, you need to pay close attention to the application window for each quarter. You can do so by visiting the LinkedIn LinkedIn For Journalists page.


Bonus: Getting Sales Navigator for free

Here is the surprise for all you Sales Navigator lovers. Apart from starting the 1-month Sales Navigator free trial, you can also get Sales Navigator 2-month free use. This is only possible if your connections refer you through the Sales Navigator Referral program. 

Here is how someone can provide you with a Sales Navigator referral or vice versa in 2 easy steps. First, go to your Sales Navigator platform, and click the Referrals button.


Image of Sales Navigator referral program

Next, type the person’s name you wish to refer to try this LinkedIn Premium free subscription. The only thing left to do is to hit the Send button. Each Sales Navigator user gets to send 10 referrals.


Image of how to refer someone and allow them to use Sales Navigator free for 2 months

And, that’s it. Your connection will receive the confirmation email with the joining link that will lead to the activation page.

However, there are certain conditions you need to fulfill to receive a 2-month free Sales Navigator subscription:


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How to get LinkedIn Premium discount?

As you can see, there are many ways to try LinkedIn Premium free. However, LinkedIn limits every account to only one such promotion per year. Nonetheless, if you are unsure if you would like to pay the full price, you can always get a discount. 

Here is how you can do it. 

First, go to your Settings & Privacy page. Next, under Subscriptions & payments click the Cancel Subscription button.


Image of how to cancel LinkedIn subscription and get 50% discount

Next, the new window will open up. Continue the cancellation process.


Image of LinkedIn subscription cancellation process to get a discount

Lastly, LinkedIn will ask you for the reason you wish to cancel. Respond with It’s too expensive.

Once you do, LinkedIn will give you a 50% discount for 2 months. This will be more than enough to decide whether you wish to pay the price or not.


Image of LinkedIn Premium discount if you wish to cancel subscription

FAQ


How do LinkedIn's Premium features specifically benefit different types of professionals, such as marketers, sales professionals, or recruiters, beyond the general descriptions provided?

LinkedIn Premium specifically aids professionals by providing enhanced tools for better targeting and networking. Marketers gain insights for more effective campaigns, sales professionals access detailed company and individual data for outreach, and recruiters get in-depth search capabilities to find ideal candidates, making each role's efforts more fruitful and efficient.


Are there any hidden costs or common pitfalls to be aware of when using these methods to get LinkedIn Premium for free, especially regarding the need to cancel subscriptions before they automatically renew?

Seeking LinkedIn Premium for free requires vigilance regarding trial periods and automatic renewals. Users must actively manage their subscriptions to avoid unexpected charges, as forgetting to cancel after a trial can result in automatic conversion to a paid subscription, leading to unwanted expenses.


Can these methods for obtaining LinkedIn Premium for free be combined or used sequentially to extend the free period, or is there a strict limit on how many promotions a user can access over a certain timeframe?

Leveraging multiple promotions for extended LinkedIn Premium access is subject to LinkedIn's monitoring of promotional usage. While users might attempt to sequentially use offers to maximize free access, LinkedIn's systems are designed to recognize and potentially restrict such activity, enforcing limits on the accessibility of consecutive promotions over a specific period.


Conclusion

LinkedIn really tries to give back to the community, and various LinkedIn Premium free promotions are the proof of that. 

However, please be aware that LinkedIn keeps track of if and when somebody uses one of these promotions. If, for example, you used a 1-month free trial, LinkedIn won’t allow you to repeat it or get any other promotion from our list. Not for 12 months at least.

Furthermore, LinkedIn is not big on giving refunds. So, be careful to cancel the promotion in time. Otherwise, you will be charged after the free period ends. If, for any reason, you think that LinkedIn Premium is not for you, keep track of the date or set a reminder alert.

Lastly, keep in mind that if you are already a Premium user, you’ll need to cancel your Premium subscription. Only after you wait for the billing cycle to end will you be able to activate LinkedIn Premium free promotions.

That said, enjoy your LinkedIn Premium free promotions!


Feeling after you receive LinkedIn Premium Free, happy GIF

Are you a recruiter or a sales manager who wishes to outreach your candidates or prospects on autopilot and close more deals? Welcome! We are Skylead. Let’s chat and see how we can help you with your outreach. Contact us via chat or test out Skylead for free directly! 

And don’t worry. Whatever LinkedIn subscription you are using, be it Sales Navigator, Recruiter, Recruiter Lite or Premium Business, you can use it with Skylead.


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Are you a sales rep who got your LinkedIn account restricted? Maybe you’re thinking it got into the infamous LinkedIn jail. Don’t worry. Together, we’ll get it back. Have a seat and relax as we go through: 


What does it mean when your LinkedIn account is restricted?

Getting your LinkedIn account restricted means that you knowingly or unknowingly acted against their Professional Community Policies. This caused LinkedIn to limit your ability to perform further actions using your account. You know your LinkedIn account is restricted since this notification will appear when you log in.

Image of LinkedIn account restricted message, How to avoid LinkedIn jail or getting LinkedIn account restricted

In some cases, the restriction/suspension is temporary or will have the note with the restriction end date. Under more serious circumstances, you will have to contact LinkedIn support

Fear not - at this point, you can still get your LinkedIn account back.


What is the difference between getting a LinkedIn account restricted and LinkedIn jail?

Unlike restriction, where you get your LinkedIn account back after a 4-step process, LinkedIn jail is a permanent account ban or an endless loop of review process. It usually happens after you get your LinkedIn account restricted multiple times. 

There are 2 ways that indicate you ended up in LinkedIn jail: 

  1. If you receive feedback from LinkedIn support saying that your account restriction is final due to repeated Terms of Service violation. (Permanent)
  1. Or if you don’t hear from them for weeks-on-end after you got restriction multiple times. (Not permanent but the process takes a long time)

Ending up in permanent LinkedIn jail happens in extreme situations only. So, if you are a sales representative, you don’t need to worry. However, you need to be cautious and aware of your LinkedIn lead generation activity.


Why is my LinkedIn account restricted?

Let’s go through all 8 reasons LinkedIn may restrict your account and identify the root cause.

How could you do this to me Meme

1. You created an account with a name that isn’t yours or violates User Agreement.

People sometimes create their profile using the name of a company, some other business or entity, which is against the LinkedIn Terms and Conditions. In case you use the platform to represent your company, the better decision would be to create a company page for it.


In addition, creating an account with a false name, and if detected, can be a subject of immediate restriction or a ban, according to LinkedIn User Agreement.


2. You created multiple profiles from the same device.

LinkedIn’s User Agreement states that you cannot have more than one real profile created from a single device or a proxy, especially if one of the accounts is restricted. In case you intend to create multiple profiles, be prepared for getting all those LinkedIn accounts restricted.


3. Your content is spammy or inappropriate.

LinkedIn will definitely ban your account if you publish content that violates their Professional Community Policies. Depending on the level of violation, they can temporarily or permanently restrict your account. 


4.  You sent too many connection requests.

If you send a lot of connection requests weekly, you can get your LinkedIn account restricted. Consequently, if you overstep your boundaries many times your account will be partially restricted with the following message:


Image of LinkedIn message "You've reached LinkedIn invitation limit"

If you exceed the limit and get restricted, you won’t be able to send other connection requests. However, you can access other LinkedIn features.

In general, the number of invitations you can send is between 100 and 200 per week. The catch-22 here is that the LinkedIn limit algorithm often changes. That said, the limit itself is not final and depends on many factors. In other words, it can vary based on:


5. Your acceptance rate is too low.

If you send a lot of blank or not personalized requests to 3rd-degree connections, your acceptance rate will be low. In other words, LinkedIn registers this as a suspicious activity and you can get your LinkedIn account restricted.


6. Your invitations have been left pending, ignored or marked with “I don’t know this person”.

LinkedIn considers suspicious behavior when most of your connection requests have been left pending for a long time or have been ignored. So it's best to clear them regularly.

In addition, blank and non-personalized connection requests can make some users click the "I don't know this person" button. If this number of people is high, you can have a restriction on your hands. Also, LinkedIn may ask you to provide a person's email to connect with them from that point forward. Needless to say, they will start to monitor your account as well.


Image of 'I don't know this person' option on LinkedIn, how not to end up with LinkedIn account restricted

The good news is that LinkedIn lifts most of these restrictions automatically within one week.


7. You viewed too many profiles in a short period of time.

Sometimes, you can get your LinkedIn account restricted if you view too many profiles in a day or view one person’s profile frequently. Consequently, your account might get restricted because LinkedIn can register it as a bot-like activity. 

This situation is rare, but it does happen, so watch out for how many profiles you view.


8. Using unsafe LinkedIn automation tools

It’s no secret that LinkedIn doesn’t like the automation of its platform. Some tools meet their guidelines, while some of them do not. So, one of the common reasons people experience restrictions is that they use the wrong LinkedIn tools that reveal bot-like behavior.

Yes, LinkedIn automation tools can help you scale your business if you are a sales professional, founder, agency owner, marketer, or recruiter. And yes, you can do so while keeping the restriction off your hands, having your LinkedIn account healthy, and respecting why LinkedIn was created - because of the authentic interaction. That said, we’ll help you choose the right tool. So keep on reading.


4 proven steps to regain access to your LinkedIn account


#1 Step - Understand why it happened.

When you get your LinkedIn account restricted, you won’t be able to log into your account for several days. Furthermore, it often happens that LinkedIn doesn’t provide any explanation as to why they restricted your LinkedIn account. 

So, to understand the reason for getting a LinkedIn account restricted, read the reasons above, or LinkedIn Terms and Conditions and the User Agreement.


#2 Step - Follow the instructions on your account.

Sometimes, when your LinkedIn account is restricted, you will see a notification when you log in. Then LinkedIn will ask you to verify your identity by uploading images of your ID, front and back.


LinkedIn account restricted notification message

After you do it, someone will review your account. The process is sometimes quick and can last up to 48 hours. However, often, it can take up to 7 days for LinkedIn to respond. You’ll also get an email when LinkedIn lifts the restriction from your account. So, be patient.


#3 Step - Contact LinkedIn customer support.

If you get your LinkedIn account restricted, it is usually temporary, and restrictions are lifted quickly when you verify your identity. However, if there’s no option for you to verify identity, or your appeal has been pending for a long time the next step would be to reach out to the LinkedIn Customer Support directly. You’ll probably need some identification documents to confirm your identity as well. 

Here is how to contact LinkedIn customer support:


Image of LinkedIn customer support contact form for getting LinkedIn account restricted

In addition, here is what you should include in the appeal:


#4 Step - Ask for help

You can also ask around for help in your network. If your connections raise a query and show support for your account, it will help you gain access to your LinkedIn account faster.

Show the real power of your network! 💪


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You managed to get your LinkedIn account recovered? Follow these 6 dos & don’ts to avoid being banned again.


1. Know your limits on LinkedIn.

Even though LinkedIn wants you to use their platform, they want you to do it cleverly, as well. There are 5 types of direct interactions with users (if we exclude post likes and comments), and those are:

Each of these actions has a daily limit you need to follow if you don’t want to risk your profile’s safety. Also, these limits are higher for the premium account users and the old ones with a larger network.

Here are the limits that turned out to be the safest if you’ve been using LinkedIn for some time: 

If you haven’t, keep these limits even lower.


2. Withdraw your pending requests.

Keep your pending invitation request around 400 or 500 and remove those that are 4 weeks old. A higher number will get you on LinkedIn radar. Only, keep in mind that you won’t be able to send an invitation to that person in the next 3 weeks.

In order to cancel a LinkedIn invite, you can use a manual method. However, what makes your life easier in situations like these is using a sales engagement tool. For example, Skylead will send out invitations for you, and to keep it clean and safe. It will also automatically withdraw older ones, so you wouldn’t have to do it manually on your own.


3. Warm up your LinkedIn account.

Let's say your LinkedIn account is relatively new, or you've already got the restriction. The best approach would be to start with a few actions and build your way to the maximum limit. 

The thing is that if your LinkedIn account is new, and you start sending a large number of invites right away, LinkedIn will consider it suspicious activity.

Here is what you can do to prevent this:


4. Always send friendly and personalized messages.

When connecting with the people you know, always be genuine and include a personal message. For instance, send a personalized invitation including the reason why that person might wish to connect with you. This way, you’ll avoid the label of an unknown person. 

If you need inspiration for connecting with new users, we have a lot of LinkedIn connection message templates that might help you. You can also throw in some delicious images or GIF personalization.


5. Don’t sell right away.

Don't try to sell immediately after connecting with the new users. It can only push them away and make them ignore you. Building a relationship and providing value with updates, articles, and messages is important before you try to close a deal.


6. Use the right LinkedIn automation tool.

To understand which LinkedIn automation tool to choose and keep you safe, let's first go over all types.


Extensions

Browser-based LinkedIn tools are extensions in your browser that rely on browser caching, making it much easier to detect. Other downsides of these tools are: 


Desktop apps

The second type of LinkedIn automation tools are desktop apps that don’t offer dedicated IP addresses. They don’t have the possibility of running Multiple Accounts, nor do they work in the background. Since it works through the web, it doesn’t inject code into LinkedIn, making it a bit safer than browser-based ones/extensions. 


Cloud-based tools

Cloud-based software is the best of them all because: 

Due to the above-mentioned, we advise using cloud-based tools because they work online, are much safer than extension-based tools, and are better than desktop apps.

For example, the excellent thing about Skylead, as one of the cloud-based tools, is that it’s entirely safe for use because of its location-based IP addresses. Skylead also has a human-like behavior (for example, clicking and scrolling as a human would do), making it undetectable and reliable.

That makes Skylead a FIVE STARS tool! Plus, it has a lot more features to offer.

The moral of the story: Some of the tools are riskier than others, and it’s not hard for LinkedIn to spot this kind of manipulation and get your LinkedIn account restricted, so choose wisely.


Image of CTA banner 2 for watching Skylead - LinkedIn automation and cold email software demo


How to use LinkedIn automation tool carefree?

Considering your account's safety and features, we previously stated why Skylead is a perfect choice to outreach on autopilot. So, if you wish to connect with more people every week, here’s how Skylead can help you with that as well.

The thing is you can use free and paid LinkedIn InMails and emails to multichannel your outreach and connect with more people this way. What's best about these methods is that you don't risk getting your LinkedIn account restricted. Moreover, LinkedIn will love you for it as you will use their paid InMails.


How to create outreach campaign with Skylead

First, go to your campaign manager and choose the campaign type. Also, enter the lead URL source or import the CSV file.


Image of campaign creation using safe LinkedIn automation tool, step 1

Then, fill in the details regarding your campaign setting and move on to the Smart sequence.


Image of creating outreach campaign using safe LinkedIn automation tool and cold email software, step 2

From here, you can personalize messages and combine LinkedIn and email actions with if/else conditions to create a coherent outreach flow that Skylead will follow to reach your leads. 

To demonstrate an example, we've started with the Follow and Find & verify email steps. Next, we added the Invite to Connect step and the condition to check if Skylead manages to do so. If yes, Skylead can proceed to send a regular LinkedIn message and the follow-up.

However, if it doesn't manage to connect with leads, you can check if Skylead found the publicly available leads' business emails. If yes, Skylead can send them an email. If not, it can send them paid or free InMail.


Image of creating outreach campaign with safe LinkedIn automation tool and cold email software, step 3, Smart sequence

When you finish creating a coherent outreach flow, hit Start Campaign, sit back and relax.


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Frequently asked questions


What happens when your LinkedIn account is restricted?

When your LinkedIn account is restricted, you lose access to certain features or the entire account, depending on the severity of the issue. This can happen for violations of LinkedIn's policies or unusual activity. You'll typically receive a notification explaining the restriction and steps to resolve or appeal it.


Why was my LinkedIn account restricted from sending connection requests?

LinkedIn considers every excessive action, even sending connection requests, a cause for the restriction. If you got your LinkedIn account restricted because of this, wait a few hours, then try again. Also, make sure not to send a lot of connection requests without a note or with the same note.


What to do when LinkedIn account is restricted permanently?

If your LinkedIn account is permanently restricted, review LinkedIn's User Agreement and Community Policies to understand the violation. Next, appeal the decision by contacting LinkedIn support with an explanation to support your case. If the restriction wasn't lifted, create another account with the new email and carefully follow the rules.


Why is my LinkedIn asking for ID when my LinkedIn account is restricted?

LinkedIn may restrict your account and ask for ID due to unusual activity detected by LinkedIn's security systems. The ID requirement helps ensure the safety and integrity of its network by asking you to verify your identity so LinkedIn can prevent unauthorized access or fraudulent activities.


Why does LinkedIn restrict accounts?

LinkedIn restricts accounts for two reasons. Firstly, to keep the platform safe. Secondly, to create an organic and beneficial space for all its users. To achieve this, LinkedIn sets rules to show what is acceptable, what actions are suspicious, and what content is inappropriate. 


What to do if you get your LinkedIn account restricted for no reason?

If your account is mistakenly restricted, log into your LinkedIn account, follow the instructions from the notification, and submit your ID. After you do, support will review your account in 24-48 hours and lift the restriction. You’ll also get an email when LinkedIn lifts the restriction from your account.


You’ve got this!

Every social media platform, including LinkedIn, uses policies and rules when monitoring suspicious behavior to protect its users. So, getting your LinkedIn account restricted or ending up in LinkedIn jail due to these restrictions is serious business - especially for sales folks who use LinkedIn as their main LinkedIn prospecting and outreach tool.

But don’t stress; even if you get restricted, it’s not the end, and you can recover from it. Your LinkedIn account will be fine as long as you stick to the advice listed above.

Lastly, LinkedIn automation tools and cold email software can be very helpful with your business. Trust us, we’ve been using it since 2019. However, be careful of which one you use. Many tools are on the market, but the safest bet is to choose cloud-based solutions like our Skylead. If you wish to give it a go, start your 7-day free trial and schedule your onboarding call with one of our customer support representatives. 


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LinkedIn Xray search has been an eye-opener for many recruiters and sales professionals. The truth is, it helped them find the ideal candidate or a prospect in the past. Also, it showed them there is always an alternative way of doing so. 

However, with the recent LinkedIn subscriptions and sales engagement tools development, the LinkedIn Xray search fell slowly into oblivion. Nonetheless, it still holds its value and can help in many ways. Whereas LinkedIn fails due to subscription limitations.

That's why, in this article, we will cover what LinkedIn Xray means, what the benefits are, and how to get the most out of it to perform LinkedIn prospecting and find ideal prospects or candidates.


LinkedIn Xray search is a method used to research your prospects or candidates on Google. In other words, using the Google browser, you can search for the profiles without using LinkedIn internal filters.

Similar to LinkedIn, by performing Xray search, you can place filters like their role, location, or work experience to zero in on the exact candidate or prospect you wish to contact. 

If this sounds familiar, you are right. LinkedIn Xray is also known as Boolean Search on Google.

Now, you probably wonder why you should search for profiles this way when you can simply use LinkedIn internal search. Here are a couple of reasons.


Why you should use LinkedIn Xray search?


1. More search results

Have you noticed that when you use LinkedIn filters and perform the search, you often get big numbers, as demonstrated in the picture below?


Image of the number of LinkedIn search results

That is an astonishing number, indeed. However, you can't see all these profiles, can you? The reason is that LinkedIn limits the number of searches depending on your subscription. In addition, it always shows 10 profiles per page.  


Image of true number of search results in LinkedIn Premium Business subscription

In other words, here is the number of searches you will get for each LinkedIn subscription respectively:

Since LinkedIn will not show you all these results, you can search for them yourself. And with the help of Google, you will get much more than 1000 or 2500 searches.


Image of LinkedIn Xray search results on Google and number of pages

2. The visibility of 3rd-degree and out of network connections

Depending on whether you are using LinkedIn for free or paying a subscription, you won’t be able to see certain people. These people include your 3rd-degree connections or those outside of your network.


Image of Outside the Network alert on LinkedIn

For example, let’s say you are searching for the hiring managers, and you come across an out-of-network connection.


Image of example where profile is outside of your network on LinkedIn

As you can see, LinkedIn has hidden their name and surname. Now, let’s try the LinkedIn Xray search. To clarify, we will take the headline phrase we can see from LinkedIn search results and use them as keyword combinations.


Image of LinkedIn Xray search to find outside of network profile

Et voilà! This is a game-changer as Google will never hide the person’s full name. In addition, once you go to that person’s profile, you will be able to connect to them. 


Image of finding out of network connection using LinkedIn Xray search and being able to connect to them

Now, not all LinkedIn profiles are publicly accessible through search engines, but most of them are. In other words, you have a much greater chance of finding ideal leads or candidates as opposed to using LinkedIn search filters alone.


3. Search results variety

If you are using advanced search, LinkedIn will show you the results organized by network relationships and the ones who have a 100% of profile completion. 

There is nothing wrong with that, except perhaps the person just outside of the LinkedIn search results might be the exact match to your buyer persona or ideal candidate. Consequently, you won’t be able to see that person as LinkedIn will show you the same results almost every time.   

Google’s search algorithm is a bit different, and it will produce the order of the results that have the highest keywords frequency you chose in particular.


Set up your LinkedIn profile compete guide banner with text: Earn the LinkedIn all-star status


4. More comprehensive search

One of the perks of using LinkedIn Xray is the possibility to use the * symbol (Asterisk) to include any missing words. To clarify, Asterisk is used to fill in the search with any other keyword. This way, Google will show you a more comprehensive search, for example, if you search for all the positions that have Sales variation in their title (Sales manager, sales development manager, etc.). 

Unfortunately, the use of Asterisk in LinkedIn is not available. So you would have to import all those positions manually. Thus you can always turn to Google should you need to find all these variations in one go.


Image of LinkedIn Xray search results example using asterisk symbol

How to perform LinkedIn Xray search?

By now, you have probably seen a sneak peek of how to perform LinkedIn Xray from our examples above. So, let’s dive into how you can do it as well.

There are two different ways you can perform LinkedIn Xray:

  1. By using Boolean Search operators to create own search string
  2. Or by using search string generators

LinkedIn Xray search with Boolean operators

As we mentioned in our LinkedIn Boolean Search Explained post, Boolean operators are used to better define your search results. In other words, you can use these operators to narrow or widen your search results per your wishes.

Contrary to Boolean operators you can use on LinkedIn, Google offers slightly more possibilities. Here are the operators you can use for LinkedIn Xray on Google, with examples.

Boolean OperatorsMeaningsExamples
site: When you wish to include a website (LinkedIn) in a search.site:linkedin.com/in
AND When you wish to include multiple words in a search.Developer AND Engineer
ORUse when specifying alternatives in jobs or skills.C# OR JavaScript
NOTWhen you want to exclude certain roles or skills.SDR NOT “Sales manager”
() ParenthesisWhen you wish to combine previous operations.Sales (Representative OR Manager)
“” QuotationsWhen your search term is composed of two or more consecutive words.“Sales Manager” OR “Customer Representative”
- Minus symbolAlternative way to exclude.“Sales Manager” -“Customer Support”
* AsteriskIf you wish to search for different phrases with one core word.Customer* AND Sales*
inurl:To find a URL that matches a specific keyword.Inurl:marketing site:linkedin.com
intitle:When you wish to find the exact job title in the work experience section or headline.site:linkedin.com intitle:analyst

Using LinkedIn Xray search to find leads or candidates from certain countries

We’ve covered operators that you can use for your LinkedIn Xray search. However, we still have one ace in our hands. And it is called finding leads or candidates from specific countries. Now, this is where it gets interesting. If, for example, you are a recruiter and wish to find an ideal candidate who will work from the office, you can use one of the two following methods:

1) By using country prefixes.

To differentiate the countries and their users, LinkedIn uses country prefixes in their domain. So you can help yourself with these codes while performing a LinkedIn Xray search. Keep in mind that you should check which country codes are active on LinkedIn. 

String example to search people in Germany:

site:de.linkedin.com/in “Project Manager” AND “Project Coordinator”

2) By including the country as a keyword.

This method is a lot easier. You can simply include country, city, or region name as a keyword in your search string. This way, Google will present the profiles that mention that name anywhere in the profile. 

String example:

site:linkedin.com/in “Sales Representative” Copenhagen OR Oslo


How to create LinkedIn Xray search strings with Boolean operators?

Let’s piece everything we learned so far into a couple of beautiful search strings. 

Say, for example, you wish to find a person who is CEO, lives in Dallas, and works in the financial industry. That said, your search string will look something like this:

site:linkedin.com/in "Dallas" AND "Finance" intitle:CEO

Now, let’s run it in the Google search bar.


Image of LinkedIn Xray search string with Boolean operators pasted in Google

Sometimes, it happens that you notice a discrepancy in the search results. For example, looking at our previous search results, you can see that Google showed people who also worked in a company whose name starts with Dallas. You can avoid this easily by specifying your search string a bit more. Here is an example

site:linkedin.com/in "Dallas, Texas" AND "Finance" intitle:CEO

Apart from being fun, search strings entirely depend on who you wish to find in the given moment. So go ahead, take all the operators for a stroll, and find your buyer persona or ideal candidate.


Search string generators for the LinkedIn Xray

If creating a LinkedIn Xray search string on your own is not your thing, then we have great news for you - You don’t need to. In other words, you can simply use one of many Xray search string generators and watch the magic unfold before your eyes. 

Using these tools, you won’t have to bother with operators, as they will do it for you. Thus, you only need to import the job title, keywords, or country you wish to see in your search. 

There are only a couple of Google query generators on the market, and the ones we found useful are:

In addition, if you notice tools such as Free People Search Tool or Recruitment Geek, be on the lookout. These tools behave like the browser. 

The upside is that these tools will search only for the LinkedIn profiles, and some of them will show you the publicly available pictures in search results. However, the downside is that they will only show 10 profiles per page, and there are only 10 pages. Thus, you are better off searching on the Google wish query string, to begin with.


How to use search query generator?

So, how would you use a query generator tool? We will take Recruit’em as an example since we found it the most user-friendly and easy to use. Here is what the Recruit'em interface looks when you open it up.


Image of LinkedIn Xray search query generator interface

Firstly, select the desired country from the drop-down menu. Continue with the job title. If, for example, you wish to find a sales manager, but also similar jobs like sales executive, then mark Show similar jobs box. In addition, if you don’t want your search results to show sales assistants, then write Assistant in the exclusion field

Lastly, import the additional keywords with commas to separate them and narrow down the search. We will take SaaS as an example. 

After you finish, the setup will look like this. 


Image of LinkedIn Xray search query generator setup

Next, click the Find the right people on the LinkedIn button, and you will get your search query URL.


Image of LinkedIn Xray Search String generated example

Lastly, click the Open in Google button, and see your search results. 


Image of how to use LinkedIn Xray search string in Google example, and find the right lead or candidate

Magic! 

Now there is one hack if you wish to find emails from people in the search results. All you need to do is specify google.com or another email provider website as your keyword. 


Image of how to setup LinkedIn Xray search query to find emails

And these will be the search results where email addresses are publicly available.


Image of Google search results to find email addresses using LinkedIn Xray

However, finding and scraping publicly available email addresses can be tedious. Therefore, we will show you an easier way of doing so further below. 

Also, be sure to check out our blog on 8 Ways To Find Someone’s Email Address.  


You found the right people. Now what?


Finding these profiles using Linkedin Xray is a nice hack. You can get to a wider talent or prospect pool, especially if you recruit or do business on the global market. However, whether we’d like to admit it or not, a LinkedIn Xray search is manual work, and it is time-consuming enough. Now imagine you need to outreach them manually, as well. It would be tiresome, don’t you think?

Good news! You don’t have to. You can use Skylead, a sales engagement tool, to do the work for you. Here is how you can do it.

Firstly, save all the LinkedIn profiles in one CSV file. You can, of course, do this manually, but why would you? 🙂 You can simply use a scraper tool, such as Data Miner, to automatically pick up all LinkedIn profile links.

In addition, do not forget to use different variables so you can send hyper-personalized messages on autopilot. Here is our video tutorial on how you can prepare your CSV file.



Skylead campaign creation

After you create your CSV file, it's time to generate leads on LinkedIn, so go to Skylead, your daily outreach partner. Once there, click the Create new campaign button to start the setup. 


Image of Skylead dashboard and what to click to create new campaign

Secondly, select the CSV type of campaign and import your CSV file. When you finish, click next. In addition, if collecting the data in a CSV file is not your thing, you can always search for prospects or candidates on LinkedIn and opt-in for the LinkedIn, Recruiter, or Sales Navigator Search Results campaign.


Image of Skylead campaign creation from CSV file that contains profiles found via LinkedIn Xray

Next, choose your campaign details, such as the start and end date of the campaign. Then click the Next button.


Image of Skylead campaign setup

Speaking of magic, here is where it happens. This is Skyleads’ ground-breaking Smart sequence. Smart Sequences allow you to create and execute different scenarios to interact with your prospect or potential employee based on their behavior. In addition, you can add as many steps as you need, and the algorithm will do all the work for you.

In addition, remember when we talked about finding the publicly available email addresses? Here is how Skylead can find them on autopilot. Take the Email discovery & Verification step and drop it in a sequence. This way, when Skylead gets to that step, it will find business email addresses. And if it verifies them successfully, you will be able to multichannel your outreach and send your target group email, as well.


Image of Smart Sequence in Skylead and Email & Verification step

When you set all your steps, click the Start campaign button, and you are done! All you need to do now is sit back, relax and watch your effort come to fruition. 


Image of CTA banner 2 for Skylead salesbook - ready-to-use outreach template that can be applied to our LinkedIn automation and cold email software


Frequently asked questions


How can businesses or recruiters measure the success and effectiveness of their LinkedIn Xray search campaigns in finding the right candidates or prospects?

Businesses or recruiters can measure the success of LinkedIn Xray search campaigns by tracking key metrics such as the response rate to outreach messages, the number of qualified candidates or leads identified, interview schedules resulting from searches, and ultimately, the conversion rate from prospect to hired candidate or successful sale.


Are there specific examples of how different industries can apply LinkedIn Xray search for targeted prospecting or recruiting?

Different industries, like tech for sourcing software engineers with specific skills, healthcare for identifying professionals with rare certifications, or sales for finding key decision-makers within target organizations, can use LinkedIn Xray search to pinpoint niche talent or prospects effectively.


What are the ethical considerations to keep in mind while using LinkedIn Xray search to avoid being perceived as intrusive by potential connections?

Ethical considerations include respecting the privacy and preferences of LinkedIn users, using information obtained from Xray searches responsibly, and ensuring outreach is relevant and not overly aggressive, to maintain professionalism and avoid being intrusive.


In conclusion

We cannot ignore that LinkedIn has very useful filters, whether we talk about Recruiter or Sales Navigator filters

Nevertheless, if you would like to reach and find more people than what LinkedIn has to offer in their search results or those out of your network, then LinkedIn Xray is a perfect solution. 

Now, it is always better to create your own string to be as detailed as possible and get the most precise search results. Practice makes it perfect, so test different strings as much as possible. However, if you think that this approach is not for you, you can always use tools that will work just as well.

Speaking of tools that do the work for you, you don’t have to do outreach alone. That is why Skylead, your trusted partner, is here. With just a few clicks and a ground-breaking sequence, you can reach out to your ideal candidates or prospects on autopilot. So, all you need to do is focus on closing more deals or hiring the right candidate.

Wish to learn more about how Skylead can:

Then, try it out using 7-day Free Trial


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Everyone is talking about the Social Selling Index and with good reason. LinkedIn SSI score came into our lives to explain and answer our questions like why my posts have fewer impressions, what I am doing wrong in my outreach, and how my LinkedIn profile can get more integrity in the eyes of the algorithm. Moreover, social selling leaders have 45% more sales opportunities than the ones with a lower LinkedIn SSI score.

That said, if you haven’t already, it’s best to jump into this story and boost your LinkedIn SSI score immediately. However, if you don’t know where to start or what to improve first, don’t despair. We are here to give you tips and pointers from our first-hand experience on improving your LinkedIn SSI score and making this platform work to your advantage.


What is the LinkedIn SSI score? 

Social Selling Index is LinkedIn’s measurement of how effective you and your profile are at building your brand. In other words, finding the right people, engaging with insights, and establishing relationships.


Users with a higher LinkedIn SSI score are better positioned to become thought leaders, do LinkedIn lead generation and therefore more likely to succeed in closing the deal. This is LinkedIn’s way of awarding those with high social selling skills.


Where to find LinkedIn SSI score? 

SSI is available to everyone, whether using a free or paid LinkedIn account. (If you are not sure where to find it, copy and paste this 👉 www.linkedin.com/sales/ssi in your browser’s search engine. Go ahead and check it. This is your first step towards knowing what you are doing right and what needs a little extra push. 

This is what you can expect. 


Social Selling Index LinkedIn, How Social Selling Page Looks On LinkedIn

Founded on the above four sections, LinkedIn SSI score shows your success as a salesperson and how effectively you are using the platform. 

Each of the segments can grow up to 25 points, with the total score anywhere between 0 and 100. This implies that all four sections are equally valued when measuring your Social Selling Index on LinkedIn.


Tips to increase LinkedIn SSI score


Tip #1: Complete your LinkedIn profile

If you want to boost your personal brand and Social Selling Index, you need to first complete your LinkedIn profile.

Yes, your personal brand starts with a neat and complete LinkedIn profile. The way you communicate with your leads, the way you nurture them, the type of content you post, they all add up. But first and foremost, your profile. 

It’s just like in the real world. It takes only a few seconds for someone to form the first impression. And they get attracted or rejected by your looks, not your brains. Sorry, it’s just the way it works. 

That said, there are many steps that you can follow to improve the Social Selling Index pillar #1 “Establish your professional brand”. Here is what we did and saw an immediate increase in SSI:

While striving to fully complete your LinkedIn profile, always have in mind the keywords you would like to be connected with and searched by. Just like you are optimizing your content to show up on Google, you are optimizing yourself to show up in your leads’ search engines. 

If you’re still unsure how to set up your entire profile, check out our masterclass. 👇


Set up your LinkedIn profile compete guide banner with text: Earn the LinkedIn all-star status


Tip #2 Find the right people

Speaking of search engines, who is showing up in yours? 

As mentioned above, LinkedIn was created to suit business needs. Not personal. Read that again. 

Don’t invite people to connect because you like their looks. There are other platforms designed for that. 

For you to improve the LinkedIn SSI score pillar #2 “Find the right people”, focus on expanding your network according to the following parameters: 

Fortunately for all of us, LinkedIn has developed plans, each of them with different perks, depending on what you’re expecting from the platform. 

LinkedIn Premium Business, for example, has the same filtering options as LinkedIn basic. However, it does give you unlimited profile search and views, together with 15 Paid and 800 free monthly LinkedIn InMail credits. 

On the other hand, Sales Navigator, designed in particular for salespeople, has numerous other options that will make your life easier while searching for that perfect lead. Aside from Sales Navigator advanced filters, it has Lead Lists, Saved Searches, and 20 Paid and 800 free monthly InMail credits. 

You can improve the quality of your network and leads by: 


Tip #3 Engage with insights

Don’t just stand there looking good. Say something. Post on LinkedIn and share your vision with the community. Don’t be afraid to speak up, as the world is full of people thinking differently. Luckily for you, there is plenty of fish in the sea and you will for sure find like-minded users. If that’s what’s worrying you. 

For the LinkedIn algorithm to like you and for your Social Selling Index pillar #3 “Engage with insights” to grow, you need to: 

LinkedIn SSI score is not the only one benefiting from your engagement with insights. 

LinkedIn pushes people who give value to the platform by sharing their insights, encouraging constructive criticism, and starting meaningful conversations. These users come up in the search results more often and get more exposure in comparison to inactive users. 

That said, make every post count. From our experience, here is what made a difference:

By engaging with insights, you are telling people who you are and what you stand for. Consequently, you will start being surrounded by like-minded people. 

A LinkedIn post can be an excellent source of leads. People who react and comment on a certain topic from your or your target industry are apparently interested in the subject. And are all gathered at one place. Whether picking them manually or scraping all of them by using a Sales Solutions, such as Skylead, making a reference to a certain post is a serious game-changer when it comes to acceptance rates. 


Tip #4 Expand network and create relationships

You can have 500+ connections and not stand for a particularly “engaging” member of the LinkedIn community. 

If you just had a LinkedIn profile long enough and behaved professionally you are likely to have gathered quite a lot of connections. There you go. But that doesn’t help the LinkedIn algorithm nor it grows your LinkedIn SSI score. 

For you to improve pillar #4 “Establish relationships”, do the following: 

Hey {{firstName}}, 

I loved your {{topic}} post and followed every advice. So far, I have achieved {{achievedResult}}. Thank you so much! I would love to connect and exchange some experiences! 

Briefly, you cannot go wrong with making a pleasant social interaction. In addition, what we found worked like magic was incorporating personalized images & GIFs in the outreach. It even increased our response rate to 63%.


Tip #5 Analyze LinkedIn SSI score and improve

Once you start improving your SSI, the job is not done. You need to keep track of your Social Selling Index score, analyze it and see what area you need to improve. From our experience, experimenting with different social selling strategies and monitoring your SSI changes usually does the trick. 


Frequently asked questions


How frequently does LinkedIn update the SSI score, and can changes in my activities impact my score immediately?

LinkedIn updates the Social Selling Index (SSI) score daily, reflecting changes in user activities almost in real time. Engaging consistently in recommended activities—like making connections, sharing content, and interacting on the platform—can positively impact your score, demonstrating the dynamic nature of SSI.


Are there any known limitations or criticisms of the LinkedIn SSI score as a metric for evaluating social selling effectiveness?

The LinkedIn SSI score, while useful, is not without criticisms. Some argue it may not fully capture the quality of social selling efforts or the depth of relationships built. It's a quantitative metric that might overlook the qualitative aspects of networking and sales effectiveness.


How can companies or teams collectively improve their LinkedIn SSI scores, and does LinkedIn offer insights or tools for group performance enhancement?

Companies can improve their collective LinkedIn SSI scores by encouraging consistent, strategic activity on the platform, including content sharing, engaging with connections, and endorsing skills. LinkedIn does offer analytics and insights for company pages, which can guide teams in enhancing their overall social selling performance.

To sum up

In real life, you make sure you look professional, your network at events, you are kind and genuinely interested in other people, and you stand behind your values and opinions. Hopefully. 

That’s LinkedIn in a nutshell. Just online. 

If finding the right people and nurturing relationships is something you would like to take to another level, then start a 7-day Free Trial and see how Skylead can save you 11+ hours a day while generating 10 times more leads.


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How many content writers does it take to change a lightbulb?

Doesn’t matter, the head of marketing will change it anyway. 

Jokes aside, the answer is - none. Because content writers don’t like to change anything. 

Plus, the light bulbs don’t really change, they’re replaced. 

I’ll stop now. 

Ok, maybe your first thought was not to add me to your LinkedIn network after reading my cringe jokes, but you would be surprised how well people react to humor in outreach. So, if you ever wondered what the best way to expand your network is or how to outreach the leads you found via prospecting on LinkedIn, then industry-related jokes in your Connection Request Messages, LinkedIn InMails, or LinkedIn Messages are definitely top of the list. 

A good industry-related joke not only helps your acceptance and response rates, but also creates a positive first impression between the two. I personally tend to use them in my Connection Request Messages, but they can be a great conversation starter in messages for LinkedIn lead generation as well. 

Since I know how hard it is to find industry-related jokes, I decided to do a little research for you and put them all in one place. This way I want to make using humor to expand your network on LinkedIn a little bit less time-consuming and to encourage you to get bold and creative in your outreach. 


Expand your network: How to use humor in outreach? 

As mentioned before, a good joke finds its place anywhere you want. Use it to connect with other LinkedIn members, to start a conversation, or to make a hook for a potential business proposal in an InMail

There are multiple ways to use an industry-related joke in your outreach.


Example #1

Use the joke as the opener when networking on LinkedIn.


Image of message example using joke in LinkedIn outreach

Example #2

Use the joke as the opener, but add a personal note to it.


Image of example message using humor in cold outreach

Example #3

Make the joke part of your hyper-personalized message to expand your network on LinkedIn.


Image of example message using humor in LinkedIn outreach

Here is the list of jokes for:

that you can use right away or combine them in your outreach. 


Dos and Don’ts when using humor to expand your network


DOS 


DON’TS


Jokes for salespeople 

Expand your network on LinkedIn by incorporating these sales jokes in your LinkedIn Connection Request Messages, Messages, or InMails.

Sales Joke #1 

Always trust a glue salesman.

They tend to stick to their word. 

Sales Joke #2

How do salespeople traditionally greet each other? 

Hi. Nice to meet you. I’m better than you. 

Sales Joke #3

What did the horrible buyer say to the salesperson who had a 24h deadline? 

Give me another week to think about it. 

Sales Joke #4

What salesman has the slickest line?

A hair grease salesman.

Sales Joke #5

How many salespeople does it take to change a light bulb?

None. You don't need a new light bulb - you need to upgrade your socket to the newest version. 


Jokes for marketers

Expand your network on LinkedIn by incorporating these marketing jokes in your LinkedIn Connection Request Messages, Messages or LinkedIn InMails.

Marketing Joke #1

How did Yoda get his first lead?

He used the SalesForce. 

Marketing Joke #2

What is the safest place to hide a body? 

The second page of Google.

Marketing Joke #3

Why did the marketing couple break up?

They weren’t on the same landing page. 

OR 

Lack of engagement

Marketing Joke #4 

How many marketers does it take to screw in a light bulb?

None – they’ve automated it.

Marketing Joke #5 

Why don’t marketer’s like trampolines?

They’re scared of high bounce rates.

Marketing Joke #6

How do SEO experts celebrate improved search rankings?

SERP-rise parties.

Marketing Joke #7

Why do digital marketers love to shop at Whole Foods?

They have a lot of organic content.

Marketing Joke #8 

What’s a marketer’s favorite drink?

Brand-y.

Marketing Joke #9 

What’s a pirate’s favorite type of content?

A webinAAARRRR!

Marketing Joke #10

What does the SEO professional see when they see twins?

Duplicated content.

Marketing Joke #11

Why do SEO experts love driving during peak hours?

They appreciate the traffic.

Marketing Joke #12

An SEO copywriter walks into a bar, bars, tavern, pub, pubs, public house, Irish, bartender, drinks, beer, wine, liquor.


Jokes for managers

Expand your network on LinkedIn by incorporating these management jokes in your LinkedIn Connection Request Messages, Messages, or InMails.

Management Joke #1 

What is the hardest part of being a product manager? 

Explaining what you do to your parents and friends. 

Management Joke #2

How many managers does it take to change a light bulb?

A roomful - they have to hold a meeting to discuss all the ramifications of the change.

Management Joke #3

Don’t stand around doing nothing. 

People will think you’re the manager. 

Management Joke #4

How many project managers does it take to change a lightbulb? 

None, they are all still discussing the best way to do it.

Management Joke #5 

A product manager walks into a bar. 

It isn't what he expected so he immediately blames development for no reason.


Jokes for developers 

Expand your network on LinkedIn by incorporating these software engineer jokes in youConnection Request Messages, Messages, or InMails.

Developer Joke #1

Why did the front-end developer buy the flat under his?

He always wanted a sub-domain.

Developer Joke #2

A developer’s wife asks him - Would you go to the store and pick up a loaf of bread? And if they have eggs, get a dozen.

The developer returns home with 12 loaves of bread. They had eggs, he explained. 

Developer Joke #3

Why do programmers always mix up Christmas and Halloween?

Because Dec 25 is Oct 31.

Developer Joke #4

If doctors were like software engineers, they would say things like “Have you tried killing yourself and being reborn?”

Developer Joke #5

A developer is a tool that transforms caffeine into code. 

Developer Joke #6

Give a man a program, frustrate him for a day. 

Teach a man to program, frustrate him for a lifetime.

Developer Joke #7

Software undergoes beta testing shortly before it’s released. 

Beta is Latin for 'still doesn’t work’. 

Developer Joke #8 

What do you call a software wizard that installs applications?

The Wizard of OS.

Developer Joke #9

What's the difference between a junior software engineer and a senior software engineer?

A senior software engineer writes wrong code faster.


Jokes for customer support specialists 

Expand your network on LinkedIn by incorporating these CSS jokes in your LinkedIn Connection Request Messages, Messages or InMails.

CSS Joke #1 

Evil queens are just Disney princesses who worked in Customer Support too long. 

CSS Joke #2

Those who say “there is no such thing as a stupid question” obviously never worked in Customer Care. 

CSS Joke #3

Anyone who ever said that “the customer is always right” has never worked in Tech Customer Support. 

CSS Joke #4

Customer Service is like…

If you understand English, press 1.

If you do not understand English, press 2.


Frequently asked questions


How effective are humorous templates across various industries, especially in more conservative fields?

Humorous templates' effectiveness varies across industries. In conservative fields, they may be less appropriate. Tailoring the humor to suit the industry's tone can improve reception.


What are the best practices for personalizing jokes to ensure they resonate well with specific audiences or sectors?

Personalizing humor involves understanding the recipient's background, industry norms, and possibly their company culture to ensure the joke aligns with their professional environment.


Are there examples of negative reactions or feedback to consider when using humor in professional outreach?

Negative reactions to humor in professional outreach are possible, especially if the humor is misinterpreted or deemed unprofessional. It's crucial to balance humor with professionalism and consider the potential for diverse interpretations.


Summary 

Jokes that you use in your outreach or in real life quickly impact your personal brand image and reputation, for good or bad. Ideally, whoever you talk to shares your sense of humor and can understand a light-hearted critique of the industry. 

As mentioned above, here we’ve listed jokes that you can use right away for:

Be bold in your outreach. It will for sure pay off. 

And for the end: 

How many marketers does it take to generate 10 times more leads in less time? 

None, they use Skylead


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If you send a connection request to someone but fail to follow up with something as simple as Thank you for connecting on LinkedIn, you will almost certainly be forgotten about in a matter of hours. Maybe even seconds.  

It doesn’t mean that your professional experience and what you do matter less. It’s just, that we are being bombarded with so much content, social media interaction, and trivial, everyday things, all of which easily draw our attention away from anything that doesn’t capture instant interest. 

That’s why sending an original and well-timed Thank you for connecting on LinkedIn and using its benefits later. In many cases, this practice turned out to improve your visibility, and therefore crucial for further communication and even collaboration. 

We’ve put together this blog with keeping in mind all of this. Hence, here are:


What makes a good Thank you for connecting message on LinkedIn? [4 Best practices]


Keep it short 

And sweet. No need to write War and Peace. It’s enough to thank them for accepting your invite and to expand on what you wrote in your LinkedIn connection request message (‘cause you didn’t just send a blank note, did you?).

We’ll elaborate on what to write after that simple Thank you for connecting contained in pretty much every message and how to personalize it to strengthen your business relationship.  


Don’t try to sell 

Ohhhh, this is a big no-no. The only thing worse than trying to sell when thanking someone for connecting in a LinkedIn message is doing so in a connection request. Use this occasion to start a conversation that later can lead to sales instead. Check out the ‘Templates section’ below to get inspired. 


Make it about the lead 

Don’t introduce yourself in a conventional way - ‘Hi, my name is…’ and then talk exclusively about your business and professional successes. Don’t force your product or your services. Instead, shift your attention to asking meaningful questions about your lead, and get off to the right start. You’ll have plenty of time to sell. And successfully. 


Focus on the value

Following up on the previously said, show your lead that they can benefit from you in some way. If that transition doesn’t come smoothly, you can speak about how you can mutually benefit from each other. Show them what problems and challenges you can potentially solve and they will, if nothing else, for sure appreciate the effort.


Thank you for connecting on LinkedIn: 12 Templates 

Sure, today we have Chat GPT, and you might think that it could give you all the answers on how to thank someone for connecting on LinkedIn

We are not against AI, we actually encourage everyone to use ChatGPT for sales (we’ve put prompt examples too!). So, copy & paste our templates, or use them as prompts to make Chat GPT inspired in the right direction. 

However, we will share some of the best-performing LinkedIn Thank you for connecting messages that our Head of Sales, Andrea, uses in her everyday communication for more effective LinkedIn lead generation

Hopefully, these will get you inspired to include this kind of practice in your LinkedIn lead generation routine.  


After connecting with members you don’t know personally

Option #1 to send a Thank you message on LinkedIn

Example

Hey Sonia,

Thank you for accepting my invitation.

I don’t believe we met in person.

As someone open to networking and building new business relationships, I just wanted to greet you, check in with you regarding the challenges you are facing, and see how we both might benefit from this connection.

Have a great day!

Template 

Hey {{firstName}},

Thank you for accepting my invitation.

I don’t believe we met in person.

As someone open to networking and building new business relationships, I just wanted to greet you, check in with you regarding the challenges you are facing, and see how we both might benefit from this connection. 

Have a great day! 


Option #2 to send a Thank you message on LinkedIn

If you want to make an extra effort, which usually pays off, create a personalized Image or GIF to thank someone for connecting on LinkedIn. It could improve your response rate by over 20% (word! We’ve tested it out!) 

Skylead’s native Image & GIF personalization is available to all our users, at no additional cost, and without ever leaving the software dashboard. 

The example below was used as a Thank you message which was part of the sequence Target specific group members

The sequence scored 53% in acceptance rate, 27% in reply rate, and 73% in open rate.


Glad To E-Meet You, Personalized GIF, Skylead Image & GIF Personalization feature

After connecting with members you met an event 


Example 

Hey Johnny,

Thank you for accepting my invitation.

Once again, it was a pleasure chatting with you at ‘Entrepreneurs Roundtable: The 411 on SEO and Google Analytics - What’s working now?’.

I would really like to continue the conversation we had at the event regarding the SEO tactics your company used to improve its blog ranking from the 3rd page of Google to the top 3 rated in the sales industry. So much to say so little time!

Let’s chat here or schedule a call, let’s say next Thursday around 2 pm.

How does that sound?

Template 

Hey {{firstName}},

Thank you for accepting my invitation.

Once again, it was a pleasure chatting with you at {{eventName}}. 

I would really like to continue the conversation we had at the event regarding {{topic}}. So much to say so little time! 

Let’s chat here or schedule a call, let’s say {{day&time}}. 

How does that sound? 


After connecting with someone you have a mutual connection with 

Example  

Hello Jamie,

In the spirit of networking, I would like to hear more about you and also introduce myself.

You are the Head of Sales at FlyProject, aren't you?

I know several people from there, do you know Matthew Stone?

Btw, thanks for connecting with me!

Template 

Hello Jamie, 

In the spirit of networking, I would like to hear more about you and also introduce myself. 

You are {{occupation}} at {{company}}, aren't you? I know several people from there, do you know {{mutualConnection’sFullName}}? 

Btw, thanks for connecting with me!


If you wish to offer help to your new connections 

Example  

Hello Josh,

Thanks for accepting my invitation.

I am delighted to connect with you.

I would like you to let me know if there’s anything I can do to assist you with. It would be my pleasure!

Have a fabulous day!

Template

Hello {{firstName}},

Thanks for accepting my invitation. I am delighted to connect with you. 

I would like you to let me know if there’s anything I can do to assist you with. It would be my pleasure!

Have a fabulous day! 


Providing value for your connections as a way to thank someone for connecting on LinkedIn

Example 

Hello Mark,

It’s great to be part of your network!

As I mentioned earlier, I recently wrote a blog that might help you with the problem you expressed in the ‘Startup Specialists’ Group.

I actually had the same issue with developing internal processes since we were growing pretty fast as a startup. This experience inspired me to write a series of blogs on the topic. Maybe it will help you figure out where to start.

Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.

Template 

Hello {{firstName}},

It’s great to be part of your network! 

As I mentioned earlier, I recently wrote a blog that might help you with the problem you expressed in {{groupName}}. I actually had the same issue with {{issue}}. This experience inspired me to write a series of blogs on the topic. Maybe it will help you figure out where to start. 

Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with. 


Introduce them to someone from your network to thank them for connecting on LinkedIn

Example 

Hey Steve,

Thanks for connecting on LinkedIn. I would like to know more about you and your business. If there’s anything I can help you with or introduce you to someone in my network, please let me know.

Kind Regards,

Jim

Template

Hey {{firstName}},

Thanks for connecting on LinkedIn. I would like to know more about you and your business. If there’s anything I can help you with or introduce you to someone in my network, please let me know. 

Kind Regards, 

{{yourName}}


Show genuine interest in your lead’s work  

Example 

Hi Selena,

Thank you for accepting my invitation. I am looking forward to learning more about your business expertise.

Please have a look at my connections and if there is someone you would like to be introduced to I am happy to make the connection. I am here to make meaningful connections because I deeply believe in networking!

Thanks again for your acceptance, and if you have any questions for me, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Best regards!

Template 

Hi {{firstName}},

Thank you for accepting my invitation. I am looking forward to learning more about your business expertise. 

Please have a look at my connections and if there is someone you would like to be introduced to I am happy to make the connection. 

I am here to make meaningful connections because I deeply believe in networking! Thanks again for your acceptance, and if you have any questions for me, please don’t hesitate to reach out. 

Best regards!


After connecting with someone whose content you read 

Example 

Hey Michelle,

I am so glad to be part of your network! Thank you for accepting my invitation.

As mentioned in my previous message, your last post on the importance of employee branding really resonated with me, especially the part where you say that ‘employee branding is not only about the people who already work at your company, but also about the professionals that apply for jobs and their recruiting experience”. It really made me revise the entire recruitment process.

Again, thanks for accepting my invite to connect, and I really hope we’ll have the chance to chat in the future.

Have a great day!

Template 

Hey {{firstName}},

I am so glad to be part of your network! Thank you for accepting my invitation. 

As mentioned in my previous message, your last post on {{postTopic}} really resonated with me, especially the part {{quoteParagraphThatResonated}}. It really made me revise {{whichPartOfYourBusiness}}.

Again, thanks for accepting my invite to connect, and I really hope we’ll have the chance to chat in the future. 

Have a great day! 


Use email to thank them for connecting on LinkedIn

In some cases, email conversation is more in line with your business outreach strategy or it’s your lead’s preferred channel of communication. For the sake of higher engagement and response rates, you can thank them for connecting on LinkedIn via email. Additionally, email outreach can be beneficial for starting sales-oriented conversations. 

Example

Hello Mark,

I just wanted to thank you for accepting my LinkedIn Connection Request here as well in case you prefer email communication.

Anyways, I love the question you recently posted in the Digital Marketers group regarding the optimal content posting schedule to draw traffic to your website. I actually wrote an article covering that topic in particular, I’ll just leave you a link here.

However, if you need a more personalized and thorough insight, we can schedule a call and meet up, let’s say next Wednesday at 3pm. How does that sound?

Thank you once again for accepting my Connection Request on LinkedIn.

Best,

Matt

Template

Hello {{firstName}},

I just wanted to thank you for accepting my LinkedIn Connection Request here as well in case you prefer email communication. 

{{yourSalesPitch}}

Thank you once again for accepting my Connection Request on LinkedIn. 

Best,

{{yourName}}


‘Break the ice’ by congratulating them on their success in the LinkedIn Thank you for connecting message

Example

Hey Sharlane,

Thanks for accepting my Connection Request!

Once again, congratulations on your promotion to the Head of Growth at Jumbos. I am always excited to see professionals with such enviable backgrounds progress and hold decision-making positions.

Let’s keep in touch.

Template 

Hey {{firstName}},

Thanks for accepting my Connection Request! 

Once again, congratulations on your promotion to {{occupation}} at {{company}}. I am always excited to see professionals with such enviable backgrounds progress and hold decision-making positions. 

Let’s keep in touch. 


Show genuine interest in a shared experience

Example 

Hey Marissa, 

Thanks for connecting! 

Btw, I noticed you also worked at Johnsons & Parker. I spent a couple of years there too, it was probably one of the best work experiences I’ve had. 

What about you, did you like it? 

Anyway, glad to be in your network!

Template

Hey {{firstName}},

Thanks for connecting! 

{{ReferenceToASharedExperience}}

Anyway, glad to be in your network!


Hyper-personalize your Thank you for connecting messages at scale [and more]

Skylead is a LinkedIn automation tool and cold email software that allows you to combine LinkedIn automation, unlimited Email automation, Email verification & discovery, and Image & GIF personalization into Smart sequences to help you save time, resources, and money while booking 3x more meetings than before. 

Also, at the same time, you can hyper-personalize your outreach at scale thanks to Skylead’s native and custom placeholders. It is just one of many ways our SDR, Pavle, does it to increase her reply rates. 

So, how does Andrea apply all of the above to send Thank you for connecting on LinkedIn to start a sales-oriented conversation?

Let’s say, you’ve done your research on LinkedIn, and you have a CSV file containing (at least) your leads’ LinkedIn URLs. At first, this LinkedIn lead generation technique can seem like a lot of manual work but it pays off. Also, Skylead is there to take care of the outreach automation, which will for sure recuperate (and earn you) lots of time! 

So, once you’ve added leads in a Google Sheets file, add a column named ‘thankyou’ (aside from regular columns such as name, surname, LinkedIn profile URL, business email, or similar). 

Your ‘thankyou’ column should contain a personalized paragraph for each lead. This way, you can insert the personalized paragraph that is different for each lead into a message outline that is, on the other hand, the same for all leads. 


How To Hyper-personalize Your Outreach Using Google Sheets And Skylead

This is what your message will look like in Skylead, as part of the Smart sequence.


How To Hyper-personalize Your Outreach Using Google Sheets And Skylead, smart sequence example

And this is how your user would see this message on LinkedIn. 


How To Hyper-personalize Your Outreach Using Google Sheets And Skylead, LinkedIn message example

Summary

Sending a thoughtful Thank you for connecting on LinkedIn not only demonstrates your appreciation for becoming part of someone’s network but also becomes a strategic step

Now, imagine enhancing this strategy even further with Skylead, our cutting-edge outreach tool, which you can try for 7 days for FREE starting today!  

Our support team will help you at any step of the way, and make sure you use Skylead to its fullest potential to elevate your networking game, amplify your engagement, and turn connections into valuable opportunities!


Launch your first outreach campaign today!
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Did you know that LinkedIn lead generation is one of the most vital activities for the sales departments of B2B companies?

“Why?” you ask.

Well, because LinkedIn is the #1 social media for generating leads. Its lead conversion rates are 3x higher than any other major social media platform. Moreover, LinkedIn alone generates 80% of B2B leads coming from all social media channels a company uses.

We can go on with the metrics, but you get the gist. LinkedIn is one of the best social media platforms for generating tons of qualified leads that convert successfully.

Sadly, many people do not take advantage of this social media platform. Or they do not have the desired results using LinkedIn lead generation and just give up. 

So, in this complete guide, we will walk you through everything you need to know about LinkedIn lead generation. To be more precise, you will learn: 


Let's do this LinkedIn lead generation meme

What Is LinkedIn Lead Generation?

LinkedIn lead generation represents activities associated with identifying, gathering, and warming up potential clients on LinkedIn. Sales and marketing teams do so by using ads, forms, various tools, strategies, and outreach to generate qualified leads. It is an ongoing process that creates steady income for all B2B companies.

Why LinkedIn?

With the competitive market, generating high-quality leads has become somewhat of a challenge for B2B companies. Thus everyone needed to step up their lead generation efforts to stay relevant in the market.

That is where LinkedIn comes in. With 875 million members from 200+ countries, this #1 social media for professionals became a goldmine for B2B marketers and sales executives. 

Due to a large pool of professionals, 4 out of 5 LinkedIn users drive certain business decisions. Hence this audience has 2x buying power of the average web audience. Therefore, LinkedIn has been recognized as a perfect place where companies can find ideal leads and offer a solution to their problems. 

To make it easier for you to find the perfect lead, LinkedIn provides insights such as job titles, company they work in and its size, content they like and more. Moreover, this social media platform offers many ways sales and marketing teams can use to acquire qualified leads. So we will talk about all of them today.


How To Generate Leads From LinkedIn?

To generate high-quality leads on LinkedIn you need to perform different sales and marketing activities, leverage performance data, and improve. These activities include but are not limited to defining target audience, outreach, creating or sharing gated content, communicating benefits, and lead nurturing. 

Depending on whether you are a salesperson or B2B marketer these activities may vary but do have the same goal. So let’s break them down and check out what is the main focus for each professional.


LinkedIn Marketing For Lead Generation

LinkedIn marketing is a form of digital marketing where B2B marketers use LinkedIn to promote businesses, share content and generate leads. In most cases, marketing managers use LinkedIn to provide value and raise awareness through posting educational or gated content on the company page, thus generating more leads.

In other words, marketers use LinkedIn to:

As a part of their marketing strategy, some content marketers even become influencers or thought leaders themselves. This way, digital marketing managers can expand their network and have an additional channel to share their content. 

The previously-mentioned activities are heavily based on organic content marketing. However, as a part of LinkedIn marketing, you can get paid traffic, engagement or generate leads by publishing sponsored content, aka ad campaigns.


LinkedIn Ads

Digital marketers often publish sponsored content through the LinkedIn campaign manager as part of lead generation efforts. They do so by specifying their target audience with certain demographics or other parameters and presenting them with the purposeful ad they create. 

For example, they can create an ad campaign with a call-to-action button to visit a landing page with gated content. The target audience then goes to a landing page and leaves contact information. 

For those who don’t know, gated content is digital material, such as educational videos, ebooks, or other documents that request users to fill out a contact form before they can download or access them. This is one of the classic ways marketers use to generate leads. 

Therefore, to get their lead gen forms to a wider audience and gather potential customers for their sales team, digital marketers can opt-in for sponsored content on LinkedIn as a part of their marketing strategy.

What does this mean in terms of activities? Well, marketers can use LinkedIn campaign manager to:

They say a visual is worth more than a thousand words, so here is how sharing gated content or launching a lead generation campaign works in real life.


Example how using LinkedIn ads and gated content can generate leads

Even though LinkedIn ads are a part of overall LinkedIn marketing, they are not mandatory for LinkedIn lead generation, as you can do certain things organically. However, they can be immensely beneficial if you wish to go all in.

That said, here is what all LinkedIn marketing activities would look like in a funnel.


Image of LinkedIn lead generation funnel for marketers

Using LinkedIn Outreach For Lead Generation

LinkedIn outreach signifies contacting and warming up potential customers on LinkedIn. It is the next step in the lead generation process, once salespeople finish with LinkedIn prospecting or after the marketing team acquires contact information through gated content. LinkedIn is the preferred social media for outreach due to communication simplicity.

Salespeople can outreach two types of leads to generate and qualify them: inbound or outbound leads. Inbound leads are the ones who have already interacted with your company (e.g. gave their information due to lead generation strategy or contacted via chat). On the other hand, sales professionals outreach outbound leads by themselves after finding them via prospecting.

Outreach on LinkedIn is definitely a long and separate subject on its own. However, there are definitely a couple of main principles we must mention for the sake of this article.


LinkedIn Outreach Principles

Firstly, LinkedIn outreach is the main part of the social selling strategy. In other words, it focuses on building relationships, offering a solution to problems, and nurturing leads throughout the buying journey.  

For example, you will usually find sales professionals starting the conversation on LinkedIn by asking about the lead's workflow. Or they will offer educational content or case studies long before they pitch their product or service.

Secondly, LinkedIn outreach is about quality, not quantity. So make sure to find and outreach the right people according to your ICP or Buyer Persona.

Lastly, as marketing can retarget website visitors, salespeople can use retargeting of their own. To clarify, they can reach out to people they already had contact with in some shape or form and didn’t convert. The outreach message can be a simple follow up to catch up after a while or a full product update, depending on where they left off the conversation. 

With that in mind, here is a funnel with all the activities that sales people go through regarding LinkedIn lead generation.


Image of LinkedIn lead generation funnel activities for sales

If you do not have time to do the above-mentioned activities, you can always hire a LinkedIn lead generation agency to do it for you. However, if you wish to do it yourself, stay tuned as we will show you tips, tricks and strategies on how to do it right. 

What Do You Need to Do Before LinkedIn Lead Generation?

As previously stated, LinkedIn lead generation is undoubtedly the main focus for B2B companies. However, you can’t just dive right into LinkedIn lead generation without first establishing the basics.

If you do, you will generate a miserable number of leads and not the good ones either. The reason for such an outcome is poor LinkedIn lead generation basic steps, strategy, targeting, and outreach method. Luckily we will cover everything below.

Are you ready? We will start with what you need to do first. 


Create Highly Converting LinkedIn Profile

Before you start any LinkedIn lead generation activity, you must improve your LinkedIn profile and optimize it for conversions. If you do it thoroughly, it will stand out from other profiles and attract more people to visit it.

For example, your LinkedIn URL optimized for SEO and the LinkedIn headline created to boost LinkedIn lead generation will get you more profile views. Even a profile and LinkedIn cover photo can get you 14x more profile views. More visits will result in a lot more connection requests and engagements. 

Let’s take a look at this way. What profile photo captures your attention first in the following example?


Image of LinkedIn profiles that demonstrates the importance of fully set up LinkedIn profile for LinkedIn lead generation

We would guess that your answer is the lady with the orange background.

The reason she captured your attention is the fact that she implemented steps that more than 80% of LinkedIn users don’t. 


Set up your LinkedIn profile compete guide banner with text: Earn the LinkedIn all-star status


People are more prone to send you a connection request if they like your profile. Furthermore, they will accept your requests frequently. Thus, your success in generating new leads, acquiring new users, and even selling will increase significantly.

Marketers, this goes for the company’s LinkedIn page, as well. Set the high-quality logo as your profile picture, add a high-quality cover photo that mirrors your branding, and import as much info as possible. Lastly, don’t forget to optimize your LinkedIn public URL for SEO, as LinkedIn users and search engines will use it to find your page.


Image of LinkedIn company page URL optimization - example

So, to stand our case, optimizing your profile will improve the conversion rate. Thus, it is one of the most important first steps to successful LinkedIn lead generation.


Define Your ICP And Buyer Persona For LinkedIn Lead Generation

Ideal Customer Profile and Buyer Persona are complementary documents that define your perfect customer and their company. In other words, they contain lead specification variables such as job title, the industry they work in, company size, or location. 

You should create your ICP and Buyer Persona based on your current customer data. This way, these documents will contain what type of lead: 

If you do not define your ICP and Buyer Persona, you won’t be able to: 

In other words, you can’t do all these things because you don’t know who you are doing it for, to begin with. So be sure to define both to make your LinkedIn lead generation strategies more effective.


Become A Thought Leader

Here is an interesting fact for you. Did you know that many decision-makers, 54% of them to be more precise, claim they spend 1+ hour per week reading and reviewing thought-leadership content

Being someone others follow to discover more about their position-related news is one of the essential activities of LinkedIn lead generation. Keep in mind that being a thought leader is a continuous process. Once you get started with it, you need to be consistent to grow your network.

The best hook for any thought leader is offering valuable and actionable content to your network. Moreover, you will have better engagement if you add proof of success, for example, the exact results you achieved.

By offering a lot of valuable content, you’re earning people’s trust and building the image of an expert in your field. This will help you gain influence status in your market and get tons of leads through your posts. 

Whatsmore, you will connect with people on a much deeper level by being proactive and initiating different conversations based on your content.


How To Become Thought Leader?

Provide people with actionable steps to implement in their business. In addition, these steps should demonstrate your experience in improving your own or someone else’s business. Or, you could share stories about tools and strategies you used to get incredible results. 

To clarify the previously stated, let’s go through an example.


Post example demonstrating LinkedIn lead generation strategy through leadership

Why did this post work?

Firstly, the opening line promises a lot and entices readers to discover more about the story.

Secondly, the author showcases the astonishing results and what they could bring to anyone who follows the same steps.

Thirdly, by explaining how the content they share helped his company, the author provides the direct benefit and why people should read the document.

Lastly, they include an alluring CTA so people continue engaging with the post. Moreover, said CTA plays the main role in increasing this post’s tremendous reach (98,910 people).

How?

Well, this post uses the LinkedIn algorithm to its fullest potential. To clarify, when you publish a post, this is what the LinkedIn algorithm does:

That’s how the wider audience can see this post and engage with it. 

What the author asks of people who want to see the guide, in this case, is to first engage with the post by commenting on it. 

That’s why the post became viral. And not only did the post become viral, but it paved the way for network expansion and lead generation. All that from the post alone. Wow! 


Build Your Network And Relationships On LinkedIn

Being a thought leader is all nice and fun. However, you won’t get far unless you use this social media for what it truly is for: building a network and nurturing real relationships with other members. 

There is no workaround for this one. The only way to build a relationship with your network is to reach out and start a conversation with them (read between the lines - LinkedIn outreach). Talk about their work experience, and what they find most challenging or exchange tips. You can also have a digital coffee with them.

That said, establish a habit of finding new people to interact with each day. After all, from honest and good relationships, great customers are born. And that is Social Selling for you folks.


Create A Personalization Spreadsheet

Speaking of Social Selling, you should know that its backbone is actually personalization in communication. Nobody would want to talk to you if you appeared generic or dishonest. Thus, if you wish to do LinkedIn lead generation right, you need to first hyper-personalize your communication on this social media.

So, when you start generating leads on LinkedIn, you need to research what that person is all about so you can start a genuine conversation. The one thing that will help you keep organized in this detective work is a lead personalization spreadsheet. It is a simple yet effective document where you will gather everything about your leads, such as: 

Keep in mind that this spreadsheet functions as an actionable document you can use in your LinkedIn lead generation efforts. Don’t worry. We will explain how it actually becomes actionable, so stay tuned.  


Image of spreadsheet example with leads' information to personalize outreach

Understand Buying Signals When Doing LinkedIn Lead Generation

If we needed to label the urgency of what you should do before LinkedIn lead generation, this would be Very Urgent on our list. Why? Because marketing and sales change their approaches rapidly. So you must keep up with these changes to stay relevant in the market. 

To be more precise, you need to be aware of this change called buying signals. It is the activity that leads perform to indicate buying intention for a specific product or a service. Or a buying signal can be an event that has taken place within the company that changed the company’s needs. 

For example, a prospect can post about a service explaining their good or bad experience and demonstrate their (dis)satisfaction.

Content marketers and sales are already using buying signals to generate high-quality leads with specific intent because it is a way to faster and better conversion. Consequently, LinkedIn is no exception. 

For example, marketing may notice a buying signal if visitors from LinkedIn go to several pages and end up on a pricing page in one session. Marketing then can post sponsored content on LinkedIn, retargeting those who ended up on a pricing page with another highly-converting landing page.

The sales team, on the other hand, can notice a person liking a case study they shared. After checking if the person has interacted with the business in some other way, they will outreach them on LinkedIn to connect or follow up on the said topic. 

That is what is happening in sales and marketing at the moment. People are figuring out holistic high-intent and signal-based approaches, and you should be one of them. So if you plan to work on LinkedIn lead generation, first learn to detect these signals on LinkedIn and use them to their fullest potential.


Top LinkedIn Lead Generation Strategies To Generate More Leads in 2024

Do not worry if you are still unsure of buying intent and how to create your strategy based on it. We’ve got your back. Some of the LinkedIn lead generation strategies listed below will give you an idea of how to do the prospecting on LinkedIn to detect these signals, find them, influence them, and reach out to your leads at just the right moment. 


1. Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator Search For Lead Generation

LinkedIn Sales Navigator, a platform for sales executives, is a the first method for B2B lead generation. 

Apart from the leads they get from marketers, who use LinkedIn lead gen forms, sales executives can generate their own leads using Sales Navigator’s extensive list of filters.

Sales Navigator offers Lead filters to search for your Buyer Persona and Account filters if you wish to find your ICP.

However, amidst all the filters, we wish to highlight one in particular that every sales expert in SaaS companies would like to see - the Technology used filter. This filter allows you to find people who use software similar to yours or even your competitor's products and reach out to them.

Simply go to your Sales Navigator Account filters and find Technology Used or search by keyword.


Image of where to find Technology Used account filter in Sales Navigator

Once you do, go to that company page and find the decision-maker and reach out to them. 

You can also send them gated content that will act like a LinkedIn lead gen form for your marketing team. They can use it to target the leads with other beneficial content. Whatsmore, you will raise awareness and establish contact with them without pushing them to buy, but rather pulling them towards your company. 


Image of CTA banner 2 for watching Skylead - LinkedIn automation and cold email software demo


2. Search According To Your ICP Or Buyer Persona

One of the well-established ways for B2B lead generation is to use the LinkedIn search filters to their fullest. 

Dear sales teams, this is where your ICP and Buyer Persona come into play. If you read our guides, then you already know that each piece of information in these documents should be actionable.

Set the filters according to the documents using either LinkedIn Premium or Sales Navigator accounts to narrow your search. Once you do, copy the search URL. You are going to need it soon.

Trust us. By combining LinkedIn lead generation with your ICP or Buyer Persona, you will notice far better results than before since your leads will be more qualified.


3. Use LinkedIn InMail Templates For Lead Generation

LinkedIn InMails are direct and private messages you send or receive from a LinkedIn account that is not in your network.

InMails is a nifty feature for salespeople to use if they cannot get a hold of the lead using other methods (e.g. by sending a connection request). To clarify, once you send an InMail, the person will receive a notification as they would for regular messages.

If you are unsure what type of message to write to generate leads and get additional contact information via InMail, stop by our other blog and check out 13 LinkedIn InMail examples with a 25% response rate formula.


4. Job Posting Search

If a company publishes a job post, it usually means that they: 

Whatever happened here, this is your chance to investigate and detect the buying signal. 

In other words, this LinkedIn lead generation strategy focuses on job vacancy search, adding companies to a spreadsheet, and then finding decision-makers and reaching out to them. 

Here is how you can generate leads by discovering specific job posts. For example, let’s say your company outsources sales specialists. To find these job posts, simply type that keyword in the LinkedIn search field. For example, you can search for a Sales Manager and use all filters to get as close to your ICP as possible. 


Image of LinkedIn lead generation strategy that detects buying signals through job post

Once you find the desired company, go to their LinkedIn page and search for decision-makers within those companies. Lastly, write them down in your Personalization Spreadsheet so your outreach can later be more effective.


5. Team Up Sales And Marketing Efforts For Ultimate LinkedIn Lead Generation

We cannot talk about LinkedIn lead generation and miss mentioning the marketing and sales synergy. Today people research services of interest first before contacting sales or support. Thus, it became essential for marketers to cater to these research needs by creating content and working alongside the sales department to generate leads with personalized sponsored content.

On the other hand, salespeople are responsible for inbound contact and outbound activities. They do this through thought leadership, prospecting, and personal contact once the lead lands in the funnel.

Here is an example of how sales and marketing activities should be in synergy.


LinkedIn lead generation strategy to align sales and marketing activities

Thus, one of the main LinkedIn lead generation strategies should be aligning their activities on LinkedIn too. In other words, marketing and sales should:

It is essential to align your sales and marketing teams since they are equally valuable. In other words, if the sales team targets the leads using buying signals, marketing should do the same as one of their activities. For example, if sales send the leads to a book-a-demo page, marketing can create a LinkedIn lead generation ad to target people who visited the demo page but didn’t convert. 

Note: To reach the ultimate results using lead generation, the best-case practice is to extend your lead research beyond LinkedIn. In other words, discover other places to find B2B sales leads according to buying signals and trace them back to LinkedIn for outreach.

6. Check For Buying Impulses By Searching LinkedIn Hashtags

LinkedIn offers many holistic ways to generate leads. Thus, searching for the leads who shared their pain points or someone who wasn’t satisfied with your competitors via hashtags is one way to do it. 

This strategy is perfect for zeroing in on the leads based on buying signals. However, it might need some time as it requires manual work.

All you need to do is type your competitor’s name to find dissatisfied customers, search for the hashtag. Or explore hashtags to find a person who asked for advice on their pain point. 


Image of post example where competitor's customers didn't like their product which is considered buying signal; LinkedIn lead generation strategy

Once you do, write down everything you discover in your personalization spreadsheet. This way, you will gather all the information you need to personalize the message for the outreach.


7. Combing Through LinkedIn Groups 

You can also find the leads by searching through LinkedIn groups - the themed places for professionals of all caliber to share their thoughts and experiences or ask questions about the group topic in one place. 

Unfortunately, post-engagement-wise, LinkedIn groups are dead. However, that doesn’t mean that your leads aren’t there or their content. In other words, these groups still hold a place for LinkedIn accounts that joined the group in the first place. So go ahead and find the groups your Buyer Persona would be in. Join those groups and leverage them for LinkedIn lead generation by reaching out to its members or finding a post that demonstrates buying signal or intent.

For example, if your target group is marketers, you can search the group by keyword and find your ideal leads.


Image of example how to use LinkedIn groups to generate leads

From there, you can invite them to connect with you by writing a message such as this:

Hey Aanya,

I’ve seen your interesting posts on the right partnership in digital marketing in the Software/Technology group. So I’m reaching out in hope to connect with you on that topic.

8. LinkedIn Lead Generation Strategy That Includes Targeting Posts 

One way to jump over gatekeepers and reach decision-makers directly is to find content that appeals to them. Let’s take a look at the following post, for example.


Image of viral post to use for LinkedIn lead generation

If you click the reactions or comments, you will for sure find some decision-makers out there.


Image showing how to generate leads from viral posts; LinkedIn lead generation strategy

This is a valuable LinkedIn lead generation strategy, as you will have the perfect conversation starter once you outreach the decision-maker. For example, your conversation starter, based on the previous example, could be:

Hey Tomer,

I noticed you liked Gary Vaynerchuk’s post on making decisions easier by watching consumer behavior, being customer-centric, and putting in the hours. I wanted to ask you how you make decisions in your company. Are there any obstacles and challenges in what Gary mentioned? Let’s connect on this.

Furthermore, you can check the post reactions a dissatisfied customer wrote on your competitor and generate the people who agreed with their opinion. The possibilities are endless.


9. Generate Leads From Event Attendees List

If you wish to research your leads’ buying signals, you need to start thinking about what LinkedIn events your ideal audience attends. Whatsmore, you can find them all in one place. Attending an event of this kind gives you valuable insight into their problems and needs. 

To target event attendees, you need to first search for the events. Then, choose the event and click the Attend button. 


How to apply LinkedIn lead generation strategy that generates leads who attended events

Next, click the Attendees button and check for the list.


Image of how to find and generate leads from LinkedIn events, LinkedIn lead generation strategy

Once the event is live, be sure to write down all the questions, concerns, or comments your leads have so you can personalize your outreach later on.


10. Referral Program For LinkedIn Lead Generation

LinkedIn’s main benefit is networking. So why shouldn’t you use this benefit for LinkedIn lead generation?

The key here is to connect with your customers and offer them an incentive to refer your service to people who might be interested in using it. In other words, you can create a referral program for your current customers. 

Here is an example of how the LinkedIn lead generation referral program works. First, you can offer a 20% discount for 1 month to your customer for every LinkedIn user who comes to your demo. If they find three people, that’s a 20% discount for 3 months. 

What happens, in this case, is that if the recommended leads convert, they can branch out and find other leads for you to contact and convert. 


Image of how LinkedIn lead generation strategy that uses generated word-of-mouth works

This referral program acts as word-of-mouth and a passive LinkedIn lead generation. You get leads with the buying signal, and your clients become your advocates. In return, they receive an incentive. Win-Win.


11. Generate Leads From Your LinkedIn Post

Posting content on LinkedIn as a thought leader is the most beneficial way of attracting the leads you wish. The type of content you post is your decision and creative liberty. However, for LinkedIn lead generation purposes, be sure to post in a way to appeal to high-quality leads in a unique and personalized way. 

Once you see the reactions piling in, you can gather the LinkedIn profiles in one place, and outreach them manually or use the LinkedIn automation and Email software to do it for you. But we will talk about this soon.


12. Gated Posts As LinkedIn Lead Generation Strategy

Another thing you can do for LinkedIn lead generation that includes posts is to create a piece intended for acquiring new B2B leads. 

To clarify, B2B marketers publish lead generation campaigns to boost their overall lead generation efforts. The type of sponsored content they publish the most are gated content and LinkedIn lead gen forms with call to action.

Similarly, salespeople can share gated content with their network. The catch is to write about the benefits of said content within your post. At the end of your post, you can share a landing page that leads to a form. Or you can ask the network to leave a comment on your post for two reasons:

Here is an example. Do you remember the post example from the How to become a thought leader section? Yes, that was gated content designed specifically for starting a conversation with new leads who are already interested in seeing the valuable content. What’s best is that they are the ones who initiated the contact. Thus social selling can go upright from here on now.

To post about gated content for LinkedIn, you can share any valuable piece your marketing team prepared for you. Or you can write one from your experience – the choice is yours. However, keep in mind that this content needs to showcase good results as proof, be industry-specific, and aim to cater to your prospects’ pain points. 

Just try it, and you will see why this strategy is one of the best for B2B lead generation. 


13. Linkedin Lead Generation Forms (Lead Gen Forms)

LinkedIn lead gen forms are a type of LinkedIn ad where the leads need to fill in a form to access the promoted material. It is similar to gated content on the website. However, the only difference is that LinkedIn alone hosts the lead gen form.

Once the lead clicks on the call to action, LinkedIn prefills the form, making it easier for leads to submit the information. You can then easily access the leads list, download it, and import it into the preferred automation tool. Or send it to your sales team. 🙂

LinkedIn charges this type of ad by cost per lead. In other words, you pay once the lead fills out the form. However, it can get quite expensive. It all depends on the industry and other parameters, but the projection for 2023 is that the average cost per lead on LinkedIn will be $75

In addition, please keep in mind that not all LinkedIn lead generation ads need to have a LinkedIn lead gen form. They can be a single image or a video that leads to another landing page with the form. So let’s talk about them.


14. LinkedIn Lead Generation Ads

As we previously stated, LinkedIn ads are powerful thus, they are one of the best strategies marketers can apply. However, many shy away from launching the ads due to their complexity at first glance.

However, marketing teams, to be fair, LinkedIn lead generation ads are not for a scare. They are just a tad more expensive. 🙂 

So here is how to launch any other type of lead generation ads in 7 simple steps.


7 Steps To Create LinkedIn Lead Generation Ad

Go to the Work section and navigate to the Advertise button.


Image of how to create LinkedIn lead generation ad -step 1

Next, if you already have your account set up, choose your account and click the Create button and choose Campaign.


Image of how to create LinkedIn lead generation ad step 2, campaign manager Create button

Then, select the goal of the campaign. You can choose among awareness, website visits, engagement, video views, and conversions. If, for example, you wish to promote your LinkedIn group or company’s LinkedIn page, choose the engagement campaign type. Or, if you wish to publish the LinkedIn lead gen form, use the Lead generation under Conversion.


Image of how to create LinkedIn lead generation ad, step 3, choose objective

Next, define their target audience. While choosing who you wish to see your LinkedIn ads, you can set parameters such as demographics, job titles, or similar parameters. Or, you can opt-in for retargeting your website visitors via LinkedIn Insight Tag. In both cases, do not forget to set conversions to track metrics.


Image of how to create LinkedIn lead generation ad step 4, setting up the targeting

Then, select ad format and placement (should you wish for LinkedIn to distribute your ad elsewhere). Keep in mind that message type ad acts as LinkedIn InMails, and will be labeled as Sponsored (unlike regular InMails). Moreover, the recipient will receive a notification for a message but won’t be able to respond or follow up with you. They can only interact with your call-to-action button.


Image of how to create LinkedIn lead generation ad step 5, choosing an ad format and placement

Your next step is to select the budget and conversion tracking if needed. 


Image of how to create LinkedIn lead generation ad step 6, setting up the budget and scheduling the campaign

Create Your Ad

Now the real fun begins. Once you click Next, you will arrive at the ad dashboard. To start, click the Create new ad button.


Image of how to create a LinkedIn lead generation ad step 7, creating an ad itself

Lastly, create your message, enter the website URL where your gated content is and define a call-to-action button. Here, you are making sure that the core message resonates with the selected target audience, depending on where they are in the buying journey.


Image of how to create LinkedIn lead generation ad step 8, creating a text copy

What’s more, keep in mind that this interface differs depending on the ad form you choose. Here is how it should look if you wish to create a LinkedIn lead gen form.


Image of LinkedIn lead generation form looks like when creating it in LinkedIn campaign manager

Once you insert the ad details, click Create at the bottom right of the screen, and your ad will be ready. You can then track your metrics and success back in the campaign manager.


LinkedIn Lead Generation Ads Examples

One of the shortest and sweetest ads we’ve seen must be the LinkedIn lead gen form that Hubspot published. It carefully emphasizes benefits - everything one needs to promote their business on Instagram and offers a cheat sheet as an easy solution. Moreover, the LinkedIn lead gen form auto-populates the fields, and the leads need only to click the Submit button.


Image of LinkedIn lead generation form ad example

Next on our list is GetResponse, who asked one of their customers to create a short video.


Image of LinkedIn ad example for generating leads, GetResponse

This ad is a win because of three reasons. Firstly, they used video format, which is the preferred format nowadays. Secondly, their customer gives a testimonial, a live word, and their experience with the product. Lastly, they promote their forever-free account, so it’s easier for the leads to sign up without any obligations.

Last, but not least, we have Atlassian’s webinar promotion.


Image of LinkedIn ad example, Atlassian's webinar promotion

Not every lead generation ad needs to have a service sign-up as the ultimate goal. Webinar sign-ups work for different buying cycles just as well, and Atlassian recognized it.

What is a win in this situation is not the copy above, nor a visual (though it helps), but the wording “on-demand”. You see, many of us do not have time, or have different schedules. So it makes it harder to fit one webinar by the time it is up live. The phrase “on-demand” makes it easier for leads to sign up, as they can watch the webinar whenever they find the time.


15. Use Sales Navigator’s Buyer Intent Feature For Lead Generation

Lastly, Sales Navigator introduced its Buyer Intent feature. It offers insights into accounts showing the level of interest. Buyer Intent helps sales professionals reach out to the right people and companies at the right time.

How it works is that LinkedIn tracks accounts that interacted with your business on many levels (e.g. if the leads viewed your profile or a company page, accepted your request, etc). It then labels them by the level of interest and recommends them to you. It is a perfect way to generate leads that previously showed some level of interest in your company.

However, keep in mind this feature is only available for Sales Navigator Advance and Advance Plus users. Thus if you have a Sales Navigator Core account, you won’t have this functionality.


Best LinkedIn Lead Generation Tools

LinkedIn lead generation tools are automation tools that streamline your lead generation activities on LinkedIn, help you track metrics, and optimize your efforts for success. In other words, these somewhat done-for-you tools automate the processes, such as prospecting and initial outreach, that you’d otherwise do manually. In addition, they help you with time-consuming tasks, thus saving you time to focus on closing the deal.

What’s more, LinkedIn lead generation tools are data-driven. To clarify, they provide you with precise metrics of your activities and show you how to optimize them for better results.

So what tools and platforms are the best for your LinkedIn lead generation efforts?


Campaign Manager For The LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms Ads

Unlike the Sales Navigator platform created for sales executives, LinkedIn’s campaign manager is a tool created for marketers. It basically allows marketing specialists to publish a different kinds of ads on LinkedIn, 

As we previously mentioned, one of the best ad types is the Lead Generation Form ads. However, they are and will be expensive as they directly generate the leads’ contact info on LinkedIn. 

Thus, you are probably wondering if you can use something less expensive. Yes, you can generate leads on LinkedIn via outreach, which is a cheaper method, even if you use the tool with it.


Sales Navigator For Prospecting

We cannot stop gushing about Sales Navigator simply because it offers many possibilities for sales professionals to streamline prospecting efforts as part of LinkedIn lead generation. In other words, Sales Navigator offers:

And these are just to name a few, as there are many other Sales Navigator features for lead generation. However, be aware that the features you'll have at your disposal entirely depend on the type of Sales Navigator plan you use. Thus, read about all the plans and choose the one that will suit you best. 

So, once you find your ideal leads, you can outreach them directly from Sales Navigator or use the LinkedIn automation tool.


LinkedIn Automation Tools Designed For The Outreach

You could outreach the leads manually. Simply define the personalized message according to the info you gathered about them in the document. Then, outreach them one by one via LinkedIn or email. 

However, I have a question: What would happen if you generate hundreds or even thousands of leads? Would outreach them manually and watch over each step of the outreach process for every lead? 

Well, the good news is you don’t have to. You can use a LinkedIn automation tool to do it for you.

LinkedIn automation tools are software that helps you save time by streamlining the most time-consuming part of the outreach process

To clarify, let’s take our very own Skylead, a LinkedIn automation and Cold Email software. With Skylead, you can streamline the process of:

1) Finding your target leads;

2) Building your network to accelerate becoming Thought Leader;

3) Outreaching and establishing the first contact with your leads according to their behavior via Smart Sequences (this is one of the best Skylead’s functionalities);

4) Sending native hyper-personalize messages with variables, Images, and GIFs to increase the response rate;

5) Finding and verifying your leads’ email addresses to multichannel your outreach;

What’s more, you can integrate Skylead with your CRM and send data via Zapier webhooks or by using API. The choice is yours.

That said…


How Should You Approach Outreach After Previously-Mentioned LinkedIn Lead Generation Activities?

Our third and final part of the ultimate guide to LinkedIn lead generation will show you how to leverage a LinkedIn automation tool to streamline your outreach process. Moreover, we will cover how to approach your leads and start converting them seamlessly. 

Let’s go!


Save The Time And Outreach Smart

Here is how you can use Skylead to get the outreach done easily and quickly. Firstly, go to your Skylead dashboard and click the Create new campaign button.


LinkedIn automation and cold email software tool, outreach campaign creation using generated leads

Next, choose the lead source, aka where Skylead will pull your leads from. For the sake of this article and to show you how to use a Personalization Spreadsheet, we will choose to upload a CSV file. In addition, don’t forget to name your campaign.


LinkedIn automation & Cold Email software, outreach campaign creation from generated leads step 2, choosing the source

Be sure to create a new CSV file out of the information you gathered about your leads. The only condition here is to insert a person’s LinkedIn profile and/or email address. If you cannot find the person’s email address, you can use one of these ways to find emails yourself or let Skylead take care of that

Skylead provides the following native variables you can use to personalize your messages:

In addition, you can insert other information in columns, such as the topic of the article they wrote, and Skylead will recognize them as custom variables. In other words, this column becomes actionable data you will use in your outreach. 

For example, your CSV file can end up looking something like this:


Image of CSV file example with personalized information to outreach leads with LinkedIn Automation & Cold Email software

Once you click next, set up your additional campaign settings and when you wish to launch your campaign.


LinkedIn Automation & Cold Email software outreach campaign creation step 3

Smart Sequence Creation

Welcome to the Smart Sequence builder page. Here, you need to create an action path that Skylead will follow once you launch the campaign. This action path (Smart Sequence) will observe the leads’ behavior and act accordingly until they respond to your outreach. 

Simply drag and drop actions and use different conditions based on their behavior to maximize getting in touch with your leads.


Image of LinkedIn Automation & Cold Email software smart sequence creation, outreach campaign step 4

Do not forget to write personalized messages for an invite to connect, InMail, LinkedIn, or Email message steps. 

The good practice here is to connect with your leads on a deeper level. So, craft your outreach messages to be as genuine as possible. For example, if you wish to send an invite to connect, try one of our invite-to-connect templates with up to a 78% acceptance rate, such as:

Hello {{firstName}},

I’ve noticed you have {{MutualConnectionName}} in your network. I worked with them at {{CompanyName}} a while back. I really loved {{whatYouLovedAboutMutualConnection}}.

That said, I see that we are both in the {{IndustryName}} industry and would love to have you in my network. 

Or, if for example, a lead doesn’t respond, get inspired by our follow up after no response templates and write something thematic like:

Hey {{firstName}},

 I’ve just seen your fantastic LinkedIn post on {{Topic}}. The thing that really resonated with me was {{Quote}}. 
 It would be great to hear more about how your business operates in this regard and also share some of my tips if you’re up for it. 

 What do you say? Would you like to chat about this?

Image of CTA banner 2 for Skylead salesbook - ready-to-use outreach template that can be applied to our LinkedIn automation and cold email software


After you define all the steps and messages, you can finalize the process by clicking the Start campaign button and your campaign is ready. Easy peasy.


Frequently asked questions about Linkedin Lead Generation

Oh, what a journey has been so far, hasn’t it? However, we still want to cover everything there is to know about LinkedIn lead generation. Therefore, here are a couple of FaQs to sum up LinkedIn lead generation.


What specific challenges do companies face when implementing these strategies, and how can they overcome them?

Companies may face challenges like creating engaging content and measuring ROI. Overcoming these involves using analytics for insights and continuously refining strategies based on performance data.


How do these lead generation strategies integrate with other marketing tools and platforms for a cohesive campaign?

Integration with other sales and marketing tools can be achieved through CRM systems and marketing automation platforms, ensuring a seamless flow of lead data and consistent messaging across channels.


Can small businesses or solo entrepreneurs effectively implement these strategies on a limited budget, and if so, how?

Small businesses and solo entrepreneurs can effectively use these strategies by focusing on highly targeted outreach and leveraging free or low-cost tools available on LinkedIn for engagement and networking. They can also get a LinkedIn automation tool and cold email software that has an excellent price-to-feature ratio, like Skylead.


Which LinkedIn Ad Format Is The Best For Lead Generation?

The LinkedIn ad format best for lead generation is a Single Image ad because it looks organic with other content you see in the newsfeed. Moreover, if combined with Lead gen form, it can bring amazing results. The next best thing is to promote gated content on your website. 


How Do I Target A Lead On LinkedIn?

You can target leads with your ads by using LinkedIn campaign manager. All you need to do is to define demographics, firmographics, and other parameters of your target audience or choose to retarget your website visitors via LinkedIn Insight Tag. Then create an ad, and publish it.


How Do I Generate B2B Leads On LinkedIn?

You can generate B2B leads on LinkedIn by using any of the strategies mentioned in this article, such as posting gated content, using lead generation form ads, and generating leads from event attendees. Moreover, you can generate leads from job postings, leveraging Sales Navigator’s buying intent feature, and more.


Why Is LinkedIn Best For Lead Generation?

LinkedIn is best for lead generation because it’s the #1 professional network in the world. According to LinkedIn, lead conversion rates are 3x higher than any other social media. Moreover, 4 out of 5 LinkedIn users drive certain business decisions and have 2x buying power of the average web audience. 


Ready To Scale Up Your LinkedIn Lead Generation?

LinkedIn is the #1 place to generate new leads by creating valuable content and reaching out to new connections.

However, before you get started with LinkedIn lead generation, you need to make sure to:

Once you do, you can apply one or all LinkedIn lead generation strategies to generate leads.


Image of list of 10 best LinkedIn lead generation strategies

LinkedIn lead generation works best if you combine it with other lead generation methods outside of LinkedIn and then circle back to LinkedIn to outreach them.

However, you don’t have to do the outreach alone. Skylead can help you out with that. So come by, check out Skylead, and start your 7-day Free Trial!


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If you are doing LinkedIn outreach, how you write your Summary is of vital importance. Do not believe us? Then let’s demonstrate with one of the most common scenario examples, which starts like a bad joke.

An SDR sends a LinkedIn connection invite.

Person on the other end of the ’’line’’: 

My, my... Who do we have here? Who are you? 

*Sees a profile picture and a name*

What do you want?

*Sees a message* *Goes to profile*

Ahh... An SDR.

*Goes to profile and scrolls down to Summary*

Empty. No valuable information or expertise. 

If they didn’t take the time to properly introduce themselves and show who they are, I won’t have time for this connection either. 

*Clicks Ignore*


LinkedIn request meme for 5 linkedin summary examples for sales

See what they did there? They tried to make indirect connections and confirm the validity, but you denied them the opportunity, even though you are the one who reached out. 

At the end of this article, you will learn: 

All this, so you can improve the connection requests acceptance rate, which leads to sales.

So what is the magic formula for the scenarios at the beginning of the article to disappear? Let’s start with a Good Quality Summary + Optimized LinkedIn profile.


Benefits of optimized LinkedIn profile and a summary

Now, when it comes to attracting new visitors and leads, apart from the optimized LinkedIn profile, the key element on your profile is the Summary, aka About section

With the well-optimized account and the Summary, your profile will be shown in search results more often. This means you’re directly increasing your chances to connect with your target audience, thus reaching your goals.

Flipping the other side of the coin. When doing cold outreach, prospects will see your About section, and they will indirectly feel more connected to you. 

They will know who exactly contacted them, the value you provide, your expertise, and that you know what they are talking about. They will know you are legit - and not as you are trying to catfish them on some level.


Set up your LinkedIn profile compete guide banner with text: Earn the LinkedIn all-star status


Key elements of a well-optimized LinkedIn profile

Let’s first talk briefly about your LinkedIn profile optimization. This is for all the users out there: Whatever your current job description or a company are, you need to be aware of the fact that, as an individual, you represent yourself as well as the company. Therefore, your LinkedIn profile should be as optimized as possible. 

If you are an SDR, then this is that much more important. You need to make sure to optimize your profile for LinkedIn lead generation, as well.

In short, a well-optimized LinkedIn profile should include:

After you complete the headline and photos setups, the next thing that you should take care of is creating a compelling summary.


LinkedIn summary: Definition and purpose

LinkedIn Summary, also known as the LinkedIn About section or Bio, is the part on a user's profile right above the Featured, Activity, and Work experience sections. It is usually a few-paragraphs-long-text and one of the first things the visitors notice on your profile. 


About section on LinkedIn

According to Rain Group’s Top Performance in Sales ProspectingResearch, 82% of buyers research providers on LinkedIn before responding to a cold outreach message.

While the headline is there to appeal to somebody to visit your profile, the LinkedIn About section for SDRs is a place that lets people learn more about who you truly are, and encourages them to take certain actions (connect, schedule a Demo or work with you).

In other words, it is a place where you’re able to introduce yourself, give visitors a clear message of who you are, what your career story and goals are, what you are professionally known for, what drives you, and what value you can bring to them.

This section of 2600 characters is the only place where you can express your personality and connect with your prospects on a deeper level. Plus, this is the place where you can trigger the leads to take the kind of action you want them to.


Common mistakes whilst writing the LinkedIn summary

Before we present you with LinkedIn Summary examples, let first go over the most common mistakes that we noticed sales reps made.


1. Writing your profile for recruiters, not prospects

As basic as it is, this mistake does happen in the sales world. It usually happens due to a previous job search or completely forgetting the importance of the About section as is. When reaching out, be sure to update your summary so it doesn't address the wrong audience, such as recruiters and hiring managers, rather prospects and customers.


2. Non-existent LinkedIn summary

The biggest mistake the users make is leaving the summary completely blank or just repeating the work history. When you do that, other users won’t perceive you as professional, rather as plain jane/john who, as a salesperson, has no value to offer. Consequently, they will leave your profile quickly. 


3. Dull looking one-paragraph LinkedIn summary

Another mistake we see often is for sales reps to write the entire summary in one long paragraph. As much as you think the content itself is interesting, unstructured and unorganized paragraphs will repel your prospects, and you will look sloppy in return. 

Therefore, you need to break the summary into a few smaller paragraphs, to allow the lighter read and to get your point across. 

To help you understand the examples and how they work, let's go over how to best write a LinkedIn summary as well as a few tips on what to include in it to maximize your connection acceptance rate, number of leads, and sales.


How to write a great LinkedIn summary 

There is no one-size-fits-all when writing a LinkedIn summary. However, there are some guidelines SDRs should follow

Remember: Sales is all about building genuine connections, so for the beginning, keep in mind to humanize your overall approach. Furthermore, one glance at your profile allows users to read only the first 300 characters of your summary. So at this starting point, you’ll have to get your readers hooked enough for them to read your full summary. 

Example:


LinkedIn about us section summary example for sales

Once you attract their attention, you have to give them a reason to engage with you. To stand out from other LinkedIn profiles and connect with your ideal prospects, answer the following “the big four” questions:


Who are you, and what are your main work goals? 

If you wish to reach new clients, answering this question will state your purpose. You will know what to focus on in order to introduce yourself to prospects.

Example:


LinkedIn Summary Examples About section hook

What are you passionate about and why (customer-wise)?

To build a relationship and be more trustworthy, show your prospects what inspires you and why you love your job. Make sure to include why the prospects should choose your company. Do it indirectly.

Example:


LinkedIn summary examples showing passion

What is your job experience, and what have you accomplished?

By providing info on your accomplishments, you’ll establish expertise and show your prospects that they can count on you. Ideally, include the proven metrics of your success.

Example:


LinkedIn summary example work experience for sales

How can your product/service help prospects reach their goals?

As a salesperson, do what you know to do best - show your prospects the benefits of working with you and using the product/service and how it can help them. However, don’t get too salesly.

Example:


LinkedIn about section summary examples for sales showing value

After you answer these questions and get done with the main part, you’re ready to go further through the process.


Tips and tricks to make your summary more attractive and interesting to prospects

To enrich the four previous questions, here are some useful tips that will help you write an eye-catching Summary:

  1. Write your summary in the first person;
  1. Don’t be afraid to add some personality;
  1. Include some key search terms that your prospects will likely search (it will appear higher in LinkedIn search results);
  1. Add a context to your career;
  1. Let your summary be about the prospects and their goals also;
  1. Write common problems that you solved while focusing on the prospects greatest pain points;
  1. Speak about your biggest accomplishments;
  1. Share real metrics, awards, and figures about your accomplishments;
  1. Break up the content into short paragraphs and bullet points;
  1. Include a CTA message at the end;
  1. Bold or italicize parts of the text;
  1. Use emojis but do not overload;
  1. Include your contact information - make it easy for prospects to reach back to you;
  1. Use brief sentences.

5 best LinkedIn summary examples perfect for sales

Without further ado, here are the five best LinkedIn summary examples for sales reps or SDRs that you can use as an inspiration for creating your description.

We’ll present different summaries types and emphasize what dominant tips they used from the checklist above.


 #1 LinkedIn summary example – Show your personality


LinkedIn Summary Example

The great thing about this example is the author’s expression, perky personality. Right off of the bat you can feel the author’s uplifting energy. Furthermore, the author’s willingness to help and inspire others comes across effortlessly. 

This example also shows how collaboration and building trustworthy relationships are important to the author, which makes the reader feel more connected to them. 

On the technical side - there is a strong hook statement that is promising and instantly attracts new readers. They also included a few searchable keywords, which are great for getting more visits.

To strengthen their expertise, they expressed their accomplishments, and to make their summary earn more conversions of any kind there are CTAs included.

Tips applied:

  1. Added personality;
  2. Hook statement;
  3. Keywords included;
  4. The value offered to the prospect as well;
  5. Metrics about accomplishments included;
  6. CTA and website included.

LinkedIn summary examples showing personality

Image of CTA banner 2 for watching Skylead - LinkedIn automation and cold email software demo


#2 LinkedIn summary example – Show accomplishments and win credibility


LinkedIn Summary Example 2

This example starts with the most alluring intros of them all - questions his target audience wishes to know. This is an excellent example as it is pretty result-oriented and a great conversation starter. If you are aiming to signify the benefits of using your services or products, this is the way to go.

Demonstrating your business results and collaborations in your summary is a great way to increase conversions and get a lot of sales, especially if you include real proof. In other words, to get new sales, show what influence your product or service may have on other people’s lives or businesses.

Tips applied:

  1. Hook statement in the questions form;
  2. The value offered to the prospect;
  3. Contact information included;
  4. CTA included;
  5. Emojis as bullet points used;
  6. Text broken into small paragraphs for easier read and accomplishments;
  7. Summary about the reader.

LinkedIn summary examples showing accomplishments

#3 Example LinkedIn summary – Sincere, short and niche-focused


Short LinkedIn summary example

A lot of decision-makers on LinkedIn don’t have much time to read your summary, so if you need to reach them only, you can apply this example. The short version of the summary can do a great job of growing your conversions, especially if your business is narrowly focused.

This kind of self-presentation, in summary, can be very memorable as it contains personal history, the reason behind the company, and it goes straight to the point without wasting a lot of the reader’s time. 

Tips applied:

  1. Value offered to the prospect;
  2. Added personality;
  3. Context to the career added;
  4. Metrics about accomplishments included;
  5. CTA included;
  6. Contact information included;
  7. Minimal use of Emojis and bullet points;
  8. Text broken into small paragraphs for easier reading.

LinkedIn summary examples explained

#4 LinkedIn summary example – Value everywhere you turn


LinkedIn summary example 3

This is another example with the great hook in the intro, which uses questions, but this time, it demonstrates the pain points as well. 

Text is broken into paragraphs, and each one is emphasized with either value, pain point, or empathetic statement. This combination brings great results in practice, so you can use it as an inspiration in your creative process.

Tips applied:

  1. Hook statement in the questions form;
  2. Keyword included;
  3. Summary written in the first person;
  4. Value offered to the prospects;
  5. CTA included;
  6. Emojis as bullet points used;
  7. Text broken into small paragraphs for easier read;
  8. Common problems solutions demonstrated while focusing on the prospects biggest pain points.

LinkedIn summary examples for sales showing value

#5 LinkedIn summary example – The ”big four” answers


LinkedIn summary examples structure

This is another straight-to-the-point example. It is well organized as it follows the structure

  1. What I do
  2. How I can Help
  3. How I do it differently
  4. CTA

In addition, the author included many verbs and guided the prospects’ eyes by capitalizing them, which creates a sense of action. 

Another great point is that he uses plain language and gives you the feeling he’s already part of the team. 

Tips applied:

  1. Follows the structure;
  2. Keywords included;
  3. Summary written in the first person;
  4. Value offered to the prospects;
  5. Contact information included;
  6. CTA included;
  7. Text broken into small paragraphs.

LinkedIn summary examples following the structure

Summary about the LinkedIn summary

A well-crafted LinkedIn summary needs to compel your prospects to accept your invite and later on convert. Using any of these Linkedin Summary examples for sales will do just that, so we hope it will spark a bunch of new ideas for your own description. 

First, think about how you want to present yourself on LinkedIn because the summary shows your personal brand. But do not forget, as a salesperson representing your company is that much more important.

To write the perfect LinkedIn summary, start with answering:

After that, unleash yourself onto the Tips and Tricks checklist and decide if you wish to include all or some of them. 

  1. Write your summary in the first person;
  1. Don’t be afraid to add some personality;
  1. Include some key search terms that your prospects will likely search (it will appear higher in LinkedIn search results);
  1. Add a context to your career;
  1. Let your summary be about the prospects and their goals also;
  1. Write common problems that you solved while focusing on the prospects greatest pain points;
  1. Speak about your biggest accomplishments;
  1. Share real metrics, awards, and figures about your accomplishments;
  1. Break up the content into short paragraphs and bullet points;
  1. Include a CTA message at the end;
  1. Bold or italicize parts of the text;
  1. Use emojis but do not overload;
  1. Include your contact information - make it easy for prospects to reach back to you;
  1. Use brief sentences.

Let the questions we mentioned be your guide, tips merely your way, and the examples your map to build a better LinkedIn summary.

Happy writing!

Are you using LinkedIn for prospecting and reaching out to your leads? Skylead is here to help you personalize, improve and maximize your outreach. See it in action - Try out Skylead for free.


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Are you tired of having to sign up to different platforms and then merge them for a successful sales engagement?

Do you get headaches from rarely being sure what step you are at and what your next move should be? 

How often do you wish there was one Sales Engagement Software that already has all the necessary features for successful and smoothly operating campaigns?

Well, there is!


All of them meme

Let us show you how Skylead replaces multiple different tools and generates and nurtures leads while saving you time and money. 


1. Email outreach feature

Unless you use a Sales Engagement Tool that is as versatile as Skylead, you will most likely need to go through different steps before starting a campaign. Down below we will present different types of platforms as necessary stages to complete the process of outreach. 

1a. Phantombuster (Growth Hacker Package, $30/month) + Hunter.io ($49/month) + NeverBounce ($10/month) + lemlist ($59/month) = $148/month

The flow would go as follows: 

  1. Sales Navigator Search
  2. Paste URL to Phantombuster
  3. Paste results into a downloadable CSV file
  4. Subscribe to Hunter.io and upload CSV file to scrape emails
  5. Upload CSV file to NeverBounce to verify emails
  6. Send emails through lemlist or any other outreach tool of this kind. 

1b. Skylead’s All-in-one plan ($100/month)

With Skylead, not only do you have an Email Discovery Feature, that finds and verifies business email addresses, incorporated but you also need just an URL from LinkedIn Search/Sales Navigator Search to obtain all the necessary data for personalizing your outreach. You have an option of running a campaign through Emails, LinkedIn Messages, and LinkedIn InMails.


2. LinkedIn outreach via image and GIF hyper personalization feature 

The majority of Sales Engagement Tools outsources the Image and GIF hyper personalization feature, while Skylead has it integrated. 


2a. Expandi ($99/month) + Hyperise ($99/month) = $198/month

Expandi outsources Image and GIF hyper personalization feature to Hyperise that is limited to 10 templates and 10 000 impressions (counted each time an image is viewed).  


2b. Skylead’s All-in-one plan ($100/month)

Skylead’s Image and GIF personalization feature offers an unlimited number of templates and impressions as part of its All-in-one plan


The limit does not exist meme

3. Multichannel outreach 

3a. Lemlist ($148) + Expandi & Hiperise ($198/month) + Zapier ($39/month) = $385/month

When you use multiple different tools for your outreach, you will need a software, such as Zapier, or any other of its kind, to “glue” them together. This will allow you the Multichannel Outreach and the Image and GIF hyper personalization feature. 

3b. Skylead’s All-in-one plan ($100/month)

LinkedIn Messages, InMails, Emails, and Image and GIF hyper personalization feature are all incorporated into Skylead’s All-in-one package. 

Plus, have you heard of Skylead’s Smart Sequences

Skylead’s Smart Sequences are groundbreaking algorithms that allow you to use Multichannel Outreach and personalization to its maximum potential. 

Due to the newest LinkedIn restrictions, Smart Sequences are actually the only effective way of generating leads on LinkedIn and via email. They combine LinkedIn features (LinkedIn InMails, Connection Requests, Messages, Follow) with Emails (found and verified by Skylead) and create the highest possible number of personalized touchpoints with your Prospects. 

While the old Skylead’s predefined threads are still available, now you have the option of making an entire branch of steps and operations the way you think it will work best for your business goals. 

Find out more about it here


OMG yes meme

As far as an Email Discovery feature is concerned… 

Skylead can discover emails in two ways - either collect the already existing email from the profile when connected with the lead, or discover and verify an email before connecting to the prospect or engaging with him/her in any way.

If you opt to reach via email by doing the search on LinkedIn or Sales Navigator, all you need to do is copy/paste the URL (once you finish prospecting on LinkedIn or other LinkedIn solutions) and use the following procedure:  

If you opt for a campaign by importing a CSV file, Skylead only requires your document to have a column named “email” (lower case!). You can start an email sequence right away. 

With other tools, you either need to collect emails manually or choose to reach out via LinkedIn and then email them as a follow-up. Skylead gives you the option to launch a campaign on LinkedIn and through Email at the same time. Basically, “Email Step” is part of the sequence. 


4. Outreach to leads interested in a certain topic 

Let’s say you would like to reach out to all people who liked or commented on a post/any type of published material on LinkedIn.


4a. Other tools

The flow would go as follows: 

  1. Phantombuster Post Likers first scrapes names of the people who liked the post and their LinkedIn URLs
  2. LinkedIn Profile Scraper extracts their names, professions, contacts etc
  3. Paste results into a downloadable CSV file
  4. Subscribe to Hunter.io and upload CSV file to scrape emails
  5. Upload CSV file to NeverBounce to verify emails
  6. Send emails through lemlist or any other outreach tool of this kind.

4b. Skylead

  1. Take URL and post it to the “Post Engagement” campaign type, then: 

Have you noticed how everything with Skylead is just so much easier? 

As I said, one tool to rule them all, indeed! 

Explore all the benefits that Skylead offers by contacting our customer support team. Discuss how you can make the most out of our product and find out how you can benefit from Skylead the most.


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