Some thoughts about engaging on LinkedIn

I’ve always felt that LinkedIn is the best social network and most likely to be successful in the long-term. It is essential in maintaining a professional presence and monetizes effectively without alienating users. LinkedIn is a critical tool for recruiters and has unlimited pricing power for them. LinkedIn also sells what others give away (messaging to non-connections), has the right level of re-engagement marketing and gives good value for its premium subscriptions for jobseekers & sales professionals.

Like all social networks, LinkedIn is abused. Three categories of people tend to be chronic offenders and I will address my concerns to each. But before doing so, I want to make clear that if I don’t know you and don’t know why you want to connect with me, I will decline and block all connection requests. It’s an abuse of the platform and too many do so for no reason. If I don't know who you are and how we are connected it’s embarrassing when someone asks for the favor to say “Shoot, I really don’t know him/her.”

If you are trying to sell to me

I used to work in a sales capcaity where I had a premium Sales Navigator subscription. It’s expensive, but starting at $65 a month, quite reasonable for Enterprise sales. I know how hard and frustrating it is to “cold call.” I did my tour of it and so I respect anyone in “the grind” who reaches out with an InMail. I always try to make time for at least a meeting or two a week or at at conferences to pay it forward for those who go about it the right way. Not only does LinkedIn help with cold inquiries with InMails, coaching you on sales engagement. They also do follow-ups for you, so I’ve found a much higher hit rate using the platform than cold emails or phone calls.

But if you send me a connection request, you are communicating that you are too cheap or lazy to get a premium subscription and in turn, I’m likely to turn you down. It says something about either who you are or where you work.

If you are looking to get a job where I work

I get it and I’ve been there, it’s tough and if a student or unemployed, it’s hard to lay out the $30 a month for a jobseeker subscription, but you should try. As with Sales, I’ll always try to give someone a shot who sends a well-drafted InMail. But I don’t mind if as much if a connection request includes a brief, well-drafted, tailored intro. I still won’t accept the connection request but I understand why some use the tool in that way and I’d be lying if I said I never did it myself.

I also try to give unlimited courtesy informational interviews of students or fellow alums from both of my alma maters and other companies where I’ve worked.

If you are a competitor

I can’t overestimate the number of people who send cold connection requests just to see my connections. Don’t do it. But I welcome the inquiry if you want to reach out to introduce yourself. Careers are long and industries can be a bit incestuous, so it’s good to know people with like-minded interests — and have a bit of intel when you are selling against someone. Conferences are great for meeting competitors. Approaching a rival as someone with a shared interest, a potential future co-worker and not an enemy has led to some great connections that have helped greatly, but always keep the conversation away from the specifics of the day-to-day or commercial terms.