Initiating a conversation on LinkedIn can be intimidating. How do you know if the person is even interested in what you are saying? What if you say the wrong thing? There are a few things you can do to initiate a conversation on LinkedIn that will get a response from your connections.
How to initiate a conversation on LinkedIn?
With social media, it has become very easy to connect with people around the world. And LinkedIn is one of the most powerful platforms. This is a great way to network and expand your professional network. It's also a great place to meet potential business partners and investors.
Make it short
When you're sending out a private message on Linkedin you want to make sure that it's short and simple. That's because when you're messaging someone you don't know you want to make sure that they are going to read the entire thing. So keep it short and to the point.
Make it actionable
When writing a LinkedIn message, make it as actionable as possible. The purpose of the message is to give the recipient an idea of who you are and what you do so that they can decide whether they want to get in touch with you.
Make it personal
It's easy to get lost in the crowd on LinkedIn. You need to stand out. A great way to do this is to personalize your LinkedIn message. Everyone has read the messages that talk about your skills and experience. But your message needs to be about more than that. It should show that you have personality and potential. And there's no better way to show this than by writing a personal message.
Make it about them
The problem with most LinkedIn messages is that they're about you. They focus on your own goals, such as promoting your own thing. But that's not what people want to read. You need to make your message about them by focusing on how you can help them.
Make it memorable
It may sound strange, but it's important to create a "memory" on LinkedIn. Why? Because your profile will be the first thing most potential employers look at. If they don't see anything special, they'll move on.
What you should *not* send
What should you write in your first LinkedIn message?
Writing your first LinkedIn message can be tricky. This is especially true if you're new to the platform. You may have questions about how to write the best first message. But don't worry, I'm going to show you exactly how to do it.
Let’s start with what you should avoid:This is what you should *not* send.Here is a preview of my last LinkedIn messages. At first sight, you can immediately tell it’s spam and there’s no point in spending time reading those messages. So how do you stand out from the crowd?
Imagine writing a text message on your phone. Your message will be short, friendly, personalized, and written in a natural tone. That’s exactly what you need to do when writing LinkedIn messages.
It’s not because LinkedIn is a professional network that you should write robotic and boring messages. Forget about the “Hello first name, hope you’re doing well approach”. Instead, compose a short message that is about your recipient and that will catch their attention.
In literature, this approach is called “in medias res”. This means that you should begin your message without a preamble. For example, let’s say you’re trying to reach someone interesting you just heard on a podcast episode. Your first message could look something like this:
Your interview was amazing and…
It may sound blunt to start your message without a greeting, but you can actually mention your recipient’s name and wish them a nice day later on in the message. When you discuss by text message with friends, do you call their names out every time you send them a new message?
Build up relationships on LinkedIn
Maintaining a relationship on LinkedIn is an important part of business networking. This professional social network enables you to connect with other professionals who have the same interests and can help you grow your business. Here are some strategies to follow to retain your relationships on LinkedIn.
Sending out a LinkedIn message is a great way to connect with potential employers, business partners, and even recruiters. However, writing the perfect message can be a challenge. Fortunately, we built Poked to help you build relationships on LinkedIn. The LinkedIn inbox is the lifeline to your business. But it's ugly and hard to manage. Poked sorts your inbox by the level of importance of recipients, help you follow up on time-sensitive messages first, and offers a brand-new approach to your LinkedIn network.
I hope this guide will help you get prepared the next time you need to reach out to someone on LinkedIn.