Solutions to the weekly invitation limit
As you probably already know, not so long ago LinkedIn implemented a weekly invitation limit for all its users so now you're able to invite only about 100 profiles a week. So, if previously you could invite 100 contacts per day, 7 days a week, now you're allowed to do only 100 invites on Monday or Tuesday, for example, and then have to wait till the next week for the limit to be lifted.
Do you really need an automation tool for those 100 invites? Is there a sense in using LinkedIn as a lead source for a business? This may seem like a dead-end for automation as well as a hard time for those whose business depends on LinkedIn. And you can't do anything with the way things are... or can you?
We in LeadHootz believe that it's not the end of the story just yet. To avoid that limitation we came up with a couple of solutions and workarounds which you should be aware of. Here they are:
LeadHootz can now overcome LinkedIn's weekly invitation limit! Enable "Use the undocumented invite option" setting in the Invite panel of the schedule manager and you'll be able to continue sending invites even when the limit is reached. Yes, as simple as that:
This is a great option to use if you're a seller or marketer and want to expand your network before starting a campaign.
Alternative ways to reach out to your leads
Although there are no more solutions to the weekly invitation limit, Linked Helper provides a number of other ways to reach out to your leads.
Send free messages to group members
Since LinkedIn restricts its users from sending invitations, it could be a good workaround to substitute the invites with messages to group members. Unfortunately, in regular LinkedIn, there are no filters to collect only those who meet your criteria. However, that's not an issue if you have a Sales Navigator subscription since it offers a "Group" filter on top of which you can use all the other available filters:
Basically, you need to:
- Filter out the target audience using the needed Sales Navigator filters.
- Collect the profiles into a campaign and assign a group ID for messaging from within the Action Queue.
- Start a campaign.
Moreover, you can transfer filtered profiles to other LinkedIn accounts managed in LeadHootz and contact them even without a Sales Navigator subscription (but provided that those accounts are in the same group as transferred leads). So, if you're an agency, you can pay only for one Sales Navigator subscription, but use collected profiles on several LinkedIn accounts. All you need is to transfer the leads and assign a group ID as per the article above.
Here is some additional information:
Send messages to event attendees
LinkedIn allows you to filter and collect profiles who attend an event which you are hosting or attending, too. What's more important, LinkedIn allows you to send messages to event attendees even if they are your 2nd or 3rd-degree connections.
Let's imaging you're a recruiter who searches for a junior marketing manager. So instead of inviting every suitable candidate, you can collect them from an event which has lost of suitable candidates:
And then simply send a direct message via the event without a need to be connected:
The same thing can be done via in LeadHootz but in an automated way which saves you loads of time and efforts, not to mention invitation credits saved to this feature.
Send free InMails to open profiles
LinkedIn allows sending free InMails to premium profiles (those with a gold LinkedIn badge) who didn't disable the ability to receive free InMails from others. Such contacts are called "Open link" or "Open profile" and have a special hidden badge on their pages.
Prior to sending limited invitations, you can reach out to your leads via free InMails thus saving the invites for those who do not have an open profile and cannot be reached via group messages.
Get emails of your 2nd and 3rd connections
LinkedIn does not allow you to get emails of your 2nd and 3rd-degree connections, but that's not a problem: using LeadHootz, you can get their emails via via the LeadHootz collected profiles page (our own service) or via built-in integration with the LeadHootz data service.
What else LeadHootz can be useful for?
Warm-up your leads
Automation in a social network is not limited to inviting and messaging only. For instance, it would be far from ideal to just bump into your leads with an offer in the invitation note - it's better to warm them up prior to reaching out in order to increase the acceptance rate.
For that, you can use the built-in email marketing tool as well as liking/following actions which help your LinkedIn account to be noticed by your leads so they are aware of you being interested in them. Also, after some time since the invitation is accepted, you may consider endorsing some skills of your 1st-degree connections.
Invite to group / event / organization
Apart from usual invitations, Linked Helper is capable of inviting 1st-degree connections to join a group or event in LinkedIn, as well as to follow your LinkedIn company page provided that you have the ability to do that manually.
This may help in building brand awareness and keeping your LinkedIn account active.