After sending out and monitoring the results of many messages for many clients, we think we've come to some conclusions regarding LinkedIn etiquette.
Here's a short example of a message that can take your LinkedIn Campaign efforts a long way:
Invite Message:
Hi {receiver.first_name},
My name is [Your Name Here], and I'm the CEO & Co-Founder of [Company Name], a [Short Description of your company here].
As a [Enter Receiver's Role and Industry], I think you could help me with something.
Please connect and I'll explain further.
Best,
[Your Name]
Follow-Up Message:
{receiver.first_name}, thanks for connecting :)
As mentioned in my invite, I think you could really help me.
We help [Define your target audience here, and the added value you provide].
Seeing as you're a [again acknowledge the receiver's role and their industry], I was wondering if you knew of someone in your network that could benefit from our service?
Any intro would be much appreciated and very helpful!
Wishing you a good day, and looking forward to hearing back from you.
Sidenote: Any URL inserted into your messages should always have the 'www' preceding it (otherwise the link won't work properly on LInkedIn).
Here's why this message works:
Regarding Invite messages:
Try to be personal and avoid placing a call-to-action in your invite message. You want the receiver to feel like you're approaching them because you're mostly interested about connecting with them.
We've found that asking for help, or for a favor, within this message can drastically increase the acceptance rate.
If the invite includes asking for help, the followup should do so too in the beginning of the message.
If the target audience is within a specific industry - it's better to mention that in context to the person. For example, it's great to add the fact that you're reaching out because the person plays a specific role within a specific industry.
In fact, using this type of strategy is one of the reasons that Growth-X messages are so powerful and targeted.
You know exactly what type of professionals your message is going to reach, therefore, you can personalize the message in a way that you simply can't achieve via most mediums.
Regarding Followup messages:
It's good to remind your receiver of why you're reaching out, by writing: "As mentioned in my invite..."
In your follow-up messages, remind the receiver that you are asking for their assistance.
As opposed to asking the receiver to purchase your service, asking them to refer you to 'someone that may be in need' of your service, is much less aggressive, and therefore often works better. Obviously, if the receivers themselves find your product or service useful, they will also continue the conversation with you right there on LinkedIn to investigate whether it's a good fit for their needs.
Here, you also want to add any call to action like a link to your web site. Do you have a landing page that you wish to send them to where they can educate themselves about your service?
Finally, adding positive words (like "appreciate" and "helpful") can also give your messages more power.