LinkedIn is a professional networking platform that allows users to connect with other professionals, search for jobs, share content, and more. LinkedIn offers several account types, including a free basic account and paid premium accounts that provide additional features. One key difference between basic and premium accounts is the ability to send direct messages to other members, even if you’re not connected.
With a free account, you can only message your 1st-degree connections on LinkedIn. But with a premium account, you can message any member on LinkedIn regardless of your connection status. This opens up more communication possibilities, especially for sales and recruiting professionals who need to reach passive candidates.
So if you want to directly message a LinkedIn member who you’re not already connected to, you’ll need a premium account. Here’s what you need to know about messaging members with LinkedIn Premium.
Overview of LinkedIn Messaging
LinkedIn messaging allows you to have one-on-one written conversations with other members right within the LinkedIn platform. It’s similar to email, but keeps communication contained within LinkedIn.
With LinkedIn’s basic free account, you can only message people who are 1st-degree connections in your network. That means they have already accepted your connection request, indicating they are open to communicating with you.
LinkedIn Premium accounts remove this networking barrier and let you send messages to any LinkedIn member, regardless of your connection status. However, the receiver can still control who can message them via their account settings.
There are three types of LinkedIn Premium accounts:
- Premium Career – least expensive plan with messaging capabilities
- Premium Business – mid-level plan with expanded messaging limits
- Premium Sales – high-end plan with most messaging privileges
The specific messaging abilities will depend on the Premium plan. But in general, Premium accounts can directly message anyone on LinkedIn, not just connections.
Messaging Non-Connections
Here are some key things to know about messaging people you are not connected to on LinkedIn with a Premium account:
They Receive a Connection Request
When you message someone you are not connected to, LinkedIn will automatically send them a connection invitation from you. This gives them full visibility into who is reaching out before they even read your message.
The receiver can then choose to accept your connection request, ignore it, or reject it. Unless they accept your request, you will not be able to continue the conversation after their initial reply.
Higher Risk of Message Being Ignored
Since non-connections don’t have an established relationship with you, they are more likely to ignore your unsolicited messages. The connection request primal puts them in an evaluating mindset from the start, rather than just opening a neutral message.
Be aware that messaging non-connections has a high probability of getting no response. Make sure your opening messages are personalized and compelling.
Message Visibility Varies
Depending on their account settings, some members may not even see your message to non-connections. LinkedIn gives users the ability to control who can message them.
For example, a user can limit messages to only 1st-degree connections. In that case, your message as a non-connection would not even reach them. The visibility of your non-connection messages can vary.
Daily Message Limits
LinkedIn Premium accounts have daily limits on how many messages you can send, including to non-connections. This is to prevent spamming and messaging abuse.
The specific daily limits depend on your Premium plan type. For example, Premium Career has a limit of 30 messages per day, while Premium Sales has a 300 message per day limit. Keep these daily allowances in mind when reaching out to non-connections.
Etiquette for Messaging Non-Connections
When using your Premium account to message people you are not yet connected with, follow these etiquette tips:
- Personalize the message and explain how you found them or why you want to connect.
- Only message people who you think would benefit from or appreciate the communication.
- If they don’t respond, do not continue messaging repeatedly.
- Respect their privacy and preferences if they decline your connection request.
- Provide value rather than pitch sales or promotion.
- Use a professional tone as you would in an introductory email.
Avoid spamming behavior such as sending the same generic message to large batches of people. This will likely result in many ignored messages or even complaints to LinkedIn about you. Treat your ability to message non-connections as a privilege.
Limits of Messaging Non-Connections
While Premium accounts remove the 1st-degree connection requirement for messaging, there are still some limits to be aware of:
Can Only Start Conversation Once
You can only message a specific non-connection once. If they ignore your initial message, you cannot send follow-up messages to the same person. You will have to wait and see if they eventually respond.
Cannot Share Media
When messaging someone you are not connected to, you cannot share photos, videos, or other media attachments. You are limited to only text-based messages.
No InMail Feature
LinkedIn’s InMail system allows you to send messages that appear in the receiver’s inbox even if they normally block unsolicited messages. But InMail only works when messaging 1st-degree connections, not non-connections.
Cannot Message Recruiters
Premium accounts cannot message recruiters who work at staffing firms or talent acquisition groups. This includes internal recruiters at specific companies. Special permissions are required to contact recruiters.
So LinkedIn still places some careful restrictions around non-connection messaging to maintain a professional environment. But Premium accounts provide more messaging access than the basic free account.
LinkedIn Premium Plans
Here is an overview of the three Premium plan options that enable messaging non-connections on LinkedIn:
Premium Career
- Costs $29.99 per month
- Lets you message anyone on LinkedIn
- 30 messages per day limit
- See full profiles of everyone who views your profile
Premium Business
- Costs $49.99 per month
- Lets you message anyone on LinkedIn
- 100 messages per day limit
- See full profiles of everyone who views your profile
- Get insights about who is engaging with your content
Premium Sales
- Costs $79.99 per month
- Lets you message anyone on LinkedIn
- 300 messages per day limit
- See full profiles of everyone who views your profile
- Lead recommendations based on your interactions
The Sales plan has the highest messaging allowance at 300 messages per day. Business is in the middle at 100 daily messages, while Career caps at 30.
How to Message Non-Connections
The process for messaging someone you are not connected to on LinkedIn with a Premium account is simple:
- Sign up for a Premium account – either Career, Business, or Sales.
- Find the LinkedIn member you want to message via search or browsing.
- Click the “Message” button on their profile.
- Compose your message in the text box that opens.
- Click the “Send” button to deliver your message.
This will fire off your message along with a connection invitation. The person can then reply back to you directly from their LinkedIn inbox.
The steps are the same as messaging a 1st-degree connection. The only difference is Premium accounts lift the connection requirement, allowing you to message anyone.
Tips for Messaging Non-Connections
To get the best results when messaging non-connections on LinkedIn, follow these tips:
Reference Common Ground
Look for shared connections, groups, or interests you have in common. Referencing these in your opening message makes it warmer.
Personalize Each Message
Avoid copy-pasting the exact same message to multiple people. Take the time to customize the message to each individual.
Highlight Value
Explain upfront what the value is in them connecting with you. Don’t make them guess why you want to connect.
Follow Up Strategically
If they don’t respond after about a week, you can follow up. But don’t badger them with frequent messages.
Watch for Triggers
Look for triggers like new jobs, promotions, or content shares to reach out and establish a reason to connect.
Pros of Messaging Non-Connections
Here are some of the main benefits of having the ability to message non-connections on LinkedIn:
- Expand reach – Dramatically increases the number of people you can communicate with.
- Improve sales – Allows you to more easily develop leads and pitch business.
- Build network – Opportunity to connect with many more relevant professionals.
- Share expertise – Can provide advice and share insights with a larger audience.
- Increase impact – Your content and messages can reach more people.
For almost any professional goal – generating leads, recruitment, branding, partnerships – being able to message non-connections gives you a significant advantage.
Cons of Messaging Non-Connections
There are also some potential downsides:
- More ignored messages – Higher chance of messages being ignored since no prior relationship.
- Require more customization – Takes more effort to personalize each cold outreach.
- Need to avoid spamming – Requires judgment to avoid spamming at scale.
- Automation restrictions – LinkedIn limits automation tools for messaging.
The main risk is investing time messaging non-connections who end up ignoring you. So focus on quality over quantity and personalization over automation to get results.
Conclusion
A LinkedIn Premium account enables you to message any other member on LinkedIn, even if you are not already connected. This provides significant flexibility for relationship-building and outreach.
However, messaging non-connections still poses some challenges. You will need to be strategic about personalization, add value, and not overdo the outreach volume. With the right approach, having Premium messaging capabilities can take your LinkedIn networking and lead generation to the next level.
