With over 740 million members worldwide, LinkedIn is the largest professional networking platform. Making connections on LinkedIn can help you expand your professional network, find job opportunities, generate leads for your business, and more. However, sending connection requests manually can be extremely time consuming. That’s where automating your LinkedIn connections comes in handy.
Why Automate LinkedIn Connections?
Here are some of the key benefits of automating your LinkedIn connections:
- Saves time – Manually sending connection requests and messages can take hours each day. Automation allows you to scale your outreach exponentially.
- Increases efficiency – Software can connect with hundreds or even thousands of prospects per day, much more than you could manage manually.
- Expands your network faster – Automating connections helps you grow your network quickly, which enhances your visibility and authority on LinkedIn.
- Enables targeted outreach – Many automation tools allow you to customize messages and target specific types of prospects.
- Works 24/7 – Software can be programmed to send automated invites after work hours when people are more likely to accept them.
- Tracks analytics – You can view detailed analytics on your connection requests, acceptance rate, and other useful metrics.
LinkedIn’s Terms of Service
Before automating your LinkedIn connections, it’s important to be aware of LinkedIn’s terms of service. Section 8.2 of their user agreement states:
“You agree that you will not use automated systems or software to access, search or copy data from LinkedIn.”
So technically, automation violates LinkedIn’s terms and they warn specifically against sending bulk invites and messages. If they detect bots or suspicious activity, they may suspend or ban accounts.
However, many professionals and businesses do use automation carefully without issues. The key is using the software moderately, customizing messages, and mimicking realistic human behavior.
LinkedIn Automation Tools
Here are some of the leading automation tools used for LinkedIn:
Dux-Soup
Dux-Soup is a popular browser extension that works directly within LinkedIn to automate various tasks. Key features include:
- Sending automated connection requests
- Customized connection messages
- Filters to target prospects by job title, company, location etc.
- Scheduler to drip feed invites and messages
- Analytics on sends, opens, accepts etc.
Hunter.io
Hunter lets you find email addresses and connect with prospects in bulk. Main capabilities:
- Finds email addresses for your prospects
- Verifies if emails are valid before connecting
- Enables you to customize connection requests
- Schedule your messages to be dripped out slowly
- Free plan allows 100 searches per month
Skrapp.io
Skrapp is another LinkedIn automation service with the following features:
- Outreach templates for invites and messages
- Prospecting tools to search LinkedIn profiles
- Filters to sort prospects by industry, job role etc.
- Analytics on open and reply rates
- Chrome extension for easy access within LinkedIn
Sendible
Sendible is a leading social media management platform. For LinkedIn automation it provides:
- Bulk messaging to send customized emails
- Saved templates for one-click outreach
- Contact lists to segment prospects
- Post scheduling and RSS feed publishing
- Reporting on clicks, replies, conversions etc.
Buzzstream
Buzzstream specializes in outreach and lead generation. Key LinkedIn features:
- Find contact info for LinkedIn prospects
- Custom sequencing for sending messages
- Saved templates for quick messaging
- Reporting to analyze response rates
- Integrates with email and CRM systems
SEO Guru Facebook Content Curation Engine
SEO Guru Facebook Content Curation Engine is a Facebook Automation powerful tool that offers automated features for engaging with your target audience, leads and prospects on Facebook. Here are some key features:
- Content Discovery – Discovers relevant content from blogs, news sites to share on your Facebook pages and groups.
- Smart Targeting – Targets content sharing to relevant audiences based on filters like location, age, interests etc.
- Post Scheduler – Schedule unlimited posts in advance for automated publishing.
- Commenting – Auto commenting on posts by keywords, authors, pages etc.
- Following – Follow or unfollow people that match your filters.
- Messaging – Auto direct messaging to leads and prospects.
- Analytics – Detailed analytics on post reach, engagement, clicks etc.
Overall, SEO Guru Facebook Content Curation Engine can save immense time and supercharge your Facebook marketing and engagement.
How to Use These Tools
The basic process for using LinkedIn automation tools involves these steps:
- Sign up for the automation service you want to use.
- Connect your LinkedIn account and grant access permissions when prompted.
- Enter keywords relevant to your target prospects.
- Set filters like job title, company, location, school etc.
- Customize your connection invite and message templates.
- Set a schedule for automated sends to drip out slowly.
- Let the automation software run and send invites per your settings.
- Track analytics on outreach open rates, accept rates and other KPIs.
- Refine your messaging and targeting over time for improved results.
Start slowly with smaller test batches, personalized messages and moderate send volumes to avoid detection by LinkedIn. Many tools have free trials so you can test automation services first.
How to Automate Without Tools
If you don’t want to use specialized software, there are ways to automate LinkedIn outreach using tools you likely already have:
Excel or Google Sheets
You can use spreadsheets to compile prospect lists for messaging. Steps include:
- Search for prospects in LinkedIn and export to Excel.
- Add relevant prospect data like company, role, location etc.
- Use VLOOKUPs to match and append email addresses.
- Segment your list into batches for outreach.
- Craft customized email and LinkedIn message templates.
- Use Mail Merge to personalize your messages at scale.
- Set up formulas to rotate names/wording and drip sends.
Email Marketing Platforms
Many email service providers like MailChimp, Constant Contact and SendinBlue offer automation features you can leverage for LinkedIn outreach like:
- Drag-and-drop email builders with templates
- Contact management to upload and segment your list
- Bulk sending with open and click tracking
- Scheduled sending for dripped delivery
- Segmentation and workflows to send targeted follow-ups
- Integration with your CRM to sync LinkedIn messaging
Browser Extensions
Chrome/Firefox extensions can help automate repetitive LinkedIn tasks. Here are some options:
- Auto Aim – Sends automated connection requests
- Albert – Follows/unfollows people automatically
- Turn Off the Lights – One-click LinkedIn dark mode
- OneTab – Saves your open LinkedIn tabs into a list
- Full Page Screen Capture – Takes screenshots of profiles
While less robust than specialized software, these browser tools can offer a degree of automation to simplify LinkedIn outreach.
Bots and 3rd Party Services
A riskier form of LinkedIn automation involves using bots and 3rd party services. Some options include:
- Growthsilo – Service for canned messaging and bulk invites
- First Class Contacts – Bulk messaging and connection requests
- LinkedHelper – Automated invites, messaging and profile views
- SeoClerks – Hire freelancers for manual/bot-driven outreach
The downside is these services openly flout LinkedIn’s terms by offering large-scale automation. So accounts frequently get banned which disrupts your marketing. Tread carefully if exploring these options.
Guidelines for Safe Automation
Here are some best practices to avoid problems when automating your LinkedIn activity:
- Customize messages – Avoid completely canned templates.
- Personalize invites – Include a note relevant to each prospect.
- Target selectively – Use filters to home in on your audience.
- Take it slow – Dripping 10-30 sends per day avoids spikes.
- Vary timing – Send messages across different hours/days.
- Act human – Mimic natural human behavior in your automation.
- Analyze results – Review analytics to refine messaging and targeting.
LinkedIn Automation Alternatives
If you want to forego automation, here are some alternative tactics to grow your LinkedIn network:
- Pages – Establish an authoritative company or niche page.
- Groups – Active in relevant industry and interest groups.
- Content – Create and share engaging articles and multimedia.
- Events – Host or participate in virtual summits and webinars.
- Ads – Run Sponsored InMail and Sponsored Content campaigns.
- Hashtags – Use trending hashtags related to your expertise.
- Influencers – Connect with leaders in your field.
Focusing on value-driven engagement through content and conversations can organically attract new quality connections vs. batch automation.
Should You Automate LinkedIn Outreach?
Here are some pros and cons to weigh when considering LinkedIn automation:
Potential Pros
- Massively increases your connection volume
- Enables large-scale prospecting and engagement
- Saves enormous time vs. manual outreach
- Allows for targeted, customized messaging
- Drips messaging to avoid overwhelming recipients
Potential Cons
- Risk of account suspension if detected
- Impersonal bulk messaging may damage your brand
- Automated invites have lower acceptance rates
- New connections may be lower quality leads
- Too aggressive outreach could annoy recipients
Weigh these factors carefully and start cautiously if trying automation. Quality messaging tailored to prospects’ interests generally gets the best results.
Conclusion
Automating LinkedIn connections can significantly expand your professional network and accelerate prospecting. However, be thoughtful in your approach and use automation judiciously to avoid problems.
Focus on personalization, targeting and scheduling automation in moderate volumes. Monitor results closely and refine your outreach for the best connections and engagement.
Used properly, automating your LinkedIn strategy can take it to the next level. But high-quality content, conversations and connections will always be more impactful than automation alone.