How do you blast a message on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking platform, with over 850 million members globally. For many professionals and businesses, LinkedIn is a key platform for building connections, promoting their brand, networking, and recruiting. One useful feature on LinkedIn for getting your message out to a wider audience is the ability to “blast” messages to your network.

Blasting messages on LinkedIn simply refers to sending a message to a large number of people at once. Rather than messaging connections one by one, blasting allows you to communicate with hundreds or thousands of people simultaneously. This can be an effective tactic for spreading news, promotions, events, and more to your target audience.

When to Use Message Blasts

Some examples of appropriate uses of LinkedIn message blasts include:

• Announcing a new product, service, job opening, etc.
• Promoting an upcoming webinar, event, sale, etc.
• Sharing an article, white paper, or other content you’ve created
• Recruiting participants for a survey or research project
• Sending a holiday greeting or celebration message to your network
• Building awareness and interest for your brand, company, or organization

The key is crafting a message that provides value, information, or an opportunity that your recipients would appreciate receiving. Avoid blasting promotional messages too frequently, as that can be seen as spam.

How to Send Message Blasts on LinkedIn

Here are the steps to blast a message on LinkedIn:

1. Compose your message – Write a compelling message up to 300 characters long. Briefly explain what you are messaging about and why it’s relevant.
2. Select recipients – You can choose to message your 1st-degree connections, 2nd-degree connections, group members, or follow-up contacts from InMail messages. Customize the recipient list to your goal.
3. Check character limits – Preview how your message will appear for different recipients. You are limited to 300 characters for 2nd-degree connections and group members.
4. Personalize if you want – You can customize messages by including the recipient’s first name dynamically.
5. Send your blast – Once your message looks good, send it out to your selected recipients with one click.

Tips for Effective Message Blasts

To help ensure your LinkedIn blast messages achieve results, keep these tips in mind:

• Highlight the value – Demonstrate upfront how your message benefits the recipient.
• Catch attention with the subject line – Use compelling, benefit-focused subject lines.
• Segment your list – Only message those likely to be interested based on industry, job role, location, etc.
• Personalize when possible – Insert the recipient’s first name to make it more personal.
• Use multimedia – Include relevant images, graphics, or videos when appropriate.
• Follow up strategically – Send a more detailed InMail follow up to high priority contacts.
• Track results – Use LinkedIn Analytics to see your message metrics and optimize future blasts.
• Avoid overuse – Don’t blast messages too frequently or risk being seen as spammy.

Maximizing Your Reach

To extend your message blast’s reach, here are some additional tactics:

• Expand to 3rd degree connections – Reach beyond your extended network for a wider blast radius.
• Post on LinkedIn Groups – Leverage relevant LinkedIn Groups to contact engaged Group members.
• Use Sponsored Content – Pay to boost the reach of your posts to a targeted audience.
• Export your list – Export your LinkedIn connections to blast outside of LinkedIn through email.
• Post on Company Page – For company news, post on your Company Page to reach your followers.
• Retarget with ads – Use LinkedIn’s advertising platform to continue targeting blast recipients.

Following LinkedIn’s Policies

When blasting messages on LinkedIn, be sure to follow their policies to avoid having messages flagged or your account restricted. Key policies include:

• No selling products or services directly – Avoid promotional language in blasts.
• No third-party blasting services – Blasting can only be done manually through your account.
• No contacting people outside your network – Only message 1st, 2nd, or 3rd degree connections and group members.
• Honor opt-out requests – Remove individuals from your lists if they opt out of receiving messages.
• Throttling frequency – Avoid blasting the same audience repeatedly in a short timeframe.

Review LinkedIn’s policies in full to ensure compliance. With proper targeting and effective messaging, LinkedIn blasts can produce great results. But be sure not to overuse the tactic or else recipients will begin to ignore your messages.

Alternatives to Message Blasts

If you want to spread a message but don’t think a blast is the right approach, consider these alternative distribution tactics on LinkedIn:

• Share on your Company Page – Post updates directly on your LinkedIn Company Page to reach your followers.
• Publish long-form posts – Share more detailed updates, articles, and multimedia as LinkedIn posts.
• Engage in LinkedIn Groups – Participate in relevant niche Groups to connect with that audience.
• Use targeted ads – Run sponsored content and message ads to highly specific audiences.
• Send toConnections lists – Curate and message customized lists of key connections.
• Export and email – Export your connections to email groups outside of LinkedIn.

The right distribution tactic depends on your goals, target audience, and message content. Test different approaches and analyze the results to determine what resonates best with your audience on LinkedIn.