Some important safety tips to be aware of before you get started.
Delete All LinkedIn-Related Browser Extensions
Make absolutely certain there are no LinkedIn-related browser extensions installed, whether they are active or not, on any browser accessing any of your LinkedIn profiles connected to Prospect Maximizer.
It is not enough to disable an extension – all extensions related to LinkedIn must be completely uninstalled.
Do Not Use Any Other LinkedIn Related Software on Your Account
Using any other LinkedIn related software on your account at the same time as Prospect Maximizer dramatically increases the risk of having your profile restricted by LinkedIn.
Minimize Your Login Points
It is wise to limit the number of different places your LinkedIn account is being accessed. Too many login points is one of the main cause of profiles being ID restricted by LinkedIn.
Agencies managing many different LinkedIn profiles employ a range of different workflow strategies to keep their accounts safe. Most commonly, they do not log into the profiles on linkedin.com directly at all. Sales Navigator searches can be created on any SN enabled LI account, and then pasted into the desired profile within Prospect Maximizer (as long as the profile within Prospect Maximizer also has SN enabled). Note that the SN search results will be slightly different from profile to profile, but the integrity of the search will remain the same.
More technically savvy agencies managing large numbers of LinkedIn profiles that need to be able to log in directly to the profile on linkedin.com (with minimal risk) often create solutions such as virtual machines with dedicated proxy IP’s per profile.
Ramp Up Activity Slowly
There’s no fixed rule for how many actions are safe. There are many factors at play.
Common wisdom is to start with a lower amount of activity and ramp up slowly.
Account credibility – having a “seasoned” account – is certainly a big factor. LinkedIn’s best indicator of the credibility of your LinkedIn profile is the Social Selling Index score they give to your profile, which you can check right here:
https://www.linkedin.com/sales/ssi
Having Sales Navigator raises the threshold of activity that LinkedIn permits on your account. Historically, the general rule of thumb has been 50 invitations to connect per day for a profile that does not have Sales Navigator and 100 invitations to connect per day for a profile that has Sales Navigator. However, this environment is fluid and there are many factors at play. LinkedIn has recently tightly up their amount of allowed activity, and our recommendations are now well below those numbers.
Good Targeting & Good Messaging Reduces Risk
When you send an invitation to connect, your prospect can flag your message as “spam” or flag it as “I don’t know this person.”
You don’t want either of these to occur.
Good targeting and good messaging is the best way to reduce this risk.
Smaller campaigns with precise targeting can enable you to write messages that are as personal as possible
Making your messages sound as personal and as specific to your prospect as possible produces the best results
Here is LinkedIn’s article on Best Practices for Connecting with Other Members
Vary Your Messages
If LinkedIn sees the same message going out over and over again, that could indicate to them that some type of automation may be being used. A larger number of smaller campaigns with variations in messaging may help decrease chances of detection.