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SendingLinkedInUpdates

Page history last edited by PBworks 16 years ago

from AskMyDaddy

Isn't contacting your LinkedIn connections good networking? Should I use a mailing list?

 

You asked

 

Am I wrong to add my connections to my monthly newsletter? After all it has a very simple unsubscribe link at the bottom. How do I run my business ethically and contact my connections?

 

MyLinkDaddy writes

 

Spam is in the eye of the beholder. With 12 million LinkedIn users you'll get thousands of definitions of what is and isn't appropriate.

 

Read ContactingConnections to be familiar with the difference between networking and commercial messages and how they should be handled. The following discussion focuses on Networking messages.

 

LinkedIn updates typically are not going to be a problem if you don't have thousands of contacts, your contacts are strong, and your message is personal and not commercial.

 

LinkedIn confusion

 

It is no surprise people are confused about contacting their own connections. LinkedIn policies and features are contradictory and discriminatory.

 

They're YOUR contacts after all. People have already given you their name and email address. You don't even need LinkedIn to make contact. Besides updating your contacts is GOOD networking. How can you support your network and vice-versa if you don't know what's new with them and what they're looking for.

 

LinkedIn's policy is that a connection is NOT permission to contact your connections and you're guilty if they receive a complaint about an update ... WHILE at the same time LinkedIn encourages you to contact your connections with the various LinkedIn updates. ... BUT not if you have too many connections, as such updates are now limited to 200 connections.

 

Just because LinkedIn can do something ... LinkedIn tells you to do it ... and others also do it, does not mean you're in the clear.

 

 

Life in the spam lane

 

There is no right or wrong. Spam is whatever a LinkedIn member says it is.

 

An example - a year ago I sent a message to my LinkedIn connections that was relevant (it was about LinkedIn), non-business (it was for a charity), and personal (I was running the charity drive). You'd think that would be safe. It wasn't. A few people in my network complained. The lesson - regardless of what you send, you always take a risk.

 

Developing a strategy for sending updates is not easy. Sometimes you can't win no matter what you do.

> You put in prequalifiers to assuage people who might complain ... and some of them inevitably ignore it, while others now find your message to no longer be personal.

> You use a mailing list so there is a simple and direct solution. People are only on the list if they want your communications. ... But it becomes complicated and time-consuming, not simple at all. You have the painful job of synchronizing the lists. The list has to be regularly updated from your LinkedIn connections. You must take special care that a member who leaves the list never is re-added because of the LinkedIn connection update.

> If you play it safe and use an opt-in list, you will get only a tiny fraction of your connections ... which defeats the strategy of building a network you can contact.

> You may use an opt-out list that satisfies most people ... except those for whom the idea of a list itself too commercial and spammy.

 

You are forced to operate in a gray area where it's a matter of degree, perception, and acceptable risk, where the likelihood of a complaint is related to the message topic, its "spaminess", the size of your network, the message vehicle (LinkedIn update, personal email, list server), etc.

 

 

Connection = Opt-in

 

There is one option that eliminates much of this ambiguity and the problems with lists that have a life outside LinkedIn. Make your LinkedIn connections your opt-in list. The key to doing this is that it must be opt-in.. So it's best to start with a new account (which I had the misfortune of experiencing, but used this to turn it into a plus).

 

But you must do this BEFORE you add connections, so it's a true and full opt-in list. If you do it with existing connections, it's equivalent to an opt-out list and you still risk complaints.

 

On your profile and all sent and received invitations be clear that connecting means they're accepting updates. I send another email to all new connections repeating this a second time. It's a lot of extra work, but worth it to ensure I have a clean list. And it's repeated again in all my updates - if recipients no longer want to receive personal updates, I am happy to break the connection.

 

Sending email

 

 

Check our Software page for info and links on Business Email Software and Services that can handle large mailings.

 

 

Summary

 

This opt-in strategy doesn't guarantee that you'll never have problems. But it does provide a solid and ethical defense if there are complaints, whether direct to you or through LinkedIn complaint processing.

 

Read more about managing your network in our ActiveNetworkersGuide.

 

For another view see Scott Allen's excellent article at http://www.LinkedIntelligence.com/communicating-with-your-connections-spam-or-networking .

 

MarcFreedman

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