How To Reach Out to Someone on LinkedIn – Proven Ways for Success

Last Updated on 28 August 2024 by Wil Son

You got a new connection on LinkedIn – now what? How do you reach out to someone on LinkedIn?

The moment you connect with someone new on LinkedIn is a great moment to send them a message.

LinkedIn cold messages have, in most cases, a bit of a bad reputation in today’s world.

I bet even you received at least one spamming message from someone you’ve previously connected with on LinkedIn.

So, it’s nothing new that sending a LinkedIn cold message can be exhausting, no matter whether you’re looking for a job or new clients.

No one wants to be reported, ignored, or rejected, but it’s not that easy to sell yourself to a stranger by intriguing them and without spamming them at the same time.

Many LinkedIn users have a problem with reaching out to someone else on the platform as there is no universal template that you can easily use with all your messages and expect your response rates to grow suddenly.

In case you’re struggling with how to reach someone via LinkedIn cold messages, I want you to know that you’re not alone.

We’re here for you, and we’ve already done a part of your homework. Now it’s up to you to use it wisely for yourself.

After reading this article, you’ll learn how to reach any person on LinkedIn like a pro and get responses to your queries or pitches.

What we’ll get through is:

• Who to connect with on LinkedIn
• Reaching out to someone on LinkedIn about a job
• Reaching out to someone on LinkedIn for advice
• Reaching out to prospects
• Reaching out to someone in a comment on LinkedIn
• Reaching out to a thought leader in your industry on LinkedIn
• Reaching out to someone on LinkedIn that you admire

So, let’s start.

Who to Connect With on LinkedIn

The main goal of LinkedIn connections and outreach is to help you build relationships with other LinkedIn users.

The number of connections that you can have on LinkedIn is 30,000, and the number of invitations you can send is 5,000.

This brings us to one important question: Who to connect with on LinkedIn?

Knowing why you’re on LinkedIn will help you find who to connect with more easily.

In case your purpose on LinkedIn is:

• Getting a new job
• Finding new business partners
• Generating new leads and clients
• Building brand identity
• Connecting with other professionals from the same industry

These are the people to connect with:

Colleagues

People who you work with can be a good and valid source of endorsements and recommendations, confirming the skills presented on your profile.

Only first-degree connections on LinkedIn can recommend or endorse someone.

Your colleagues can also be a connection to someone you will try to reach on LinkedIn in the future; that’s why it’s good to be connected with them.

Existing clients

It’s important to connect with your clients not only because you want to nurture the existing relationships but also because the existing clients could lead you to new ones.

Potential clients

You should have a clear definition of who you want to work with, e.g., sector, size, industry, location, job title.

As long as your criteria are well defined, you can find these people easily using LinkedIn’s advanced search.

People who know some of your potential clients

These are people whose own businesses may not be relevant to you but may be able to introduce or recommend you to potential clients.

People that you just met

A face-to-face meeting, even a brief encounter at a networking breakfast or an exhibition or seminar, will mean that person will remember you – at least for 24 hours.

Most of these people will be relevant to your network, and it only takes a few minutes to connect with them on LinkedIn.

People that might help you

LinkedIn would suggest connections only with someone you know in the early days, but things have changed a bit.

You can send an invitation to anyone you want, but you should give them a good reason to connect first.

Note: People who don’t provide any value to you on LinkedIn are redundant in your contacts list, and you should delete them.

Just keep in mind that there are a couple of things you should take care of before making any outreach action. Make sure that:

• Your LinkedIn profile is optimized
• You’re targeting the right people
• You’re using the advanced LinkedIn search (most LinkedIn users don’t even know about it)

After filtering for people, jobs, and content in LinkedIn advanced search and targeting the people in a specific sector, you can start reaching out to them.

How to Increase Reach of Your Posts, Organically.

It’s safe to say that if your LinkedIn profile looks professional, has high-quality, original content, and gets a lot of engagement from your followers, many recruiters and potential clients will believe it’s a strong indicator of leadership and knowledge.

But if your content isn’t reaching hundreds or even thousands of people you’re probably doing something wrong!

The main idea of this strategy is to increase your visibility on Linkedin with your content.

With LinkedIn continuing to rapidly grow, it actively supports users who are creating awesome content on the platform.

How?

It does this by boosting the posts that are getting initial traction (first hour) so that more people can see them and get value from them.

But how do we get this initial traction?

Using lempod’s engagement pods (filled with real people, not bots) will help you grab likes and comments as soon as you publish your posts, ensuring you get traction right away for LinkedIn to notice.

This is how it works:

1. You install lempod Chrome extension
2. You join relevant pods (There are thousands of pods on lempod so I’m sure you will find the one for your niche).
3. You add your LinkedIn post to the pods you’ve chosen
4. And voila, you start automatically receiving likes and comments under your post
5. Later you’ll be able to track your progress and make adjustments to get better results for your future posts.

This is how it looks:

As you can see, it’s super easy!

Everything is automated, so you will be able to focus on what matters most – your LinkedIn content strategy to get more reach and be noticed even more.

The best thing? It’s a monthly subscription that costs only $9.99 per pod monthly.

So you will be able to receive automated engagement from other people (all real LinkedIn members) and cancel at any time.

If you’re ready to start right away, here are the pods that are trending now and secret codes to access them:

SaaS Haven – All things SaaS 🚀 – The secret code is: 6129

Growth Hackers – Worldwide 🌍 – The secret code is: 6031

High-level Marketing Club 👑 – The secret code is: 1042

Startup Factory – Achieve Fast Startup Growth 🚀 – The secret code is: 3348

The HR Mastermind – Everything about Human Resources 🤓 – The secret code is: 4763

How to Reach Out to Someone on LinkedIn About a Job

Did you know that 93 percent of recruiters use LinkedIn to find candidates?

That’s why you need to take advantage of this network.

Reaching out to recruiters on LinkedIn is a great way to stand out as long as you do it right.

If you’ve ever searched for a job, you know that it can be challenging and not always fun.

But although it might feel a little strange to be direct, reaching out to recruiters on LinkedIn is an acceptable move.

After all, that’s what LinkedIn is for!

These are essential rules that you should have in mind when reaching a recruiter on LinkedIn:

1. You should start your message with something personal to catch their attention – creating a personalized message will help you increase your response rate.
2. Mention some of your key qualifications to demonstrate why you are an ideal candidate for the position
3. Describe what you’re currently looking for in a few sentences – mention your interest in the role and what benefits the company will get if they decide to hire you.
4. Let HR know that you have applied for the job.
5. Keep your message short and sweet – a brief message may get HR interested in your application without irritating them.
6. Be sure to edit and proofread your message before sending it – sending a message with typing errors will look unprofessional.
7. Ask if the two of you can connect via phone.

Note: You can send LinkedIn cold messages to recruiters even if there isn’t an open job available.

Here are some effective message examples for those who look to connect with recruiters on Linkedin.

#1 Example:

Hi {{FirstName}},

My name is {{YourName}}, and I’m a {{YourRole}}.

I’m currently working for {{CurrentCompany}}, but looking to take on a new challenge and transition to a new company in {{Industry}}.

If you have a minute, I’d love the opportunity to discuss how my {{Skills}}, and experiences in {{Industry}} might match up with the positions you’re recruiting for. Would love to discuss it over the phone when you’re free.

Please feel free to reach out to me at {{ContactInfo}}.

Looking forward to talking with you!

#2 Example:

Hello {{FirstName}}, my name is {{YourName}}.

My background is in {{JobRole}} at {{YourCompany}}.

I’m exploring job possibilities, and at this stage, am thinking that {{TheirCompany}} could be a fit for me because I could do {{JobRole}} exceptionally well.

Can we meet for 15 minutes to discuss this?

Note: These are simple examples of how to reach out to recruiters. Be sure to make the message unique and add your personal touch.

Keep up a relaxed and friendly conversation that will help a recruiter remember your name and think of you as someone their company would want to hire.

How to Reach Out to Someone on LinkedIn for Advice

Before asking someone for advice, you should identify who the most relevant person to approach is.

The person you’re reaching out to is probably busy but still wants to give you the best advice possible if they’re in a position to help.

Being direct and specific with your question and the reason you’re asking it will lead to receiving a thoughtful response.

Here are some examples:

#1 Example:

Hey{{FirstName}},

Your professional journey really stood out to me. I’m very interested in building my career as a {{JobRole}}. Do you have some time to offer me a bit of advice, since you’ve been in that same position? I would really appreciate a brief phone call when you’re free.

Thanks,
{{YourName}}

#2 Example:

Hi {{FirstName}},

I saw on your LinkedIn that you’re currently working in {{JobRole}}, and transitioned from a {{JobRole}} industry!

I’ve been planning a similar move (I feel like I’m in the same position as you were in!) and would love to hear what the transition was like for you? It’d also be great to hear about what the hiring processes are like at {{TheirCompany}}.

Thanks,

{{YourName}}

How to Reach Out to Someone in Comments on LinkedIn

Only possessing a LinkedIn profile isn’t enough to catch the attention of visitors. What you have to do is be active on LinkedIn.

But liking others is also not enough to improve your visibility on LinkedIn.

I understand that not everyone should write and share articles, but you can add some value in other ways.

If you want to increase the number of people visiting your LinkedIn profile and expand your network, writing interesting comments on LinkedIn is a way to do it.

By leaving engaging comments at other people’s posts, your profile gets more visibility, the author’s attention, and their network.

There are no exact rules for writing engaging comments, but there are some guidelines that you should keep in mind:

1. Make sure that the article’s topic is relevant to your interests and career goals.
2. Think about the subject before you comment and consider the popularity of the author and the post – you should strive to connect with the relevant people and meet connections in the right field, so be strategic about it and invest your time wisely.
3. Be professional at all times.
4. Be polite and don’t insult others.
5. Check your grammar, punctuation, and spelling before you submit a comment.
6. Add value to the post by adding your experience and thoughts on the topic.
7. Don’t self-promote.
8. Don’t use ALL CAPS.
9. Tag the author and explain why you agree – add additional perspectives and alternative solutions
10. Mention other people you know who may have helpful input – a mention or tag will notify your connections that your post or comment might be relevant to them.
11. Ask a clarifying follow-up question.
12. Offer constructive feedback.
13. Answer the reader’s questions.

Pro tip: Here’s one strategy on how your activity on LinkedIn could be organized to use the power of reaching someone in comments:

• 10-20min – Review your homepage and find relevant posts
• 10-20min – Post or share posts/articles
• 20-30min – Comment, reply & and respond to comments
• 5-10 min – Thank people who comment on or share your content

How to Reach Out to a Thought Leader in Your Industry on LinkedIn

Reaching out to a thought leader in your industry and getting their attention can be challenging because many people are already trying to get their attention.

To raise your chances for a response, we suggest you:

1. Choose a leader that’s in the same industry as you.
2. Be short, concise, and specific.
3. Show your appreciation for their work – they will be more likely to respond in your favor.
4. Include a little flattery in your messages – they would love to hear it, as everyone does 😊. But don’t go overboard because it can turn them off.

Here are some examples that might help:

#1 Example:

Hey {{FirstName}}!

I’m actively growing my network with {{YourIndustry}} leaders.

{{Write a personalized sentence that gives context and explains why and what attracted you to them or how you got to know this industry leader}}

At our home base here in {{YourCity}}, we’ve found incredible creative and profitable opportunities in {{YourIndustry}}.

If you’re interested I’d love to share our learnings with you!

{{YourName}}

#2 Example:

Hey {{firstName}},

I noticed you are a {{YourIndustry}} leader and wanted to reach out.

I noticed your {{What caught your attention }} and thought it was rather cool.

Always looking to connect with pioneers in the {{YourIndustry}} space.

Looking forward to learning from one another. – {{YourName}}.

How to Reach Out to Someone on LinkedIn That You Admire

Almost every LinkedIn user likely had a moment of scrolling through a list of profiles and stumbling upon their role model.

Whether it’s someone who works for a company you love or someone who has the career of your dreams, you would give everything to talk to them.

The question is, how should you reach out without it seeming weird, random, or awkward?

Well, lucky for you, it’s not quite as hard as one might think.

Here’s my advice on how to reach out to a stranger on LinkedIn and get a response:

1. Be short, friendly, and straightforward – don’t be pushy.
2. Separate the introduction, body, and conclusion – however, remember that your LinkedIn cold message should only contain a couple of sentences.
3. Explain who you are, why you’re reaching out, and what you want.

Here’s an example:

#1 Example:

Hi {{FirstName}},

My name is {{YourName}}, and I’m a fellow {{YourJobRole}}. We have never met but I am a huge fan of your {{Company/Work/Blog}}. I particularly loved your {{Something they did}}. I am trying to {{What help you need with}} and was hoping to hear your thoughts on {{Subject}} and the challenges I might come across with it.

If you’re free for a 15-20 minute phone call, could we discuss this? You can reach me on {{YourContactInfo}}.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

{{YourName}}

#1 Example:

Hi {{FirstName}},

I noticed that {{Company}} is going to {{Event}} next week – Well, me too!

Did you plan to check out the keynote? I thought I’d reach out because I’d love to pick your brains on {{subject}}.

I hope to see you there,

Cheers

Follow up, follow up, follow up.

The trick to a successful LinkedIn cold message is to show your value as fast as possible.

You probably aren’t reaching out to only one LinkedIn user at a time, so it’s important to keep tracking the contacts you’re reaching out to and follow up with them if they don’t reply right away.

If you want to put your outreach campaigns on a scale and track their progress, some cloud-based outreach automation tools (e.g. Skylead) can help you in that process.

Conclusion

I know that reaching out to people you’ve never met might feel a little frightening, but practice makes perfect, and each message you send makes you closer to achieving your goals.

Your growth involves some risk, and the advantage of it is that you’ll learn some valuable lessons that will help you along the way.

Now, it’s time for you to start.

Utilize these tips that will help you get responses when you reach out to people on LinkedIn and remember that it’s always about building relationships. Start using lempod to boost your posts and make your profile and content stand out!