LinkedIn’s been putting free accounts under some restrictions in the past few weeks. What should you know about this?
LinkedIn users are a bit frustrated with this change and see it as a bad sign for many demographics. It leads to free account users to believe this is a campaign to get them to transition to premium plans. This is also an evident attempt to circumvent LinkedIn automation tools.
Well, the bottom line is:
This update is nothing for you to worry about.
Let’s dive a bit into the new restrictions.
Restriction Conditions
Connection messages
For free users, the number of connection requests they can send per month remain the same. You’re not limited to 10 connection message per month unless you go under LinkedIn suspicion. If you’re sending out messages massively, not adhering to our recommendations, it may lead to the restriction of 10 connection messages/month imposed on your account.
The length of connection message
Users may not experience a reduction in monthly connection requests. But the length of connection request messages can be limited to 200 characters (instead of 300). It’s really not that big deal, taking into consideration that users rarely read long connection messages. Again, you have to go under LinkedIn’s suspicion first to experience this limitation.
If you’re on a paid plan and seeing this restriction, chances are that will only be
momentary and it is used more as a preventive measure in the general fight against spam
connections.
Evade Any LinkedIn Restrictions Like a Pro With Closely
If you’ve been on LinkedIn for a while, you know the platform is no stranger to coming up with new obstacles and restrictions every so often. The Closely team is familiar with LinkedIn’s policies and methods of operation, so we’ve devised a few strategies to help you adapt to limitations and avoid falling under suspicion.
This works as a general guide for countering most restrictions, old or new, and protecting your account in the process:
When running Closely:
- Account Synchronization: Before syncing your LinkedIn account with Closely, ensure that all active sessions or campaigns on other LinkedIn-connected services are completed.
- Trial Period: Security is first for us. At the core of our service, we prioritize the protection of our users’ LinkedIn accounts. To achieve this, we assign exclusive proxies to users with subscription plans. This approach guarantees that both the user and our system employ identical login parameters, effectively reducing any potential concerns from LinkedIn.
Please be aware that the trial version of our product does not provide access to this particular type of proxy. We, therefore, recommend that users exclusively utilize the platform’s warm-up mode during the trial phase.
- Warm-up Period: Set a warming-up period for your account lasting at least one month. This makes sure your account has a slow and steady activity frequency growth and falls under LinkedIn’s radar.
- Exclusive Synchronization: Before connecting your LinkedIn account to Closely, please make sure it is not simultaneously linked to other third-party prospecting tools running active campaigns on LinkedIn.
Protecting your account:
- Buy LinkedIn subscriptions
This is obviously what LinkedIn is pushing, so just going through with it will save you lots of trouble with LinkedIn’s restrictions. Opting for a subscription will open up more opportunities for networking, connection message numbers, character count, etc., among many plan-specific features. You can choose Sales Navigator or LinkedIn Premium, for example, based on your specific needs.
- Personalize outreach/connection messages
To not be categorized as spam and put on LinkedIn’s watchlist, make sure you’re not using generic or formulaic wording, but personalizing your messages for every user.
- Get your Social Selling Index Up
In simple terms, your SSI shows how effectively you’re using the platform and how good you are at connecting with the right people. Accounts with a high SSI tend not to be hit so harshly by restrictions and can send out more messages than those with a lower SSI.
- Refrain from using spam-related language in your invitations.
Avoid using identical templates repetitively in your various outreach campaigns in short
period. Try to use different approaches for the same audiences or ICPs. By
doing so, LinkedIn algorithms are less likely to flag your invitations as spam
and impose personalized invitations limitations.
- Adjust the number of invitations sent based on your account’s activity level
For new accounts, initiate a warm-up period using Closely Platform. On established accounts, exercise caution by limiting your daily invitation count to between 30-45.
Conclusion
The main thing you should know about the LinkedIn’s update is that the overall LinkedIn Connection requests capacity remain the same. This range may be influenced by factors such as the account’s maturity, you and the age of your account. If you use Closely, be sure we’re on guard of your account’s safety: just strictly adhere to our recommendations, and you’ll be fine.
Happy prospecting!
