What Is InMail?
LinkedIn is a premier career networking platform that gives your career a homepage on the web.
It's like Facebook but for your professional life, linking you to potentially helpful business partners who can take your career further and higher than you ever thought possible.
An oft-overlooked feature called In Mail is much more critical than many LinkedIn users realize.
Do you struggle to make connections on LinkedIn?
Well, it might be because you're not capable of making the connections you need because you don't have In Mail.
This premium feature costs, sure, but its benefits far outweigh its costs because of the potential to make connections out of those "strangers" on the platform, the ones you're not connected to in any way.
What Are Leads?
Leads are those pleasant people or businesses that might become customers or consumers of your content. The customer who didn't buy anything but did sign up for your newsletter is an example of a lead.
They're not quite there yet, not ready to pull the trigger on a sale, but they've shown interest and are going to read your newsletter.
The biggest dilemma in business is how to address leads adequately.
Because they haven't committed to the sale, you might not realize just how important they are.
The customer who is interested is just as much a customer as the one who already bought something, if not more so.
That lead needs your hard work and rapport. You have to find a way to let them know, "You can trust our business, our information, our products."
When you successfully turn a lead into a customer, that's called a conversion. It's the result of all your hard work, and that's what you're going after when you formulate strategies using In Mail.
InMail's ability to generate leads is well known, but many people don't understand how it works or dig deeper into the capabilities of the platform.
Lead generation and In Mail are a match made in heaven.
How Messaging and Leads Work Together
LinkedIn works on the "connections" principle. If you're connected to someone, you can message them.
Unfortunately for users, it's the connections you don't have that are actually the most important.
If you're already connected in some way to a networking partner, you don't really need to go after that person as a connection. They're already there with you.
The people you're not talking to are the ones that will take your business to the next level, and they're blocked out of your messaging capabilities until you get premium In Mail services.
And that's exactly what you should do if you want to benefit the most from Linked In.
Those non-connections will suddenly have a "message" button just like your existing connections do.
All of these non-connections are just like you: they want to make connections with other potential networking partners, people who can move their business or career forward.
A Winning Combination
Here are just a few of the ways that In Mail helps you generate and potentially convert leads even in the crowded networking space of Linked In:
- You can send a more personal message without having to ask for a connection: Most people don't immediately trust strangers, especially when they're in an online venue. Even though the purpose of Linked In is to network, everyone knows that it isn't always used for good, and you'll generally have to deal with some people who might not have your best interests at heart.
- In Mail, you don't have to just "walk-up" and request a connection. That might not go over so well. What you can do is send an in-depth, well-written personalized message that states your intent and puts your best foot forward during the first contact.
- Great way to reach out to new hires: If you're looking for active, lively new candidates for a job you have, you can thoroughly read through the profiles and then reach out to them through Linked In. Let them know you respect their talent, believe in their career goals, and believe they might be a good fit for your organization. That first lead in In Mail might just work.
- InMail analytics shows you how your InMail is working out for you. Are people responding? Are they joining you in enthusiastically talking about networking opportunities, careers, and things that you can do to help each other further a career path? Or are things not going so well; maybe you're not getting much response at all. InMail Analytics can genuinely help you figure out what might be right, or wrong, with your In Mail strategy.
- More response means more credits: You purchase In Mail credits but Linked In rewards those who find success and get answers with their vision. You'll get extra credits if the person you write to respond within 90 days of the initial contact. And that means even more In Mail messages you can send to generate more leads.
As you can see, the combination of In Mail and your career is going to be a step in the right direction.
If you're going to use a career site like Linked In, make sure to take advantage of those premium features that give you your best chance to actually grow your business and career.
Premium features are premium for a reason. They're the big ones, the ones that most Linked In people have good success with and use to get results.
Yes, you can go simple and go free, but you're never going to experience the type of growth you want to see from only free features.
If you're serious about success, buckle up and get In Mail.
Signing Up For InMail
If you're already on Linked In, you probably have a passing familiarity with In Mail.
It's excellent for outreach, for making new connections without having to ask, and for explaining your cause in more depth at all times to the people you're networking with.
It's one of the best tools that the popular career networking website has right now, and it's one that you won't want to miss out on.
Any outreach you do during your career is going to help but Linked In really makes it count with their premium features.
Stop ignoring them, and start making connections to expand your career!
For more insider tips on LinkedIn, check out this Masterclasss here!
