LinkedIn automation playbook

We’re going to start by targeting members of groups you have joined. By targeting group members, you can engage with people who have a known interest in a specific topic which increases the likelihood of successful engagement. You can then narrow the list down further, using the criteria you set out in your preparation. Let’s use an example:

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You are a recruiter, looking to find candidates for sales and marketing positions for an IT sector customer, you can put ‘IT sales marketing’ in the search box and then filter by groups.

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By joining groups you feel are relevant, you can then run outreach campaigns to fellow group members. Let’s join ‘IT Sales & Marketing’ which has 17,672 members here.

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17, 672 is too many to target, and it will likely contain other suppliers, and non-relevant profiles so we need to narrow it down to ensure that our outreach messaging is relevant.

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So let’s use the filters available in Sales Navigator. Your search may look like this. 

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Here we target Sales Directors in the USA who are in the same ‘IT Sales & Marketing’ group. It has come back with 247 results -  a nice number to target with a personalized approach.

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You can save this list and Sales Navigator will automatically add new profiles to the list that meet your search criteria, expanding your list over time and feeding new prospects into your campaign.

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Step 3: Create your campaign

Now it’s time to create your campaign messaging. With Dux-Soup Turbo you can create unlimited campaigns, allowing you to test different variations of each step, and the overall workflow, to find the one that delivers the best conversion rates.

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1. Create your campaigns in the Dux-Dash. You can get to this from your Dux-Soup extension which we advise pinning to your toolbar.

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2. Head to ‘Drip Campaigns’ in the Dux-Dash and you’ll see all the campaigns you have already created, plus you can duplicate or create new campaigns. Let’s create a new campaign. Click on ‘New Campaign’.

3. Now name your campaign and select ‘Sales Navigator’ as the target (or Recruiter or LinkedIn depending on which plan you have). This will ensure all your messages are sent from, and responses kept, in one platform.

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4. Now let’s create your sequence. By default your campaign will start with a connection request and a single follow-up message. You can add up to 10 more actions per campaign, totaling a maximum of 12 actions. Do this by hitting the + in the bottom corner of the previous action. Let’s start with the following workflow:
   

Visit

When you visit a profile, it will notify the prospect that you have done so. Curious by nature, we tend to view a profile in return if someone looks at ours. This is a great, non-pushy way to generate awareness, and if your profile grabs attention then you may even get some immediate interest.

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We commonly hear that Dux users are generating leads just by visiting profiles alone.

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Connection Request (+1 day)

In the example we’re using, here’s a connection message you could start with:

V1

Hi _FN_,

I came across you in the IT Sales & Marketing Group. I’m currently looking to connect with Sales Directors to discuss an opportunity. Your profile stood out, let’s connect and I can share more. 

Eve

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Or,

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V2

Hi _FN_,

I’m a fellow IT Sales & Marketing Group member, looking to grow my network and share expertise. I hope you’ll connect?
Eve

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Remember, the purpose of your connection message is to get them to accept your invitation. Nothing more. So don’t give away too much. Pique their curiosity, or give them a strong reason to connect with you.

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A good rule of thumb is that you should be aiming for a connection acceptance rate higher than 40%. Anything less and either your message or target audience needs to be tweaked.

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We cover some more connection invitation strategies and examples in a different article. 

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Follow-up message #1 (+1 day)

Once a prospect has accepted your invitation, you can engage with them on LinkedIn with free direct messages. This is not a privilege to abuse, however, as people can quickly remove you as a connection if you start to overtly sell to them.

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In our example we could use:

V1

Thanks for connecting _FN_. I’m working on a new opportunity with a hugely successful company. They need a Sales Director with your skillset to drive ambitious growth plans and they’re offering a great package for the right person. Would you be open to receiving some details about it?

Eve

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Or, in another example, you could start by sharing some content:

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V2

Thanks for connecting _FN_, it’s great to have you in my group.
We just released a piece on the state of play of the _Industry_ market, which you may find interesting. I’d love you to take a read and see whether you’re experiencing anything different?

{URL}.

Eve

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Endorse top 3 skills (+2 days)

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Follow-up message #2 (+5 days)

V1

Hi _FN_,

Just following up on my previous message to see whether you’d like to hear more about the opportunity with [client]? They’re a leader in the [?] sector and growing rapidly. It’s a great time to join, with lots of investment going in over the next 12 months. I think your skillset is a good match to the opportunity.

Eve

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V2

Hi _FN_,

Just wanted to see whether you had a chance to read our _Industry_ market report {URL}. Maybe we could collaborate on some content? Let me know if you’re interested.

Eve

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Follow-up message #3 (+6 days)

V1

Hi _FN_,

Just reaching out for the last time as this opportunity is closing soon. Let me know if you’d like to discuss it with me. If this one isn't right for you, but you're open to others, just add your details here [URL] so I can keep you posted.

Many thanks,

Eve

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V2 (asking open questions, you can elicit a response to open up the conversation):
Hi _FN_,
Curious, do you get involved in x,y,z? It’s an area I have a lot of passion for, so would always be happy to have a coffee and chat sometime. I’d be interested to know how you handle a,b,c?

Eve

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After 3 follow-up messages, if they haven’t responded then you’re likely not to get a response so we can leave it there.

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What does this look like in Dux-Soup?

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Using v1, we have a 6-step campaign targeted to a specific audience with a personalized, relevant message. Once we’ve created this in your drip campaign this is how it should look.

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If you need help creating your campaign, you can watch our tutorial on creating drip campaigns. If you’re used to creating email workflows, it’s a very similar process.

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Once you’ve finished your campaign, make sure to click ‘save’ at the bottom.

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Step 4: Enroll profiles into your campaign

Now, the last part is super easy. Head back to your Sales Navigator list, and wait for your Dux-Soup icon to turn green (this means it’s active).

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Click on ‘Enroll’

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Then select the campaign you’ve just created, and input the number of profiles you want to enroll. Here we can enroll all of them by inputting 250.

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Click ‘OK’ and that’s it! You’ll see Dux-Soup working away on your Sales Navigator screen, scheduling actions as it adds them to the activity queue.

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Now you can sit back and enjoy a coffee while Dux-Soup runs your LinkedIn outreach for you!

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Step 5: A/B test, monitor and adapt

To get the best results from Linkedin, you should test variations of your campaign messaging, or target audience, and analyze the results to see what works best.

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The great news is that this is really simple with Dux-Soup. In the Funnel Flow section of the Dux-Dash, you can see instant data from your campaigns, giving you the connection acceptance rate, and message response rate.

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Bonus extra:

Download your LinkedIn data

When Dux-Soup visits a profile, it will record their details and you can download this data. You can also use Dux-points to gather email addresses from profiles of 2nd and 3rd+ degree connections  (emails for 1st-degree connections are free). Just make sure you’ve turned on ‘Record profile data’ in your Browser tab.

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And head to the Dux store to buy points for email addresses.

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You can now build a database of thousands of prospects to target with a multi-channel approach. It’s easy and builds you an accurate database fast!

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Footnote

There are a few things to note with Dux-Soup Turbo:

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1. You need to keep your browser (Chrome) and Sales Navigator open. If you close this down, Dux-Soup will stop its actions. By upgrading to Dux-Soup Cloud, your automation will be ‘always-on’ and continue running even when you turn your computer off.
2. If a prospect sends you a message, Dux-Soup will automatically stop their progress in the campaign. We encourage you to manually follow up with them, but you can opt to continue them in the campaign from the Funnel Flow section of the Dux-Dash.
3. Dux-Soup has automatic built-in safety settings to keep your LinkedIn account safe. Just to add context to this, LinkedIn can’t detect Dux-Soup at work, it can only detect user behavior that is suspicious of automation. By default, Dux-Soup is set to keep your account within these levels and we advise you not to change these. However, we understand that some users want more control, so with Turbo you can change your automation settings. You’ll need to enable ‘expert’ mode under the ‘user’ tab of your options menu, and then you’ll see the ‘Throttling’ tab appear where you can adjust your automation activity settings.

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