8 Reasons I didn’t accept your LinkedIn invitation

8 Reasons I didn’t accept your LinkedIn invitation

Updated 1 March 2023

Would you rush into an industry function, give everyone a business card a race off? No? I didn't think so. Yet somehow people do the equivalent online.

Yes of course you can invite strangers to connect. But it has to make sense from a business perspective:

  • Is there a reason to connect?
  • Can I be of use to you?
  • Might you be able to help me?
  • Are we likely to share useful information?
  • Do you have an interesting perspective?

Here are the reasons I ignore invitations, and I’m certainly not unique. So if your response rate isn’t great, you might like to consider whether these apply to you:

  1. I don’t know anything about you. Not just because we haven’t met, but because your profile is empty or incomplete.
  2. Your profile is littered with typos, spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, so either you don’t take the medium or your professional image seriously.
  3. I can’t imagine how I might be able to be of use to you or vice versa.
  4. You describe yourself in superlatives, but there’s no evidence of expertise.
  5. You're in communications, copywriting or content marketing, but you couldn’t write me a personal note.
  6. I suspect you're going to try and sell me something
  7. You’re a business, not a person.
  8. Your account looks like it might be fake and I don’t want to be spammed.

Personalise your invitation


If you want to connect with a stranger, send them a personalised invitation. Don’t just click the connect button; tell them why you want to connect. Perhaps you’ve read some of their posts, and found them interesting, or liked what they had to say in a group discussion. But if you send only the standard invitation message, and I have no idea who you are, I'm unlikely to see much reason to link up with you.

Include a decent photo

I don’t have a great memory for names, so when I get an invitation from an unfamiliar name, I check their profile to see if I recognize the face. If you don't have a photo, I'm no wiser. Besides, if you don’t have a photo, you’re unlikely to use LinkedIn effectively, so there’s no point in connecting. A good selfie is fine, so stop making excuses.  And there’s a bonus:  profiles with photos get more views on LinkedIn.

Introduce yourself


Use your “About” section to tell me who you are, what you do and what matters to you.  Give me an opportunity to see if we have anything in common.

Find the shift key


If you write your name in all lowercase, I can’t take you seriously. And if you use ALL CAPS for your profile, it’s like shouting. Either way, you lost me before you started.

Show, don't tell


It’s all very well to tell me how fabulous you are in your profile. But just announcing that you’re energetic and committed probably won’t convince me.  Give me a reason to believe you.  And consider listing your skills in the appropriate section and asking people to recommend or endorse you.

Not everyone’s a writer


You might not be confident in your writing skills,  and that’s fine. We all have different strengths. But if you lay claim to being in communications, one way to showcase your expertise is to communicate! Simply clicking the connect button doesn’t quite hack it.

I don't want to be hounded


Of course, you can use LinkedIn to find leads and it's a good idea. The whole point of networking is to grow your business. But I don't want to connect with someone who instantly tries to sell me something. I might be interested once I get to know you, but I definitely don't want to hear a total stranger's sales spiel.

A profile should be personal


If you’re using a personal profile for your business, you’re contravening LinkedIn’s user agreement - which means they could delete your account instantly if they come across your profile. It also means you don't really understand how to use LinkedIn.

Use a company page for your business and a personal profile for yourself.

Company pages are free and they also offer the advantage of analytics so you’ll know what’s working for you. Once you have your company page up, feel free to come back and invite me to follow it.

Does your profile look like a fake account?

Fake accounts are used mainly to:

  • Scrape email addresses for spam
  • Extract information for phishing scams

You might be genuine, but if your profile has the warning signs of a fake profile, I won’t accept your invitation. So avoid these mistakes: your name is in lowercase, you have very few connections, your photo is indistinct, and your profile is vague. Your account might be real, but if I don’t know you I'm not going to risk connecting with you.

If I ignore your invitation, it’s not because I haven’t checked my inbox. It’s deliberate. But if you need help with LinkedIn, give me a shout. Send me another invitation telling me why or contact me on my website or subscribe to my updates.

Chris Brooker

Independent Civil Engineering Professional

7y

Very true

Aad Lips

Senior copywriter, conceptmaker, strateeg en p.r. + communicatieadviseur bij Aad Lips Communicatie - Venlo.

8y

How did you do that...? You read my mind....!

IBIEZUGBE SYLVESTER

Inventory Supervisor at Livespot360

9y

your point is spot on.

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Eslam Zayed

Ports & Silos General Manager | Directeur Général Des Ports & Silos | Порты и элеваторы Генеральный | Генеральний менеджер портів і силосів | 港口和筒仓总经理 | Ports & Silo's Algemeen directeur

9y

Very valid and good post ... Thank you

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Laurel Youngstrom

International Motivational Safety Speaker, Moving Safety from our Heads to our HEARTS

9y

Very good points, Ann!

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