Linkedin Network Activation

Every Founder wants their startup to be known.‍

While leveraging a content strategy, running paid ads experiments, or reaching out cold can help to learn what may or may not work; most founders hardly leverage their first and second degree relationships and if they do there’s no organized way to get the most out of building awareness.

Network Activation enables founders to strategically reach out to their first and second degree connections and find prospects who are either willing to engage with their startup, or are able to refer them to people who can.

The challenge, however, is that networks are not predictable. By leveraging Linkedin Network Activation we can reach out to our first and second degree connections by putting them into meaningful cohorts (alumni, past colleagues, shared location) in a way that feels authentic.

In this playbook we will highlight the process you need to get this done.

Strategies

Linkedin Power Networking

List of plays:

Network Activation Basic - 1st degree connections

This is where we export, shortlist and reach out to first connections requesting a call, requesting an intro or sharing a lead magnet. Depends on the strength of the relationship you have with the contact. You can also categorize each prospect into buckets, this will help scale and give more clarity on messaging we can use. Linkedin Basic Messaging

1st degree on ICP
1st degree on connectors
1st degree on multipliers
1st degree on Geo
1st degree on past companies
1st degree on Alumni
1st degree on complimentary services

Network Activation Basic - 2nd degree connections

This is where we export, shortlist and reach out to 2nd degree connections requesting a call, requesting an intro or sharing a lead magnet. This can be a huge list of contacts so we need to determine the buckets prospects will fall into. This will help scale and give more clarity on messaging we can use. Connection requests Linkedin Basic Messaging Linkedin sales navigator Linkedin Inmails

2nd degree on ICP
2nd degree on Alumni
2nd degree + Contacts with similar services, e.g. fractional CFO
2nd degree + Geo, specifically city
2nd degree + Past companies

Network Activation Advanced - 2nd Degree

This is where we ask our 1st degree connections for intro to 2nd degree connections. So we have to build a list of 2nd degree connections based on various buckets (could be like previous buckets), find + list all common connections with each 2nd degree, and let the client decide which ones to ask for intro. This is a longer process to execute and we have to ensure that we are thoughtful in the approach as we don't want to seem annoying to our 1st degree connections. Connection requests Linkedin Basic Messaging Linkedin sales navigator Linkedin Inmails

Network Activation Advanced - Targeted Connections

This is where we have a list of targeted companies we want to prospect. We upload that list into Linkedin (using Sales Nav Advanced - $150 p/m plan), look for 2nd degree connections. Shortlist and see which 1st degree connections we can ask for intro. Connection requests Linkedin Basic Messaging Linkedin sales navigator Linkedin Inmails

How to's

Create Cohorts in Linkedin Sales Navigator

Navigate to Leads Filter in Linkedin Sales Navigator (Linkedin/Sales Nav/Home/Search bar-click Lead Filter). Plot the search filters for the cohorts you defined.

Important:

Important:1st degree on ICP - you can use Linkedin filters for these1st degree on connectors - These are contacts that have 5k connections but they are not part of your ICP. these you cannot use a filter for. Only when the records are exported using Evaboot, then you can find these contacts.1st degree on multipliers - These are contacts that have MORE THAN 5k connections but they are not part of your ICP. these you cannot use a filter for. Only when the records are exported using Evaboot, then you can find these contacts.1st degree on Geo - you can use Linkedin filters for these1st degree on past companies - you can use Linkedin filters for these1st degree on Alumni - you can use Linkedin filters for these1st degree on complimentary services - you can use Linkedin filters for these

Click on Saved Search and enter the cohort name for this list:

Select the prospects you want and add them to a lead list.

Difference between a Saved Search and a Lead list:

Saved search - is based on the information Linked present to you in the search filter

Lead list - is where you select the prospects you want to reach out to.

Click on checkbox against each contact, click Save to list/+ Create Lead List

Give the list a name (your cohort name) but add 01 at the beginning. So it's easier to sort and manage:

Navigate to Lead lists on the menu at the top and verify that your new list is there with contacts.

Click on Create new list and name it “99_Irrelevant Leads”

Click Add and create another lead list with the name of the previous list but add “Completed” at the beginning. This will contain all the contacts that have prospected.

Cleansing Lead lists

Click on the first list that has the contacts you want to reach out to. Export those using Evaboot chrome extension, look at "Extract with Evaboot" option on the page.

Give the extraction a name on evaboot and click Extract.
When the process is finished, you will see a list like this:

Go through the list and perform these checks:
Add a column called Category. These will have entries like ICP, Connectors, Multipliers, Not Relevant.
Look at Match Filters column and check all that is "NO", and verify if those contacts are relevant.
Look at Prospect Connection column and mark off the ones that are Connectors and Multipliers.
For the ICP marked contacts, check each company's website to ensure they are good companies to reach out to.
Also, run through list and look at the contacts that have emojis in the name or are lower case or have weird characters. Select those prospects, remove them from the list. We want this list to be automated and if we have those contacts with emojis then the outreach would look robotic.
For the Irrelevant contacts, log in to Linkedin and add move them to “99_Irrelevant Leads” lead list.

Automation / Outreach

Extract all entries that are relevant leads and upload into an automation platform.
We will be using different copies for different segments, so ensure you correctly mark these off when uploading (creating specific list in the Linkedin automation platform).
Use these email templates as inspiration.
Start the automation
Periodically, when the process is finished for contacts, add these to the 2_Completed list

Tooling

1) Evaboot - evaboot.com

Scrape sales navigator lists

2) We-connect - we-connect.io

Linkedin automation

3) Linkedin Sales Nav-Advanced

Getting contacts and outreach

4) botster.io - creative prospecting, list building

5) Phantombuster - phantombuster.com

Creative prospecting, list building

6) Prospectss - prospectss.com