How To Write A Great LinkedIn Connection Message [with Examples]

In today’s job market, there are more and more open positions that remain “hidden” to the public.

That’s one of the main reasons you might want to connect with more people in your field of work, as they would have more information about such positions.

And luckily, in today’s technology-oriented world, there is a platform that lets you connect with anyone around the world professionally.

You might have guessed – we are talking about LinkedIn, as the biggest professional social platform, used widely by job-seekers, employers, and workers.

But as it is widely used, professionals in it receive tons of connection requests on a daily basis.

To catch their attention, and really connect with them, you need to know how to get your connection request just right.

And we are here to help you, in this article, we are going to explore the following questions:

• What are the different types of LinkedIn connection requests?
• How to write a LinkedIn connection message?

And we are going to finish things up with some great examples for LinkedIn connection messages.

So, if you are ready to get your LinkedIn connection message just right, let’s dive in.

What are the different types of LinkedIn connection requests?

Before we go any further, it is important for you to know the three different types of LinkedIn connections that are used in the platform:

1. 1st-degree connections – these are the people you already have in your network (you have already connected)
2. 2nd-degree connections – these are the users that are connected to your 1st-degree connections
3. 3rd-degree connections – these are the users that are connected to your 2nd-degree connections

You can connect with anyone in your 2nd and 3rd-degree connections, but LinkedIn will encourage you to use connection requests for 2nd-degree connections and LinkedIn InMails for your 3rd-degree connections.

How to write a LinkedIn connection message?

Just like most things, there is a right way to do it, and a wrong one.

If you do it the right way, you will expand your connections, and face new opportunities, but if you do it the wrong way, your requests might get rejected.

Furthermore, if too many requests are rejected, and people click on “I don’t know this person”, you might get flagged on LinkedIn and get a restriction.

Luckily, there are a few simple steps that will guarantee you to stay away from restrictions, and make people accept your connection requests.

Find some common ground

The first step you need to take is to find a common ground, so that you start a strong connection with that person.

Check out their profile and look for any common interests, groups, academic institutions, industry, or even the same point of view on a topic.

You can do even better if you have a mutual connection – in this case, ask your mutual connection to make an introduction.

Stay professional

After you find a common ground, it is important to make sure that it is a professional one.

You should send a LinkedIn connection message with the goal of professional networking.

So make sure you stay away from any personal references, or giving compliments that are not business-related.

Personalize your LinkedIn connection message

The start of your LinkedIn connection message is crucial.

You need a general salutation, but make sure you personalize it by addressing the person by name.

After that, you can add in your message any details such as:

• Name of the company they work at
• Their exact job title
• Set of skills

The more you know about the person you are trying to connect, the higher chances you have of that person accepting your LinkedIn connection request.

Stay away from generic or irrelevant LinkedIn connection messages

The worst thing you can do when sending a LinkedIn connection request is to send an irrelevant message.

No medical professional would actually be interested in SEO optimization.

A close second for bad approach to LinkedIn connection requests is to send a generic message.

Even a blank LinkedIn connection requests is better than a message like “I would like to add you to my network”.

Be clear about your intention to connect

No matter what your intentions are with sending a LinkedIn connection request and message, you need to make sure you are honest and direct.

Share your reasoning with the person on the other side, no matter if you want to learn more about their work, talk about a collaboration, or simply expanding your network.

LinkedIn connection message examples

Creating a great LinkedIn connection message can be quite time-consuming, but it is absolutely worth it.

Once you get the hang of it, your LinkedIn outreach will become much better, and it will be a much more enjoyable experience.

Let’s take a look at a few LinkedIn connection message examples for different cases to get you started on your own.

For a colleague

For a new colleague

For a former co-worker

For someone you met at a networking event

For a recruiter

Takeaways

We are all done, now you know how to get your LinkedIn connection message just right.

Let’s do a quick recap to make sure you get the best out of it, you need to:

• Find some common ground – check out their profile and find some mutual interest or topic to use as a conversation starter
• Stay professional – LinkedIn is a professional network platform, so make sure your message stays professional
• Personalize your LinkedIn connection message – make sure you use their name, along with any other information you found about them
• Stay away from generic or irrelevant connection messages – even a blank connection request is a better option than that
• Be clear about your intentions to connect – no matter what your reasoning is, be honest and direct

Check out our examples one last time, and start working on your own LinkedIn connection messages.