Using LinkedIn Groups To Send Free Messages To Non-Connections

This is one of the six ways to engage with people on LinkedIn (in my opinion, it is the third best after Introductions and Open Mail). 

Back in the golden days of LinkedIn Groups, when it seemed Groups were the ticket to increased engagement by LinkedIn users, LinkedIn decided to allow group members to send each other free messages. 

Then as LinkedIn got bigger and became a hunting ground, salespeople discovered the free message tactic. Why spend ten bucks on an InMail when you could send a message to a fellow LinkedIn Group member for free? And those salespeople subsequently used it to Spam group members with sales pitches, giving LinkedIn Groups an awful reputation.

The result was LinkedIn cut back the number of free group messages any member can send to 15 a month. 

In March 2020, LinkedIn announced unlimited messaging was coming back, but there are a couple limitations or speed bumps they have introduced to thwart the carper bombers. I will cover those in a second, but first, here’s how to send these messages. 

How to send a free message to a fellow LinkedIn Group member

1) Go to a group you share with someone you are connected with that you would like to send a message to.

2) Click on “Show all” where the number of group members is listed. 

3) Enter the name of the person you want to send a message in the search bar and click “enter”

4) Click Message, compose your message and send. 

Limitations

1) LinkedIn has put in a three day “cooling off” period (my term, not theirs). Once you join a group, you have to wait three days before you can send a free message. 

2) Group messages don’t exist within the normal message framework on LinkedIn. Incoming Group routed messages show in your Notifications and not in your Messages. 

3) The recipient has to accept your message for a conversation to occur. They can reject the message in the same way you can reject an InMail message. 

4) New 2024 Limitations

LinkedIn has just announced that Group members will be limited to ten of these messages a month. The alternative of course is to ante up for a LinkedIn Premium account like Sales Navigator where you are granted an allotment of InMail messages each month. 

My guess? People were starting to use automation to go through the member lists and send excessive numbers of messages again. 

Tips on using the Group Messaging tactic

Knowing how is only half the work. To maximize your opportunities using this tactic, join the biggest LinkedIn Groups that your target audience would likely join. 

Here’s an example: I am a member of the Harvard Business Review group, which has three million members. I joined this group so I can send free messages. In fact I only visit this group to send free messages.

I have a good sized network at 5,000 connections. But those 5,000 I can send free messages to are dwarfed by the 13 million I can send free Group messages to in the sixty-five LinkedIn Groups I belong to.

Using Groups to send messages to non-Connections is a neat trick, but there is one very large caveat: if the person is not a regular LinkedIn user, it may be a long time before they see your message. This method is best used with people you can tell are fairly active on LinkedIn.