Social Spamming Sucks: How to Stop Salespeople from Ruining LinkedIn

Social selling, when done right, can be an incredibly effective way for salespeople to research prospects, build relationships, and ultimately win more business. According to LinkedIn, reps who regularly share content are 45% more likely to exceed quota.

However, there‘s a big difference between social selling and social spamming. Too many reps today are simply applying their outdated, impersonal outbound tactics to social media and wondering why it‘s not working.

I call this social spamming – and it sucks. Not only is it totally ineffective, it can severely damage your professional reputation and even get you blocked or removed from platforms like LinkedIn.

In this post, I‘ll share the worst social spamming mistakes to avoid, proven practices to do social selling the right way, and step-by-step instructions to clean up your LinkedIn connections from spammy salespeople.

5 Social Spamming Tactics to Avoid At All Costs

First, let‘s cover what NOT to do. If you‘re guilty of any of these behaviors, stop immediately before you get banned from LinkedIn for life.

1. Sending automated LinkedIn messages

When you request to connect with someone or interact with them (like congratulating them on a work anniversary), LinkedIn provides a default message. Too many lazy reps send this without customizing it at all.

Getting 12 "congrats on the work anniversary!" messages from people who clearly didn‘t look at your profile and realize it‘s not a real anniversary is extremely annoying. If you can‘t be bothered to personalize it, don‘t send it.

2. Blasting unsolicited pitches via InMail

Buying InMail credits and blasting prospects with your generic pitch is a terrible idea. Just because the medium has changed doesn‘t mean an irrelevant, generic sales message is suddenly welcome.

It‘s arguably worse, because prospects can see from your LinkedIn profile that you didn‘t tailor your pitch at all to them despite having that info available. Impersonal InMails get deleted with an eye roll.

3. Auto DMs and spammy Twitter outreach

Auto DMs thanking people for following you scream "I‘m a spammer!" Even if it‘s unintentional, any kind of automated message on Twitter comes across as inauthentic and annoying.

Liking a few tweets also doesn‘t make it okay to immediately pitch someone. Build real relationships and interactions first before trying to take things to the next level.

4. Thinking a few likes means you have a relationship

In general, reps need to be careful not to overestimate the strength of their social media connections. Liking someone‘s posts a few times doesn‘t mean you now have a real relationship.

I‘ve gotten messages saying things like "Since we‘ve interacted a lot on LinkedIn…" when the rep has maybe liked 2 of my posts, ever. Be realistic and don‘t exaggerate the depth of your social media interactions.

5. Name-dropping mutual connections you may not know well

"I see we‘re both connected to John Smith, so I thought I‘d reach out…" is a common tactic reps use to establish credibility and a reason for contacting you. The thing is, most people on LinkedIn have hundreds of connections – the chances they are close to all of them is slim.

If you name-drop a mutual connection the prospect doesn‘t actually know well, your attempt at familiarity will probably backfire. Only mention shared connections if you have confirmed with that person that they know your prospect.

How to Do Social Selling the Right Way

Now that we‘ve covered what not to do, here are some positive tips to leverage social media effectively to generate relationships and sales opportunities:

1. Always personalize your outreach. Reference something specific from the person‘s profile or a piece of content they‘ve shared to show you‘ve done your homework. Even if it‘s just a connection request, make it unique to them.

2. Focus on providing value and building real relationships first. Don‘t immediately jump to the sales pitch. Share their content, thoughtfully comment on their posts, and establish yourself as a trusted connection before trying to sell them.

3. When using a mutual connection, confirm with that person first that they actually know your prospect well and ask them to provide a warm introduction. Dropping their name without that context can seem like name-dropping.

4. Use social as a research tool, not just a pitching platform. Even if you‘re not connected, you can learn a lot about a prospect‘s role, company, and interests from their LinkedIn or Twitter to inform your outreach.

5. Attract prospects to you by regularly posting helpful, relevant content. Demonstrating your expertise and starting conversations is a great way to get on a prospect‘s radar without seeming pushy.

How to Clean Up Spammy LinkedIn Connections

Of course, even if you follow these best practices, that doesn‘t stop other reps from spamming you. Here‘s how to identify and remove spammy LinkedIn connections:

1. Click the "My Network" icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage.
2. Click "See all" next to "Connections" on the left. This will bring up a list of all your connections.
3. Use the search bar or filters to identify people you don‘t actually know or want to be connected to. Look for telltale signs like "LION" (LinkedIn Open Networker) in their profile.
4. Click the three dots to the right of their name and select "Remove Connection."
5. For especially spammy or sketchy profiles, click "Report/Block" instead so they can‘t simply reconnect with you later.

Go through this process regularly to keep your connections high-quality and relevant. You‘ll have a better experience and spammers will have one less person to bother.

Bonus: Optimize Your LinkedIn Privacy Settings

Finally, you can limit the amount of spam you get in the first place by adjusting your LinkedIn account and privacy settings:

• Turn off your "Career Interests" to avoid getting pitches from recruiters
• Set your "Who Can See Your Email Address" to only trusted connections
• Select "Only You" under "Viewers of this Profile Also Viewed" so competitors can‘t see who else viewed your profile
• Set "Messages from Members and Partners" to "Introductions Only" to filter out cold InMails

With a combination of avoiding social spamming yourself, proactively removing spammy connections, and locking down your privacy settings, you can take back control of your LinkedIn experience.

Focus on providing value, building real relationships, and being intentional with your activity and connections. That‘s the winning recipe for generating real sales results from social selling – without being a spammer.