In our previous LinkedIn tutorial we have discussed “How to Increase LinkedIn Connection“. Hope you found that tutorial very helpful and you have now good connections in LinkedIn. I also believe that, there are some people whose accounts got restricted by LinkedIn because of heavy spam invitations (perhaps you didn’t follow our previous LinkedIn tutorial thoroughly). For them I have made up this tutorial “What to Do If LinkedIn Account is Restricted“
Does LinkedIn immediately need you to add an e-mail address for all invites you send? Wondering, is this a new strategy of LinkedIn? Nope, it is not a new function on the website. It means that your LinkedIn profile has been limited. However you don’t have to feel bad, it is happened to the most ideal of us!
LinkedIn Open Networkers are especially vulnerable to this kind of profile restriction. It means that you have gotten a bit overzealous in your networking and also have invited some individuals who did not recognize you and/or were not therefore open to receiving your invite. Those individuals either marked your invite as spam or perhaps clicked the dreaded IDK (AKA I don’t know) button. The result is the exact same. All other functions of LinkedIn still work well, however you’re now needed to add an email address for all invites you send.
The great news? Customer Service of LinkedIn is really quite flexible of first offenders. This particular error is so typical these days that there is even a strategy to remove the restriction from your personal account. Once you agree to follow the terms and conditions of use and also not invite individuals with whom you have had no prior relationship, the black mark is removed from your record and you are clear and free again, however do not push it. You will require to be more careful to move forward, so just send invites that you are confident might be welcomed as well as ultimately approved or archived.
Here are my recommendations for avoiding IDK’s:
1. Join Open Networking Groups:
A few of the greatest open networker groups on LinkedIn are TopLinked, LIONs, major Global Open Networkers and also OpenNetworker.com, however generally there are many others. Join one or perhaps more of these types of groups and also publish to the discussion board, letting other people recognize that you’re open to accepting their invites. Reply to others who’ve published the exact same. Generally there are whole threads with dozens or 100s of comments from individuals like you who’re open to connecting.
2. Invite Other Open Networkers:
Your ideal bet is to be thoughtful and also just invite other open networkers. These individuals commonly make it very clear on their personal profile, showing their email address, prominently saying the number of connections they do have or/and sprinkling tell tale open networking keywords all through their account.
3. Get To OpenLink Users:
OpenLink is a choice available to paid account users that permits other LinkedIn users to contact them for totally free. These types of users have a blue or yellow OpenLink sign following to their name in search results and on their account. You could send InMail messages to these users for free; therefore feel free to use this feature by attaining out and also seeing in case that individual might be willing to connect before sending an invite.
4. Network Tactically Inside Of LinkedIn Groups:
Once you are a user of a group, you could message other group users for free, therefore don’t forget to use this function in your networking efforts. In case you find someone who appears like a tactical connection, reach out to her/him via the group messaging function before sending an invite. Introduce yourself, break the ice and offer to assist him/her and also ensure that S/he is available to connecting.
5. Do Not Take Shortcuts With Your Invites:
I am not very specific about this particular one; however I recognize that a few individuals are reluctant to accept invites that are general or perhaps incorrect in nature. In case you wish to reduce the danger of getting the dreaded IDK or perhaps spam reply, then take a moment to craft a customized invite with a brief message about what you liked about that individuals account and/or why you would love to connect. Use their name. In case you did meet them at some point or perhaps cross paths in the past, remind them of the details. Do not claim to be their colleague or perhaps classmate in case that was not the case. It does switch off a few individuals and also might lead to declined invites.
6. Withdraw Old Invitations:
In case you sent an invite more than a week or perhaps two ago and it still has not been approved, opportunities are that the invitee is not going to accept. Perhaps they are not quite active on LinkedIn, possibly they do not know your name/face, or they only do not feel compelled to connect for a few causes…. Either way, your invite is in the danger of receiving a decline in case the invite has not been approved in a timely way. I extremely suggest going into your sent invites/item, opening any invite that is still pending after a few weeks and also clicking the ‘Withdraw Invitation‘ key. The invite might vanish from their inbox, no message might be sent to that individual and also you could still re-invite them later, if you like.
Though it is very good to utilize LinkedIn as a tool for meeting new individuals & creating tactical business connections, be thoughtful not to spam or come to be an annoyance to others. Develop your network by linking up with other people who welcome the connection and also share your exact same networking philosophies plus you must skip upcoming restrictions. Happy networking!!!
Great information on linkedin account restriction. Thanks for this comprehensive article.
You are always welcome Hossain! Hope you have enjoyed this article.
Nice Article Once Again; Thanks!
You are welcome and congrats on your 1st comment. Please visit our blog more often and feel free to comment in other posts as well!
Voila! Superb post Ekhlas. Now I know what to do if my LinkedIn account gets restricted. By the way, I am connected with you in LinkedIn.
That’s great Samira. Good to know that we are connected. Yes I can see your name in my friend’s list. Welcome to my blog!
I read about LinkedIn snipers, but I met a communist LinkedIn sniper:
Please explain why you believe that the account restriction is in error.: I did nothing wrong. Last Friday I had a premium account.
Do you have any additional information to add?: I have sent the following information to all my group members using E-mail, they all know your claims are false:
Dear Section 21 members,
There is no talking to this people, to me they don’t respond, with you they don’t cooperate. They say I constantly abuse the LinkedIn platform, I had no idea….. But it looks like another standard mail for a permanent account restriction.
One of the communist bastard immediately gave me that since he knew tech-support only send back automated messages, they don’t appear to be reading anything I write….
I just get things about inappropriate or pornographic content and constantly abusing LinkedIn. I have no idea what these people are talking about…. But I think they are not talking these messages are auto generated it appears.
As you all know my account is an example of decency, good behavior and good Christian morals.
I never put anything like that on my LinkedIn page as you all know, if they just looked they could see that for themselves.
Really the guy who did this should be fired.
-Remi
______________
Nothing I do seems to work now my account is HIGH RESTRICTED, I cannot log in, I have to click pictures of rivers, trees and streets signs and I get the silent treatment. I have been nothing but polite. These people can’t be reasoned with.
Everyone that remembers my account knows how good it is!
Please help me fight, and complain about mobile.unclexnl at gmail dot com
being suspended. These articles I wrote for you, are yours too!
I think they gave me life in prison, without even showing me why….
Hi Remi,
I tried to understand your message but it goes over my head. English is my second language and I am not very intelligent 🙁 Sorry.