Back on May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came in to effect as a comprehensive data protection law to provide better data rights for European Union (EU) citizens as well as increase the responsibilities for companies that manage that data.
The premise of GDPR is to allow EU citizen a better way for them to have better control of their data whilst imposing hefty fines (up to 4 percent of turnover or approx. $23/€20 million) for companies that abuse the data or breach the law. All of this has changed the way companies utilize advertising campaigns as now they have to make sure individuals fully understand what marketing communications they are signing up for by deploying double opt-ins. This process is having an effect on email lists and it’s causing them to shrink. LinkedIn changes all of that by providing a compliant solution and it’s cost effective.
LinkedIn and GDPR
One of the key benefits out of the gate with LinkedIn is that it’s a public social media platform. This means that the responsibility when it comes to the GDPR compliance shifts to the controller of the data which in this case is LinkedIn. Now, if data is taken off the LinkedIn platform by members or even shared with a third party then the ownership of responsibility shifts back to the member.
Basically, using the social media platform daily, you will not be impacted by GDPR, but the downside is that you probably have a smaller network of connections. So, it is going to be important within your lead generation strategy to increase your LinkedIn network.
Let’s look at the ways you can reduce the effects of GDPR with LinkedIn.
8 Tips to reduce the effects of GDPR with LinkedIn
Tip #1: Increase your connections – On a weekly basis send personalized invitations to connect. Make sure to tell you connections why they should connect with you with a personalized message for each.
Tip #2: Respond when connections accepted – Once you have received an acceptance to connect send a follow-up email sharing value. For example share pieces of content that would be relevant to the connection and engaging if that is a piece of your own content or an industry piece of content.
Tip #3: LinkedIn Groups – Join LinkedIn groups that are relevant to your industry/domain and interact with discussions and post content on a regular basis.
Tip #4: Private Messages – Craft tailored private messages and send to your contacts over time. People are more likely to respond to messages that appear in their private inbox.
Tip #5: Follow the rules – Make sure you continue to follow good marketing principles like scaping email addresses as you will have a GDPR issue, research who your looking to connect with before you click the send button, all communications should be personal and on one-to-one basis, and lastly if an invitation isn’t accepted after 5 days remove the invitation and just move on.
Tip #5: LinkedIn paid solutions – Review and invest in LinkedIn’s products like Sales Navigator that will give you invaluable connection triggers and lead suggestions.
Tip #7: Listen – Understand your connection, show interest by listening to insights and intelligence to understand their needs so you can engage with the right content within your tailored communications with them.
Tip #8: Share – Increase your inbound marketing by sharing engaging industry/domain relevant content.
There is going to be some time training and getting employees familiarized to the way LinkedIn works but the upside is worth the effort. Statistics tell us that there are higher click-through rates, higher engagements, and more valuable relationships happening when utilizing LinkedIn.
The win here is that you haven’t stopped emailing as we never said LinkedIn was a replacement but as alternative/additional so hopefully, you’re continuing to email even that your lists are smaller but typically because of the hurdles the individuals went through to opt-in meant they were interested in what you had to offer. On top of that, your LinkedIn connections will be more engaged and responsive.
Don’t let GDPR hinder your business development but as an opportunity to reevaluate how you connect with prospects going forward and LinkedIn should be on the top of the list.