linkedin-prospecting
LinkedIn Prospecting
LinkedIn is the best source of current job titles and the worst channel to automate aggressively. Both facts follow from the same thing: it's a walled platform that actively defends itself, and account restrictions are permanent enough to matter.
Used as research plus a light touch alongside email, it lifts reply rates meaningfully. Used as an automation channel at volume, it gets accounts restricted and the sender learns nothing.
What it's genuinely best at
Current titles. Every other source decays; LinkedIn is updated by the person themselves. For confirming you have the right person in the right role right now, nothing else comes close.
Finding the right person. Filtering a company's employees by function and seniority is faster and more accurate than guessing from a website.
Job change detection. Someone leaving is a dead lead at the old company and a warm one at the new. Someone new in a buying role is one of the strongest triggers there is. See funding-news-signals.
Research material. Recent posts, comments, shared articles and profile changes are dated, public and specific — good material for a first line, if used carefully.
Warm paths. Shared connections, groups, alumni. A genuine mutual connection changes everything about a first message.