LinkedIn Jail

Uh oh. Now you've done it. You've landed yourself into LinkedIn Jail. Your connection leads, potential clients, college alumni, and your old coworkers is gone.

At least until you can verify that you are who you say you are on your account, and not some spam-loving robot sent to make inboxes a living hell for anyone who crosses your connection-happy path.

The important thing to remember here is that LinkedIn Jail is not the end of the world, or even of your social media account. It happens way more often than you'd think, and getting your account back is far from impossible. It just takes your driver's license and an email of apology to LinkedIn.

So how did you get here? There are multiple ways that you can land yourself into "trouble" with LinkedIn. The most sure-fire way is by sending out too many connection requests in a short amount of time.

If you're using a lead generation plug-in like Dux Soup, you need to figure out how many requests you can send based on your account. While some people may be able to send 100 requests every two days, you might only be able to send out 100 a week. So be mindful of how many requests you send to others.

Also, if you're sending mass messages out to people, and more than five mark you as spam, you'll find yourself locked in LinkedIn's penalty box as well. Try to make your messages seem genuine, interesting, and not too click bait-y. People want real content, and even if you are trying to sell them something or trying to get something from them, it's important to keep this in mind.

Once you're in LinkedIn Jail, your account will be temporarily suspended. But don't worry, all you need to do is verify your identity with a state id, send LinkedIn an email kindly stating that they made a mistake, and wait a couple of days. Your account should be back on, no problem.

In an age where social media is one of the main driving forces behind how your business is perceived, it can be scary when you lose access to your accounts. Luckily, most sites like LinkedIn and Facebook will help you out.

Just try to be savvier when using connection generators or using mass messaging. While these tools can be great, they also need to be used for good instead of evil. (Looking at you, 1,000-messaging lipstick parties).

The easiest way to stay out of LinkedIn Jail is to have us do your lead generation for you. Click here for more information.