Like me, have you received email invitations like these?
> I’m using LinkedIn to keep up with my professional contacts and help them with introductions. Since you are one of the people I recommend, I wanted to invite you to access my network on LinkedIn.
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> Basic membership is free, and it takes less than a minute to sign up and join my network.
I’ve received well over 35 invitations like this, worded almost precisely the same way. The senders have acted surprised and offended that I did not leap to take advantage of this invitation.
Let’s look at the problems in this invitation from a marketing point of view.
* Almost all of the invitations I received were from people whose names I did not recognize. Why would I want to be part of their network? The invitation doesn’t say who they are, who they have access to and how I would benefit from their network.
* What is Linked In, how does it work and what are the benefits of using it? No one has yet explained this clearly in their invitation. You cannot expect that someone receiving this invitation understands what you’re asking them to join or how it...