GDPR Regulation & Linkedin Work-Around

What exactly is the GDPR Regulation?? It’s a European Union regulation on information privacy for both the European Union and the European Economic Area.? The GDPR is an important component of EU privacy law and human rights law, in particular Article 8 of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.??

Since LinkedIn is a worldwide platform, it must comply with GDPR rules.? This is why email addresses are, more often than not, absent from your LinkedIn CSV downloads. But, here’s good news - LinkedIn has provided a work-around, sort of.? If you go to this email address: https://linkedIn.com/psettings/privacy/email - you can actually choose to share your email address via your LinkedIn CSV data.? In fact, you can even select with whom you would like to share it: 1) Only visible to you, 2) 1st degree connections, 3) 1st and 2nd degree connections, 4) Anyone on LinkedIn.

I chose option #2 (my Level 1 connections).? Anyone in my network at Level 1 now has access to my email address when downloading their Linkedin CSV file.? I encourage all those in my network to choose this option to make communication outside LinkedIn possible.

I firmly believe a back-up system for Level 1 Linkedin connections is necessary.? In fact, I recommend two levels of back-up.? First, a spreadsheet.? (I use Google Sheets).? Second, a CRM. (The Brevo CRM has a free version that allows the sending out of 300 emails.? I have actually used it for that purpose.? I have not come across another CRM that allows you to send out that many messages for free.)

I believe a back-up system for your Linkedin data is extremely important.? After all, how would you feel if one day Linkedin decided to ban your account?? That actually happened to me during Christmas of 2020.? All I did was wish the wrong person “happy birthday.”? The day that happened I would have lost more than 30,000 Level 1 connections and more than 43,000 followers were it not for my back-up system.? However, not having access to a Linkedin account for two years really hurt my ability to conduct business.

Today, I am back on Linkedin with a brand new account and more careful regarding my online presence.? If you happen to be interested in growing your online presence on Linkedin, I recommend becoming a LinkedIn Premium member.? Why?? Primarily because Linkedin is drastically reducing the number of Linkedin invites you can send monthly to between 5 and 15.? That is outrageous for any serious business person! Becoming a Premium member does cost money, but it really does add more opportunities to engage and grow your network.?

However, even folks with a Premium account or better are not immune from restrictions imposed by LinkedIn.? For that reason, I believe LinkedIn is in the process of implementing a daily notification in the “Visibility” section of Linkedin Settings regarding the number of Linkedin invites you are allowed to send so as to avoid being punished by LinkedIn for violating its famous “Terms of Service.”?

Finally, it would not be right to conclude this newsletter without pointing out that artificial intelligence has arrived at LinkedIn.? Actually, Linkedin has been using AI for some time.? But, lately, Linkedin has been encouraging its community to make use of it on the platform.??

Say goodbye to generic comments like “Good post!”, “Thanks for sharing” and “Love your content!”. Engage AI creates comments for you to engage prospects on LinkedIn at scale. Save hours writing comments to attract your prospects and achieve faster conversions with every added touchpoint. Engage AI is powered by ChatGPT from OpenAI, providing the Generative AI technology to SMB owners and enterprise BDMs to win more on LinkedIn.? Visit Engage AI at https://engage-ai.co.??

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours.

Lamar Morgan