How to Make the Most of LinkedIn Messages for Business

Navigate to your LinkedIn business page. Click the Inbox tab on the left-hand side.

Here, you’ll be notified that your messages are currently turned off. Click the button that says Turn on messages.

You’ll be prompted to toggle on the Message button and choose a few conversation topics—think “Service request” or “Careers.” Click Save. Your inbox is now live!

Your page will now have a Message button near the top.

When someone sends you a message, a little red circle with the number of unread messages will appear next to the Inbox tab. Click on it to review your messages.

On the left, you’ll see a column with all your messages. You can search these messages (using the search bar at the top) or filter by conversation topic and more.

On the right, you’ll see the ongoing chat with your customer. Any of the administrators of your LinkedIn company page can respond to these messages, but only your team will be able to see who sent individual messages.

If you’re getting a bunch of messages (pop-u-lar!), this inbox could become pretty overwhelming fast.

May we recommend a more organized way of life (ahem) using Hootsuite’s Inbox 2.0?

Before using Hootsuite to manage your Company Page DMs, you’ll need to enable the feature on LinkedIn first.

Once you’ve done this (scroll up if you need a refresher), just reauthenticate your LinkedIn profile using Hootsuite.

And that’s it! After connecting, you’ll be able to read and respond to new LinkedIn Company Page DMs—along with messages and comments on Instagram, Facebook, X and WhatsApp—using Hootsuite Inbox 2.0.

Do you want to manage the deluge of messages all by yourself, or are you hoping that your LinkedIn inbox becomes a team project?

If you’re going to turn on LinkedIn messaging functionality, be prepared to be attentive to the DMs that come in.

When setting up LinkedIn messages for your business page, you’ll be prompted to select some “conversation topics.” When someone messages you, they’ll be offered the option to categorize their message under one of those topics.

Picking topics that are appropriate for your business or that you feel qualified to talk about will help filter out the spam or redirect queries to the appropriate channel.

For instance, if you just want to open your message inbox to chat with potential job candidates, choosing “Careers” is a better idea than “Service Request.”

If someone has mislabeled their conversation with the wrong topic, it’s easy to change. Hover over the timestamp on a message until it turns into a three-dot icon. Click on that icon for some options that include “Edit conversation topic.”

By properly identifying what topic each message covers, you can more easily divide and conquer with your team—the customer success team can help with service requests, the sales team can deal with demo requests… you get the picture.

Of course, this is a pretty bare-bones way to sort your messages. For a more robust organizational tool, you might want to check out Hootsuite Inbox, where you can tag messages, track the status of a message, assign to team members, and generally feel like the Type A genius you’ve always wanted to be.

Toggle on your notifications so you never miss a message to your LinkedIn Page—as we just mentioned, customers hate being ignored.

To do this, go to your LinkedIn business inbox and tap the three dots at the top of the conversations column.

Select Manage my notifications and set up your preferred delivery system for alerts.

You’ve established your brand voice in all of your outward-facing marketing content—so don’t let it drop behind closed doors. Everything you post on the platform, from public posts to private DMS, should be aligned with your brand’s tone.

If you’re usually friendly and warm in all your public-facing copy, and then all of your DMs are blunt, you’ll create a jarring, uncomfortable experience for your customer. Whatever your vibe, just keep it consistent.

While being authentic and personable is always a good idea when you’re repping your brand online, it’s more important to be clear in your communication. If you’ve got to cut a joke to make sure your message is being received fully, do it.

Skip jargon, and avoid irony or sarcasm. Your LinkedIn messages are probably also not a great place for jokes—a misinterpretation or offensive remark just isn’t worth the risk. (Sorry, jokesters.)

And remember to keep things short and sweet. No one slid into your DMs for a novel. Short sentences and short paragraphs make answers easy to parse.

It’s a rule anyone creating any written document should follow: read it over before you hit send.

Even when you’re responding in a whirlwind to all your super-fans, it’s vital to take a beat to give your message a second look—is everything spelled right? Are there any grammatical errors? Does it flow well? If you’ve put in an attachment or image, is it the correct file? (Imagine you sent vacation photos instead of your pricing sheet, and then… don’t do that.)

Once you’re sure your message is perfect, remember to sign off politely, whether asking if you can help with anything else or wishing them a great day. It’s a personal touch that leaves the customer feeling certain about their next steps or that the conversation has wrapped up.