First-degree connections

LinkedIn groups members by how far they are from you. First degree means your direct connections. Second degree means the connections of your connections. Third degree means their connections in turn. Beyond that, people are outside your network.

Your first-degree network has one practical advantage: messaging is open. You can write without sending an invitation and without spending a credit. It also holds very different people: former colleagues, clients, classmates, friends, trade-show contacts, prospects from an old campaign.

For prospecting, that mix is the real issue. Part of your network matches your target and may not know what you do today. Another part should never receive a sales message. The whole exercise is telling them apart before you write.

Start by sorting. Separate connections who match your target from friends, family, current colleagues, current clients and people who have already said no. The sorting happens profile by profile, and it's what keeps you from sending awkward messages.

Then write the way you would to someone you vaguely know, not to a stranger. Mention the context if there is one, an old project or an event, and talk about what the person does today. Don't fake a closeness that isn't there: someone you connected with five years ago and never spoke to is still close to a stranger.

Finally, pace it. Messaging your whole network on the same day with the same text gets noticed, especially among colleagues at the same company who compare what they receive. Spread the sends and adapt the angle to each segment.

Not necessarily, and the numbers call for caution. In the MimikFlow 2026 Observatory, 3,572 people already in the sender's network were contacted. They replied 31.7% of the time and booked a meeting in 4.5% of cases. Strangers found through search, 18,144 people contacted, replied 35.6% of the time, with 4.6% booking a meeting.

Message for message, the network didn't do better in that cohort. Its advantage lies elsewhere: it skips the invitation step. For every 100 invitations sent to strangers, the study counts about 30 acceptances and 10 replies. With your network, every connection you keep can get a message straight away, without losing two thirds along the way.

Measure it as a separate source: connections kept as prospects, messages sent, replies, meetings. Then compare it with your other sources before deciding where to put your energy. A network built at random from trade shows won't produce the same numbers as one built inside your industry.

Putting everyone in the same sequence. Your former manager, your brother-in-law and a cold prospect should not get the same message. Without sorting, one clumsy message can cost a relationship that was worth more than a meeting.

Pretending you're close. A "long time no see!" sent to someone you've never spoken to is spotted immediately and sets the tone for everything after it.

Forgetting current clients and partners. They're in your network, and an automated prospecting message would land as a mistake. Exclude them before you launch anything.

Believing the network is enough. It runs out: once the right connections have been contacted, you need new prospects. Your first-degree network complements the search for new contacts, it doesn't replace it.

On the paid Pro and Agency plans, MimikFlow can analyse your first-degree connections. Each connection is compared with your target, then classified: professional contact to re-engage, friend, or profile not to prospect. Only professional contacts who match your target enter the campaign.

This source isn't available during the free trial. The analysis runs during the day, from 8am to 8pm in your campaign's time zone, and the exclusions are set in that source's settings. The connections that are kept then get a personalized first message, follow-ups if needed, and the AI Setter replies when they write back.