LinkedIn Search agent

Use a LinkedIn Search agent to work through a regular LinkedIn people search and add matching prospects to a sequence. It is useful when LinkedIn’s keywords and filters give you a starting list that Vaam can process over time.

This agent type is available to all Vaam accounts. Select it in the Create Agent dialog with the other agent types.

What it is good for

Building a prospect flow from a focused LinkedIn people search.
Combining LinkedIn search filters with Vaam audience matching.
Working through a search without repeatedly adding prospects by hand.
Creating separate prospecting flows for different markets, roles, or regions.

Before you start

Have these ready:

A people search created on regular LinkedIn with the keywords and filters you want.
The complete search-results URL from your browser.
An active, non-template sequence that is ready for new prospects.
Your standard audience, or a custom audience for this search. An audience is optional.

Sales Navigator search URLs are not supported. Build and copy the search from LinkedIn’s regular people search.

Vaam keeps these filters when you copy a regular LinkedIn people search URL:

Keywords, connection degree, location, industry, service category, connections of, and title.
Current company, past company, school, and profile language.
Followers of, actively hiring for a job title, and open to volunteer.
First name, last name, company keywords, and school keywords.

Check the filter list after you paste the URL. If the URL contains an unsupported filter, Vaam shows an error. Remove that filter in LinkedIn and copy the updated URL before you create the agent.

Set up a LinkedIn Search agent

On regular LinkedIn, run a people search and apply the keywords and filters you need.
Review the results to make sure the search is neither too broad nor too narrow.
Copy the complete search-results URL from your browser.
In Vaam, go to Agents, click Create Agent, and select LinkedIn Search.
Enter an agent name and select the target sequence.
Choose which connection degrees to include, or select All connections.
Turn on Require approval if you want to review prospects before they enter the sequence.
Paste the LinkedIn people search URL. Review the keywords and filters Vaam recognizes.
Click Next, then use your standard audience or customize it for this agent.
Click Create Agent.

What happens next

The agent works through people in the saved search and applies your connection-degree choices. The audience check runs only when the agent has an audience. Without an audience, every prospect the search finds passes the check. If Vaam needs to wait before it runs the audience check, the prospect stays in Researching a little longer and continues on its own; you do not need to do anything. When approval is off, matching prospects are added to the target sequence automatically.

When Require approval is on, open the agent and go to the Accepted tab. Prospects who match your audience and need your decision are marked Awaiting approval. Use the approve or reject action beside each prospect. Approved prospects are added to the sequence. Rejected prospects are not.

Prospects the audience check rejects appear on the Rejected tab. If you reject a prospect who passed the audience check, they stay on the Accepted tab. In either case, choose Add to sequence beside that prospect to add them after all. Vaam asks why you want to add the prospect and records your reason with that decision. The action is not available for prospects skipped for another reason or for prospects marked Error.

The agent works through the search results over several days rather than all at once. LinkedIn can sometimes return an empty page because of a temporary response problem. Vaam checks the empty page again and compares it with a recent page that returned results before it marks the agent as completed. If that check fails, Vaam returns to the same place and tries again later. Old checks are not reused after a long pause.

Once the agent has checked every available result, it shows a completed badge and stops running. It keeps the prospects it already found and does not check the search again, even if new results would appear on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn never shows more than 1,000 results for one search, and some accounts see fewer. A broad search can reach that cap before it reaches every person who matches it. To find more people, create a new agent with a narrower search. Split it by region, industry, job title, or connection degree. Several narrower searches together often reach more people in total than one broad search does.

When LinkedIn limits a search

Sometimes LinkedIn shows your account fewer results for a search than before. The agent then shows Limited by LinkedIn instead of completed. It keeps its place, checks again on its own, and continues when LinkedIn shows the full results again. You do not need to do anything. See When LinkedIn limits your searches for what the status means and what you can do.

Tips

Make the LinkedIn search broad enough to produce results, then use audience matching for sales-specific requirements and exclusions.
Read the warnings about difficult requirements below your audience description. They show requirements that the agent may not confirm from LinkedIn.
Use prospect approval while testing a new search or a broad set of keywords.
Give each search agent a descriptive name that includes its market, role, or region.
Create separate agents when different searches should lead to different sequences.

You can edit audience settings, approval, name, and active or paused status later. The search URL, agent type, and target sequence are read-only. Create a new agent to change them.