Scraping Data From Linkedin With Expandi: 7 Use Cases

Connecting with the right people on LinkedIn can be hard.

You could have the best outreach script and the most optimized LinkedIn profile, but as long as you’re not targeting the right people, none of this matters.

You have to first narrow in on who your target audience is, then, figure out how to find them on LinkedIn, and how to personalize your outreach.

The last part, in particular, good personalization is critical for cold outreach. You need to have a strong reason to connect with a lead, and base your personalization on the reason.

This is where it’s important to scrape LinkedIn connections and search results.

Using Tools like Expandi, you can scrape LinkedIn group members, connections, people who engaged with a post, and more.

LinkedIn holds a wealth of data that can be very important for your outreach. 

So, if you want your lead generation and outreach to be successful, you need to be targeting the right people.

Below, you’ll learn 7 proven ways to use Expandi as a LinkedIn profile scraper and more.

But the best part is that you can scrape all this data and get started with your outreach for free!

We’ll cover how to scrape:

• People and companies from the free LinkedIn search results
• People and companies from Sales Navigator 
• LinkedIn group members
• People who engaged with a specific LinkedIn post
• People you may know on LinkedIn
• Your 1st-degree LinkedIn connections
• People who follow different LinkedIn company pages

But before we begin…

Wondering how to get the most out of LinkedIn?

Then you’ll want to join our private group The LinkedIn Outreach Family. In it, we’re constantly sharing the latest proven outreach strategies as well as data scraping methods.

Why Scrape LinkedIn Data And Search Results

LinkedIn is a treasure trove of information for businesses.

Regardless of your niche, target audience, or business solution, chances are, you can probably find relevant people on LinkedIn.

To put things into perspective:

• There are over 200 countries and 900 million members on LinkedIn, with 4 out of 5 members driving business decisions.
• 89% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn for lead generation, research, and outreach, according to ThinkWithGoogle.
• 96% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn for organic social marketing, placing it ahead of Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms in terms of demand.

Overall, if you work in the B2B world (and not only), you’re almost guaranteed to find your target audience there.

Once you have your ideal customer profile and buyer persona defined, your LinkedIn data scraping will instantly become easier.

Below, you’ll learn all the best ways to scrape LinkedIn data within the following methods:

• How to scrape LinkedIn search results (people and companies).
• How to scrape LinkedIn search results with Sales Navigator.
• How to scrape LinkedIn group members.
• How to scrape LinkedIn posts.
• How to scrape “People You May Know” connections.
• How to scrape LinkedIn connections (1st-degree contacts)
• How to scrape Linkedin company page followers

Now, let’s cover each use case and how to get the most out of scraping data from LinkedIn for free.

Note that we’ll be using Expandi for this. If you don’t have an account though, you can get started with a 7-day free trial and scrape LinkedIn connections for free.

1. Scrape LinkedIn Search Results (People And Companies)

One of the best ways to get started with your outreach and lead generation today is to find your target audience on LinkedIn and scrape LinkedIn search results.

If you have your target audience defined well, you can’t go wrong with using LinkedIn filters.

We won’t go into detail about using those filters here though. So, if you are interested, see our full guide on LinkedIn X-ray search for more info.

Let’s assume you know how to search for your audience on LinkedIn and the search results look like this.

Now, here’s how to scrape LinkedIn search results and extract them into a spreadsheet file.

1. Copy the search URL.
   

   

2. Log into Expandi or sign up with a free, 7-day trial if you haven’t done so yet.
3. In your Expandi account go to Search from the main navigation menu and click on “Add New Search“.
   

   

4. Name the new search, choose search type Basic, paste the URL, and click “Search“.
   

   

Once the search is complete, you can filter down the list of contacts even more. Or you can simply select  Export as your desired data file (CSV, webhook, etc.).

From there, you can use LinkedIn automation to reach out to them directly since you already have their profiles. Or enrich their profiles even more and reach out via email as well.

Our guide on building a prospect list might help here as well.

An example of a personalized connection request you can use here might be:

“Hey {first_name},

I’m Stefan, founder of Expandi.io (LinkedIn automation SaaS).

But I know that’s boring & doesn’t concern you.

So, how about I send you a kickass guide on how we drove 1,500 paid customers from LinkedIn in just 4 months?

Accept if you’re interested. Or you’ll never hear from me again!”

Benefits of this approach:

• You can filter your audience for free with boolean operators.
• Easy to find people no matter their industry or job role.
• The contacts list appears directly in your outreach automation tool. Meaning, if you use Expandi, you can scrape the search results data and reach out to the leads from the same platform.

2. Scrape LinkedIn Search Results From Sales Navigator

Sales Navigator is a great way to zoom in on your target audience with advanced search filters.

The platform offers 20+ filters you can apply to your search, with the keywords, title, company fields allowing you to perform boolean searches too, and more.

This is why Sales Navigator is ideal for lead generation and outreach. And of course, this is where it’s important to scrape LinkedIn search results too.

Here’s how it works:

1. Copy the Sales Navigator search results URL.
   

   

2. Go back to Expandi to import the search like we did in the first step.
3. But in this case, simply select Sales Navigator Search.
   

   

4. Name the search and paste the URL.
5. From there, you can scrape the search results as a spreadsheet or automate your outreach directly.

It’s that simple!

For more Sales Navigator hacks, see our modern prospecting search tactics.

Because you can filter for job change alerts with Sales Navigator, one outreach template you can use is:

“Heyo {first_name}, congratulations on the new position as {job_role} at {company_name}!

I help agency owners like you fully automate their LinkedIn lead-generation process without getting their accounts suspended.

Would you be interested in hearing more about this?”

Benefits of this outreach:

• Sales Navigator offers advanced unlimited filter features.
• Connection requests sound authentic and not automated by personalizing based on their new job position.
• You can save search URLs and overall, it’s easier for data scraping as well.

3. Scrape LinkedIn Group Members

LinkedIn groups are a great way to find your target audience members. All you have to do is enter related keywords and filter for Groups.

The best part about LinkedIn groups is that you don’t have to be connected with someone to message them!

Of course, this helps with scraping LinkedIn group members as well.

1. Then, join the LinkedIn group you want to scrape.
2. Copy the URL and select Group search in Expandi.
   

   

3. Enter a search name and paste the group URL. Keep in mind the limit for scraped contacts here is 2,500. If you want to scrape more than that, you’ll need to auto reload the search.
   

   

4. Select Export the data as needed.
   

   

Note: You don’t need to be connected with people in a mutual LinkedIn group to message them. 

So, if you want to message them directly, you can simply automate that outreach instead.

Then, you can message directly with something like:

“Hey {first_name}, noticed we’re both part of LinkedIn growth hackers group. 

Since we have some mutual interests – I’m looking for feedback on my new omnichannel outreach tool. 

Would you be open to giving me your thoughts in exchange for a free, 4-week trial?

Let me know if this makes sense and I can send over more info.”

Benefits of this outreach:

• You don’t need to be connected with someone to message them.
• You can assume their interests based on the group topic.
• You can jump into the pitch if it makes sense.

4. How To Scrape LinkedIn Posts

If you follow a lot of influencers on LinkedIn, you’ll often see their posts go viral.

You can take advantage of this and leverage their audience by reaching out to a group of people who might be interested in the same topics.

For example, if it’s a viral post by a marketing agency owner talking about their favorite SaaS tools, it’s safe to assume the comments might be by people who are also interested in checking out those tools.

If you’re a SaaS owner, you can leverage this, scrape their LinkedIn post, and reach out to everyone who engaged with it.

Alternatively, you can scrape your own LinkedIn posts and automatically connect with them thanking for the engagement.

That said, here’s how to scrape LinkedIn posts:

1. Find a LinkedIn post you want to scrape and copy the URL.
   

   

2. Launch another Expandi search and select Post Engagement.
   

   

3. Paste the post URL and ID.
   

   

Then, wait as Expandi does its magic!

Note: You can also scrape your own posts with Expandi, your polls (and its results), and more.

In this case, you can personalize your connection requests by mentioning something specific from the original post.

See some of our proven connection message templates for more info on that.

If you’re scraping your post, you could send something like:

“Hey {first_name}, 

Glad you liked my post on bootstrapping.

I’m constantly publishing similar content on getting the most out of LinkedIn and personal insights on growing a business.

Let’s connect?”

Benefits of this outreach:

• Easy to gain a lot of new connections.
• Easy to personalize your requests.
• If it’s your post, most people will connect with you after commenting on your post.
• You can “steal” the audience of a similar content creator in your niche.

5. Scrape “People You May Know” LinkedIn connections

Last but not least, we’re goint to cover the “People You May Know” section of LinkedIn.

Under My Network, you’ll see a section of people you may know. This is based on LinkedIn’s own algorithm.

LinkedIn goes over 100s of terabytes of data daily and recommends you people you may know based on mutual connections, interests, industry, and so on.

So, the more optimized your profile is, the more likely you’ll se relevant people in this section.

That said, here’s how to scrape data from this section now.

1. Add new Search in Expandi.
2. Select People You May Know and enter a Search name.
   

   

3. Click search.
4. Wait as Expandi does its magic and pulls data directly from your LinkedIn.
5. From there, you can export the scraped data as CSV as needed.

The reason this is so useful is because you can gain a lot of new connections this way.

All you have to do is structure your connection request appropriately. You can even mention they came up in your ‘People You May Know’ section and that LinkedIn recommended you connect.

“Hey {first_name},

LinkedIn recommended your profile in the People You May Know section and thinks we should connect.

Saw you work in SaaS marketing as well. So, I think LinkedIn is up to something and there might be a way for us to collaborate on a project.

Let me know what you think.”

Also note that you shouldn’t be pitching yourself directly here.

Benefits of this outreach:

• Great way to make more connections.
• Your outreach here doesn’t have to be heavily personalized.
• Very easy to scrape.

6. Scrape LinkedIn Connections

Finally, let’s take a look at how to export your own LinkedIn connections.

This is the easiest step in any scraping data tactics we followed above, as you can do it natively from LinkedIn.

Here’s how to scrape LinkedIn connections part of your network:

1. Click Me at the top of your LinkedIn home page.
2. Go to Settings & Privacy.
   

   

3. Click on Data privacy on the left.
4. Under How LinkedIn uses your data, click on get a copy of your data.
   

   

5. Select the data files you want to export (in this case, your LinkedIn connections).
   

   

Request archive, enter your password, and wait for an email from which you can scrape LinkedIn connections.

Keep in mind:

• When exporting your LinkedIn connections, you may notice some emails are missing. You’ll only see mails for connections who have allowed their connections to see or download their email address. See our guide on data enrichment for more info on that.
• You currently can’t export a list of your contacts who aren’t 1st-degree connections.

If you’re exporting your connections because you have a duplicate account, you’ll need to close your extra account and import your connections list to another LinkedIn account. As LinkedIn doesn’t allow multiple accounts. Alternatively, see our guide on managing multiple LinkedIn accounts.

7. Scrape LinkedIn company page followers

Expandi released a new search type. Now users can import followers from their company’s LinkedIn directly into the product.

• If you are the LinkedIn company page owner you can capture all leads from your company page: 1st, 2nd, or 3rd degree connection.
• If you’re not the owner you can import just your 1st-degree connections.

How it could help:

• To identify prospects that are already interested in your company and its offerings, thus making them warmer and more qualified.
• To  scrape 1-st degree connections from any Company Page and then invite them to Event, since Event Invite at Expandi also works for 1-st degree connections
• To help identify potential candidates (for recruiters) who might not be actively looking but have shown interest by following the company. These passive candidates often prove to be valuable assets.

How to create a company follower search?

1. Go to the Search section on Expandi and click on the Add new search button

   

2. Select Company follower search from the list

   

3. Create a name for the search and click Next

   

4. Go to the company page on LinkedIn, copy the URL of it, and enter it in the next step of adding the search on Expandi. If you wish you can enable auto-reload for this search, which would reload it after the set time delay passes, or add it to the campaign automatically once the search is processed by selecting the campaign from the list. Auto-reload feature and selecting campaign steps are optional. Once all is set, just click on Search and the search will start loading

   

   

   Once it’s processed you can use it for any campaign depending on the connection degree of the scraped leads.

Conclusion

To recap, done right, LinkedIn can be an infinite source of leads. All you need to know is how to scrape them to prepare for outreach.

Above, we covered how to scrape:

• People and companies from LinkedIn search results.
• LinkedIn Sales Navigator search results.
• LinkedIn group members.
• People who engaged with a LinkedIn post.
• Contacts from the ‘People You May Know” section on LinkedIn.
• Your LinkedIn connections (1st-degree contacts)

And as you saw above, scraping all this data is easy.

You can get started with a free, 7-day Expandi trial, scrape all of the above data, and reach out to your prospects automatically in under a day. 

Alternatively, if you’re looking for more methods on how to scrape LinkedIn data and proven templates to use in your outreach, be sure to join our free group called The LinkedIn Outreach Family!