Guide to extracting social media profiles from LinkedIn Sales Navigator with Phantombuster

Looking for a way to pull social media profiles from LinkedIn Sales Navigator without losing your mind (or your day)? You’re in the right place. This guide is for marketers, sales pros, recruiters—basically anyone who needs LinkedIn data without the fuss. We’ll go step-by-step, show you what actually works, and flag the stuff that wastes time or gets you into trouble.

Let’s get straight to it.

What You’ll Need (and What You Don’t)

Before you start, here’s what you really need:

  • A LinkedIn Sales Navigator account: The regular LinkedIn won’t cut it for this.
  • A Phantombuster account: This is the automation tool we’ll use. If you’ve never heard of it, check out Phantombuster.
  • A LinkedIn session cookie: Basically, this lets Phantombuster act on your behalf.
  • A list of LinkedIn Sales Navigator profile URLs: Don’t worry, we’ll cover how to get these.

Skip the browser plugins and “scraper” Chrome extensions. Most are unreliable, break often, or get your LinkedIn account flagged. Stick with what works.

Step 1: Prep Your LinkedIn Sales Navigator Search

First things first: you need a list of LinkedIn profiles you want to extract social media info from. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Log in to Sales Navigator.
  2. Use filters to narrow your search (location, industry, title, etc.). Don’t overthink it—just get it down to the people you care about.
  3. Scroll through the search results. LinkedIn will only load profiles as you scroll, so don’t skim past this.
  4. Copy the search results URL. You’ll need this for Phantombuster.

Pro tip: Avoid pulling more than 1,000 profiles at once. LinkedIn limits what you can see, and huge lists are more likely to trigger anti-bot systems.

Step 2: Set Up Phantombuster

If you’ve never used Phantombuster before, don’t worry. It’s more plug-and-play than most automation tools, but there are still a few hoops.

2.1: Create Your Account and Log In

  • Sign up at Phantombuster and pick the plan that fits your needs (the free trial will work for most experiments).
  • Once logged in, you’ll see a dashboard of “Phantoms”—their word for automation scripts.

2.2: Find the Right Phantom

You’re looking for the “LinkedIn Sales Navigator Search Export” Phantom. Search for it in their library.

Don’t waste time with generic LinkedIn scrapers. They can’t access Sales Navigator data.

2.3: Get Your LinkedIn Session Cookie

Phantombuster needs your LinkedIn session cookie to mimic your account. Here’s how:

  • Open LinkedIn in Chrome.
  • Right-click the page, click “Inspect,” and go to the “Application” tab.
  • Under “Cookies,” find li_at. That’s your session cookie.
  • Copy the value (don’t share this—it gives access to your account).

Paste this into Phantombuster when prompted.

Yes, this feels sketchy. It’s basically safe if you keep the cookie private, but know that you’re bending LinkedIn’s terms of service. Don’t use your main account if you can’t afford the risk.

Step 3: Configure the Phantom

Now, let’s actually set up the extraction.

3.1: Input Your Data

  • Paste the Sales Navigator search URL (from Step 1) into the Phantom.
  • Choose how many profiles you want to scrape per launch. Start small—think 50–100—to avoid LinkedIn’s automated detection.

3.2: Set Scheduling (Optional)

  • You can set this to run daily, weekly, or just once.
  • For most people, “manual launch” is safer. You’re less likely to get flagged by LinkedIn if you don’t run it constantly.

3.3: Launch and Wait

  • Hit “Launch.” The Phantom will run and spit out a CSV or Excel file when it’s done.
  • Depending on the number of profiles and your plan, this can take a few minutes to an hour.

Expect hiccups: Sometimes Phantombuster will throw errors or skip profiles. Usually, it’s LinkedIn’s anti-bot system. Don’t freak out—just re-run with fewer profiles or at a different time.

Step 4: Extract Social Media Profiles

Here’s the rub: LinkedIn itself doesn’t show people’s Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram handles directly. So what does Phantombuster actually give you?

  • Profile URLs: Yes, obviously.
  • Company info, job titles, emails (sometimes), and some links to other social sites—if users have added them to their LinkedIn profiles.

In practice, most people don’t list their Twitter or other social links on LinkedIn. You’ll get them for maybe 5–10% of profiles, tops.

What to Do with the Data

  • Sort the CSV by the “social media” columns.
  • Use Excel or Google Sheets filters to pull out non-empty social media fields.
  • Don’t expect a goldmine. If you need more social handles, you’ll have to enrich the data using other tools (e.g., email finders, other scrapers, or manual research).

Ignore “enrichment” services that promise 100% coverage. Most are just guessing or recycling old data.

Step 5: Keep Your LinkedIn Account Safe

Here’s what nobody tells you: scraping LinkedIn can get your account restricted or banned. Here’s how to lower the risk:

  • Go slow: Scrape small batches (under 100 profiles per hour).
  • Don’t run multiple Phantoms at once. LinkedIn watches for odd activity.
  • Rotate your cookie every few weeks. Log out, log back in, grab a fresh one.
  • Never run this on your main account if it’s critical for your job. Use a secondary account if you can.

If you get a warning from LinkedIn, stop immediately. Let things cool off for a week before trying again.

What Works, What Doesn’t, and What to Ignore

Works: - Phantombuster reliably exports profile URLs, names, job titles, and some company info. - You’ll occasionally get Twitter, Facebook, or website links if users have added them.

Doesn’t Work: - Scraping thousands of profiles in one go. LinkedIn will notice. - Getting social media handles for everyone. Most people just don’t list them. - Using browser plugins or free “scraper” tools. They break quickly, and you risk your account.

Ignore: - Tools that promise “full contact data” for every LinkedIn profile. It’s mostly hype or against LinkedIn’s rules.

Pro Tips

  • Always sanity-check your CSV. Phantombuster sometimes outputs duplicate or partial records.
  • Don’t rely on automation alone. Sometimes a quick manual check is faster than wrestling with scripts.
  • Look for company website links in the data—sometimes you can find more social handles there.
  • If you need emails, consider pairing this with an email finder (again, don’t expect miracles).

Keep It Simple, Iterate Fast

Don’t fall for the idea that there’s a perfect tool or a magic hack. Start small, see what data you actually get, and adjust. If you need more coverage, try other enrichment tools or just mix in some manual research. The less you automate at first, the less you’ll screw up (or lose your LinkedIn privileges).

Good luck—and remember, it’s just data. Don’t overcomplicate it.