Is LinkedIn Premium Right for You?
LinkedIn is an online professional-networking service that gives its members the chance to create and expand their business contacts, network with other professionals in the same industry, search for jobs, find new clients, find new business opportunities and utilize LinkedIn advertising.
With nearly 700 million users in 2020, LinkedIn has moved beyond being just a networking site and has transformed into one of the largest social media platforms. LinkdedIn has now become an essential place for job seekers, business professionals, marketers and recruiters to achieve their respective goals.
To meet this growing demand, LinkedIn offers different subscription packages to allow users to use the platform to meet their goals. To help you figure out which LinkedIn subscription is right for you, let’s take a look at the different options.
Basic (Free) account
LinkedIn’s core service is their basic, free account which you gain access to when you open your LinkedIn account. LinkedIn’s basic account allows you to create and maintain a professional profile. The basic LinkedIn account is perfect if you’re looking to build and maintain a professional profile and get accustomed to the platform.
Once you’ve registered your account, you can create your profile, add a profile photo and fill out the relevant profile subsection to help make your profile stand out. If you’re looking for guidance on creating your profile, you can check out best practices on LinkedIn’s support pages.
With a basic profile, you can:
- Build your professional identity on the web
- Build and maintain a large trusted professional network
- Find and reconnect with colleagues and classmates
- Request and provide recommendations
- Search for and view profiles of other LinkedIn members
- Receive unlimited InMail messages
- Save up to three searches and get weekly alerts on those searches
If you’re new to LinkedIn and the platform it’s worth starting out with a basic profile, this will allow you to build a professional profile, connect with colleagues and get started on your LinkedIn journey.
Premium LinkedIn Subscriptions
A premium LinkedIn subscription is a great option for those looking to get more out of the platform, and if you’ve got certain business/professional goals to hit.
LinkedIn premium prices range from £23.99 per month for ‘Premium Career’, ‘Premium Business costs £35.99 per month, £53.99 per month for ‘Premium Sales’ or £95.94 per month for ‘Premium Hiring/Recruiter Lite’.
You can get LinkedIn Premium for free by utilizing the platform’s one-month free trial, which allows you to explore premium features like InMail messaging, advanced insights, and learning courses without any initial cost. Additionally, LinkedIn occasionally offers special promotions or extended trials to new users or students, so keep an eye out for these opportunities to enjoy premium benefits without paying.
LinkedIn Premium Career
LinkedIn’s premium career is a good option if you’re looking for your next career move. As a premium member, your job application automatically sits above those of non-premium members, increasing your chances of getting hired and allows you to directly message leaders in your industry through LinkedIn InMail.
On top of all this, LinkedIn Premium Career allows you too:
- Find and assess new job and career opportunities
- See who’s viewed your profile
- Gain salary insights into the role you’re looking for
- Gain job insights to see your professional profile weights up against other applicants
- Access to 3 InMail messages per month and the LinkedIn learning portal
If you’re on the look-out for a new position, you can get started with a free trial of LinkedIn’s premium career subscription.
LinkedIn Premium Business
LinkedIn’s premium business plan is perfect for companies and individuals looking to use LinkedIn’s wider network to grow their business. This premium option is useful if you’re looking to gain insights into your competitors or want insights into a particular company’s growth.
LinkedIn Premium business offers you:
- 15 InMail messages
- Business insights
- See who’s viewed your profile
- Access to LinkedIn learning
- Unlimited profile browsing
- Career insights
This premium option is useful if you’re looking to gain insights into your competitors or want insights into a particular company’s growth. Once again if you’re unsure if LinkedIn Premium Business is for you, you can try it out with a 30-day free trial.
LinkedIn Premium Sales
With LinkedIn Premium Sales, you’ll be given access to LinkedIn Sales Navigator, a sales management tool designed to help sales reps tap into LinkedIn’s extensive network to land more deals. LinkedIn’s premium sales gives you:
- 20 InMail messages per month
- The ability to save 1,500 leads
- Territory preferences
- Advanced lead and company search
- Lead and account recommendations
LinkedIn Premium Sales is the best option for those companies of business owners looking for new leads to grow their business. While the free version of LinkedIn doesn’t allow users to message people outside of their network, Sales Premium gives users access to new leads outside of their immediate network and the perfect opportunity to discover and build new business relationships.
LinkedIn Premium Hiring
LinkedIn’s premium hiring platform, also known as recruiter lite, is aimed at recruitment professionals looking to contact potential new hires. With nearly 700million users, LinkedIn has a vast database to allow companies and recruiters to find and attract top talent to the positions they’re looking to fill.
If you’re a recruitment professional or a company looking to hire new staff. LinkedIn Recruiter Lite allows you to:
- Zero in on ideal candidates using eight Premium search filters optimized for recruiting
- View unlimited profiles in your extended network (up to 3rd-degree connections)
- Contact top talent anywhere on LinkedIn with 30 InMail messages per month
- Organize your talent pool by placing candidates into Projects, setting reminders to follow up, and having a dedicated holding space for profiles that interest you
- See the full list of everyone who’s viewed your profile in the last 90 days and get insights into who is potentially interested in your company
With all these features, LinkedIn’s Recruiter Lite is the perfect tool to find and attract top quality candidates through LinkedIn.
Is LinkedIn Premium Right for You?
This guide should have given you some good information on which LinkedIn tool/premium subscription is right for you. Whether LinkedIn premium is right for you really depends on your goals and what you want to achieve through the platform.
If you’re brand new to LinkedIn, we’d recommend getting a free account to start with to get used to the platform and its functionalities. If you feel the time is right to upgrade to one of LinkedIn’s premium services, you can redeem a 30 day free trial of each premium service to try it out before starting a paid subscription.
With all the different subscription levels available on LinkedIn, with a bit of research you’re bound to find the right service to fit your needs!
