LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 810 million members worldwide. While anyone can create a basic LinkedIn profile for free, LinkedIn also offers several premium subscription options that provide additional benefits.
Upgrading to a paid LinkedIn subscription can be beneficial for job seekers, business owners, recruiters, sales professionals, and anyone looking to establish themselves as an industry expert. Premium subscriptions unlock full access to the LinkedIn platform and its advanced features.
In this comprehensive guide, we will explore the key advantages of LinkedIn premium subscriptions and see how the additional features can help take your career and business relationships to the next level.
Types of LinkedIn Premium Subscriptions
LinkedIn offers three tiers of premium subscriptions: Career, Business Plus, and Sales Navigator. Each tier builds upon the features of the previous one and offers increased benefits.
LinkedIn Career
LinkedIn Career is the basic premium upgrade designed for individual professionals. Key features include:
- See who’s viewed your profile to find out who’s looking you up
- Know the full list of people who’ve shown interest in you with LinkedIn Recruiter
- Message recruiters directly
- Take unlimited LinkedIn Learning courses
- Get resume and profile feedback to improve your presence
Career is ideal for active or passive job seekers looking to boost their chances of getting hired. It helps you put your best professional image forward and connect with the right people.
LinkedIn Business Plus
Business Plus includes all the Career features plus:
- Expanded network with unlimited InMail messages
- See more qualified candidates with Recruiter Lite
- Post job listings to start attracting talent
- Access employee data tools to gain people insights
- Advertise to the right professionals with personalized ads
Business Plus helps entrepreneurs, recruiters, and sales professionals grow their business, find the right hires, engage leads, and promote their brand.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Sales Navigator provides all the Career and Business Plus features as well as:
- Lead recommendations based on accounts you target
- Contact insights to see connections & interests
- Notifications when your leads change jobs
- Comparable company suggestions
- Teammate integrations to collaborate better
Sales Navigator is meant for salespeople who want to find hot prospects, warm up leads faster, and close more deals.
Benefits of a LinkedIn Premium Subscription
Now that we’ve looked at the different premium subscription options, let’s examine the key benefits you can gain from upgrading to a paid LinkedIn membership.
Enhanced Profile and Visibility
A premium LinkedIn subscription increases your overall profile visibility so you get noticed by more relevant people.
You’ll see analytics on who’s viewed your profile, which helps you understand how people find you. You can also discover the full list of people who have shown interest in you through recruiter interactions.
With open profile access, you don’t need to connect with someone to message them. You can directly reach out to recruiters, potential mentors, new employers, and business leads.
By getting feedback on your profile and content, you can polish your presence and put your best professional image forward.
Expanded Network and Relationships
Growing your network is a key advantage of upgrading to premium. You can easily grow an audience for your profile and posts.
With unlimited InMail messages, you can directly contact any LinkedIn member to build new relationships and opportunities. Increased introductions and warm referrals expand your professional circle.
You’ll also gain visibility into who you share common contacts with, helping you strengthen existing connections. The premium search filters let you quickly find the right people to help you meet your goals.
Insights to Find Opportunities
Premium subscriptions unlock robust insights on both individuals and companies so you can pinpoint the right opportunities.
Seeing content that resonates, groups they’re in, and interests they have allows you to understand connections better and personalize outreach.
You’ll also get alerts when you lose or gain connections, helping you stay up-to-date on your network. For sales professionals, lead recommendations, notifications when leads change jobs, and comparable company suggestions help drive prospecting.
Tools to Find the Right Talent
Premium empowers recruitment and talent acquisition in multiple ways.
With Recruiter Lite, you get limited access to the LinkedIn Recruiter platform to source, vet, and manage candidates more effectively.
By posting premium job listings, you can attract highly-qualified applicants looking for new roles. You can screen candidates based on application questions and usage of skills in profiles.
Employee data tools provide useful people analytics to guide your hiring. You gain insights into skills gaps to focus recruitment and training efforts.
Reach the Right Audiences
Sponsored content and personalized ads let you get your brand and offerings in front of targeted audiences, leading to increased engagement and conversions.
Using accurate targeting options, you can define the demographics, interests, company roles, and more to reach relevant professionals.
With premium subscriptions, you can create customized ad campaigns and unique sponsored content to generate leads. Displaying your brand to the right buyers pays dividends across sales, recruiting, and thought leadership goals.
Effective Leadership and Learning
Unlimited access to LinkedIn Learning’s extensive video library helps leaders, recruiters, and individuals strengthen their professional skills and expertise.
With over 16,000 expert-led courses, users can build in-demand hard and soft skills. Popular courses help with leadership, management, sales, marketing, software proficiency, and much more.
Learning new skills and earning certifications through LinkedIn Learning is a great way to advance your career and revamp your resume. It’s a major professional development advantage of premium subscriptions.
Who Should Buy a Premium LinkedIn Subscription?
Now that you know the main features and benefits, you may be wondering – who exactly should upgrade to a paid LinkedIn subscription?
Here are the key LinkedIn members who get the most value from premium:
- Active job seekers – Find better opportunities and get noticed by recruiters
- Business owners – Attract customers, promote content, and recruit talent
- Recruiters and HR professionals – Source, engage, and evaluate candidates more effectively
- Sales professionals – Identify more leads, build relationships, and close deals
- Thought leaders – Grow audience, establish authority, and distribute content
- Marketing professionals – Create targeted campaigns, generate leads, and build brand
- Anyone looking to expand professional connections and learn new skills
Essentially, if you want to grow your career, business, and network by fully leveraging LinkedIn, a premium subscription is a smart investment.
LinkedIn Premium Costs
LinkedIn offers monthly and annual subscription options. Annual plans unlock the lowest effective monthly rates but require a larger upfront payment. Monthly plans offer more flexibility to test out LinkedIn Premium on a limited basis.
Here are the current monthly and yearly prices:
LinkedIn Career Premium Prices
- Monthly: $29.99 per month
- Annually: $239.88 per year (or $19.99 per month)
LinkedIn Business Plus Prices
- Monthly: $44.99 per month
- Annually: $359.88 per year (or $29.99 per month)
LinkedIn Sales Navigator Prices
- Monthly: $64.99 per month
- Annually: $599.88 per year (or $49.99 per month)
LinkedIn occasionally offers discounts on first-year subscriptions. Multi-user and enterprise subscription plans are also available for larger teams and companies.
When weighing the cost, focus on the ROI. Premium unlocks tools that can help you earn far more money through landing top roles, generating leads, making sales, and recruiting star players.
How to Get Started with LinkedIn Premium
Ready to enjoy the perks of a paid LinkedIn membership? Here are some tips to upgrade successfully:
- Pick the right membership level based on your goals
- Decide on monthly vs. annual subscription
- Visit account settings and upgrade with a payment method
- Explore premium features in account menu and notifications
- Add profile details to optimize visibility and searchability
- Proactively engage your network with InMail and messaging
- Leverage targeting options for ads and sponsored content
- Track analytics and tap into insights to refine approach
- Provide feedback on new features to help LinkedIn improve
With a results-driven strategy focused on the premium features that best fit your role, you can unlock the full value of a paid LinkedIn membership.
FAQs
Some common questions about upgrading to LinkedIn Premium include:
Is a LinkedIn premium account worth it?
For most professionals, the additional features and benefits of LinkedIn Premium make it well worth the investment. The ability to grow your network, get noticed by recruiters, learn skills, promote your brand, and identify new business makes it highly valuable.
Can you message anyone on LinkedIn with premium?
Yes, a premium account lets you message any other LinkedIn member without needing to connect first. However, some members may still opt not to receive messages from those not in their network.
What’s the difference between Business Plus and Sales Navigator?
Sales Navigator builds on Business Plus with enhanced lead and account intelligence features tailored specifically for sales professionals. Business Plus offers more general tools for companies and recruiters.
Can I try LinkedIn Premium free?
Yes, LinkedIn offers one month free trials for all three subscription levels. New members can sample premium features before deciding whether to continue the paid subscription.
Is there a LinkedIn Premium discount for students?
Yes, students and recent graduates can apply for a 50% discount on Career Premium subscriptions for the first year. Proof of active student status is required.
Conclusion
Upgrading to a premium LinkedIn subscription can provide tremendous value for professionals across industries and career levels. The additional features enhance your profile, expand your reach, provide insights, and unlock tools that empower your career and business success.
While the monthly or annual fees represent an investment, the ROI from increased visibility, relationships, and opportunities on the world’s largest professional network make LinkedIn Premium well worth it for most users.
With know-how of the available subscription tiers and a strategy focused on the features that best fit your needs, you can start taking your LinkedIn presence and network to new heights!