LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking platform with over 722 million users worldwide. As a business owner or marketer, having a LinkedIn presence is crucial for establishing credibility, attracting customers, networking with other professionals, and building your personal brand.
The good news is that you can create a free basic LinkedIn account for your business. However, to unlock more advanced features that can really help your business thrive on LinkedIn, you’ll need to upgrade to one of LinkedIn’s paid subscriptions.
Creating a free basic LinkedIn business account
To get started on LinkedIn with a free account, simply go to LinkedIn.com and click “Join now.” You’ll be prompted to enter your first name, last name, email address, and a password. Be sure to use your real name rather than your business name at this stage.
Once you’ve entered your basic information, you can choose to join LinkedIn as a professional. This means your profile will be public and visible to others on LinkedIn. Select “Business Owner” as your category to establish this as a business profile rather than a personal one. Include a profile photo of yourself or your business logo to personalize your account.
When setting up your profile, you can enter your business name, description, location, website, and other key details about your company. This information will appear on your LinkedIn profile to help people understand what your business does.
Some key things to include in your business profile:
- Business name
- Business description
- Location
- Industry
- Website URL
- Company size
With a free account, you can also customize your LinkedIn URL to include your business name rather than a string of numbers and letters.
Features included with a free LinkedIn business account
Here are some of the key features you get with a free basic LinkedIn account for your business:
- Profile – Showcase your business info
- Newsfeed – Share industry updates
- Groups – Join 50 groups to connect with your audience
- Search – Find new connections
- Messages – Communicate with connections
- Notifications – See likes, comments, etc. on your posts
- Mobile access – LinkedIn app for iOS and Android
With your free account, you can also start building connections by sending connection requests to clients, partners, industry influencers, and more. However, you’ll be limited to sending 30 InMail messages per month with the free version.
Limitations of a free LinkedIn account
While a free account provides the basics for establishing your business on LinkedIn, there are some key limitations to be aware of:
- Limited profile views – You can only see who has viewed your profile in the past 90 days
- No custom analytics – You won’t get insights into your audience and content performance
- Limited search filters – Can only search by keyword, location, company, title, school
- No Lead Gen forms – Can’t collect leads directly from your LinkedIn profile
- No customized ad targeting – You can’t target your ads to a specific audience
- No LinkedIn Recruiter access – Can’t post jobs or search for candidates
You’ll also miss out on some capabilities only available with LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator premium subscription, such as seeing full profiles of your connections, unlimited InMail messages, and more advanced analytics.
Is a paid LinkedIn account worth it for businesses?
For many businesses, upgrading to a paid LinkedIn account can provide a worthwhile boost. Here are some of the biggest benefits of a paid LinkedIn subscription:
- Expanded analytics – Track impressions, engagement, clicks,follower growth, top content, etc.
- Lead generation – Collect leads from your profile with Lead Gen Forms
- Targeted advertising – Target ads by location, job title, company size, interests, etc.
- Unlimited searching – Use all available filters and keywords to find ideal prospects
- Expanded network – You can follow up to 30,000 people and view all profiles in full
- Post paywall content – Share premium long-form posts only visible to connections
LinkedIn offers several paid subscription options for businesses:
LinkedIn Sales Navigator
Pricing starts at $79.99/month per user. Ideal for sales professionals to find the right prospects, build relationships, and close more deals.
LinkedIn Recruiter
Pricing starts at $119.95/month per user. Enables you to post jobs, search the LinkedIn database, and message prospective candidates.
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions
Cost varies based on your targeting and campaign budget. This unlocks powerful advertising capabilities within LinkedIn to increase brand awareness, generate leads, and drive sales.
Conclusion
In summary, although you can create a free basic LinkedIn account for your business, upgrading to a paid subscription unlocks more advanced capabilities when it comes to analytics, lead generation, advertising, searching, and expanding your network.
For serious business marketing and recruiting on LinkedIn, a paid account is recommended to get the most value. The additional investment can pay off exponentially by helping you gain new customers and talent.
However, a free account still provides a solid starting point for establishing your brand’s presence on LinkedIn. You can always upgrade later as your marketing and recruiting needs evolve.