LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking platform, with over 800 million members worldwide. Many businesses and professionals use LinkedIn to connect with clients, customers, and partners.
LinkedIn offers several account types, including personal accounts for individuals and business accounts for companies. While personal accounts are free, LinkedIn business accounts come with additional features and benefits tailored for businesses. This often leads people to ask: does a LinkedIn business account cost money?
The short answer is yes, LinkedIn business accounts are paid subscriptions with different pricing tiers based on the features included. However, there are some free options for small businesses and startups to maintain a presence on LinkedIn without paying.
In this article, we’ll compare the different types of LinkedIn business accounts and their cost structures. We’ll also look at free ways for small businesses to use LinkedIn without a premium paid account.
Overview of LinkedIn Business Accounts
LinkedIn offers three main tiers of business accounts – Basic, Premium, and Sales Navigator. Each tier provides progressively more features to help businesses connect with clients, promote their brand, advertise jobs, market products, and gain insights into their industries.
Here is an overview of the three types of LinkedIn business accounts:
LinkedIn Basic Business Account
– Costs $24.99 per month with annual billing ($299.88 billed annually)
– Lets you display business info like products, services, website, etc.
– Enables company updates and news postings
– Provides basic analytics like page visit insights
– Lets you spotlight key employees
LinkedIn Premium Business Account
– Costs $59.99 per month with annual billing ($719.88 annually)
– Includes all Basic account features
– Lets you post unlimited updates and articles
– Provides organization and contact management tools
– Enables advanced analytics and demographic data
– Offers premium professional learning courses
LinkedIn Sales Navigator Account
– Costs $64.99-$99.99 per month based on features
– Includes all Premium account features
– Provides detailed sales insights on leads and accounts
– Lets you access contact information for direct outreach
– Offers customized sales recommendations and talking points
– Enables advanced search filters and saved lead lists
In addition to these three main tiers, LinkedIn also offers customized enterprise business solutions for large organizations. These corporate accounts can cost over $10,000 per month with customized features.
As you can see, LinkedIn business accounts provide more sophisticated tools and insights compared to the free personal accounts. But is it possible to use LinkedIn for business without paying? Let’s look at some options next.
Can Small Businesses Use LinkedIn for Free?
For small businesses and startups without a large marketing budget, the paid LinkedIn subscriptions may not be feasible. The good news is LinkedIn does offer some free options for businesses to get started.
Here are some ways small businesses can use LinkedIn without a paid account:
Personal Profile Optimization
Small business owners can optimize their personal LinkedIn profile to highlight their business and expertise. This includes adding a professional headshot, business description in the summary section, skills, accomplishments, certifications, and recommendations.
Company Page Creation
With a free account, you can create a basic LinkedIn Company Page to share your business information. Although you can’t post updates, this establishes your business presence and profile.
Employee Profiles
Encourage employees to create optimized personal profiles that list your company to expand your brand’s LinkedIn presence.
Content Sharing
Share business-related articles, images, and content to your personal connections. While limited, this can help build awareness.
LinkedIn Groups
Join and participate in LinkedIn Groups related to your industry or topics to connect with prospects.
Targeted Outreach
Use LinkedIn messaging to reach out to prospects, clients, and partners to build relationships.
ads
Consider running self-serve ads on LinkedIn to promote your business, content, job openings, or events. These are affordable options for small budgets.
Key Differences Between Free and Paid Accounts
While the above free options are helpful, paid LinkedIn business accounts unlock more robust features and analytics. Here are some key differences:
Features | Free Personal Account | Paid Business Account |
---|---|---|
Company Page Customization | Basic pages only | Advanced customization options |
Content Posting | Limited posting ability | Unlimited posts and articles |
Ad Campaigns | Self-serve ads only | Managed ad campaigns |
Analytics & Insights | Very limited data | Advanced analytics & reports |
Search Filters | Basic filters only | Advanced custom filters |
Outreach Messages | Limited messages | Unlimited messages |
As you can see from the table, paid accounts unlock much more powerful marketing, advertising, analytics, and outreach capabilities.
Conclusion
While LinkedIn offers limited free options for businesses, small companies can benefit tremendously by investing in a paid subscription. Advanced features like customized Company Pages, content marketing, advertising, lead and data insights, and bulk communications are exclusively available through paid accounts.
Here are some key takeaways on whether LinkedIn business accounts cost money:
– LinkedIn offers three paid account tiers: Basic, Premium, and Sales Navigator packages.
– Paid accounts provide enhanced tools for branding, marketing, advertising, analytics, and communications.
– Prices range from $24.99 per month for Basic to over $10,000 monthly for enterprise-level customized accounts.
– Small businesses can maintain a free presence with profile optimization and content sharing.
– But paid accounts offer much greater capabilities around branding, lead generation, and analytics.
Overall, the premium features and tools unlocked by LinkedIn’s paid business subscriptions can provide tremendous value for the investment. The expanded capabilities allow companies to maximize their professional network and business opportunities on the world’s largest B2B platform.