LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking platform with over 850 million members worldwide. While anyone can create a basic LinkedIn profile for free, LinkedIn also offers premium paid memberships that provide additional features and benefits.
Becoming a premium member on LinkedIn unlocks a host of useful capabilities not available to basic users. Premium members gain access to more comprehensive profile analytics, enhanced search filters, unlimited InMail messages, and the ability to view full profiles of those outside their network.
For recruiters, sales professionals, job seekers, and anyone who leverages LinkedIn for business, the premium services can provide tangible value. Understanding the differences between free and premium accounts on LinkedIn can help you decide which option makes more sense for your needs and goals.
What are the LinkedIn premium membership options?
LinkedIn offers three tiers of paid premium membership:
LinkedIn Career
LinkedIn Career is the most affordable paid tier at $29.99 per month. With a Career membership, you get:
– Access to full profiles outside your network
– Unlimited InMail messages
– Advanced profile filters and analytics
– Interview preparation tools
Career is best suited for active or passive job seekers who want to expand their reach and get noticed by more recruiters and hiring managers. The ability to send InMail messages directly instead of hoping someone accepts your connection request can improve your odds of making that critical first contact.
LinkedIn Premium Business
Premium Business membership costs $59.99 per month. It includes all the Career benefits plus:
– Advanced search filters
– Contact info for full profiles outside your network
– Talent and marketing analytics
– Prioritized customer support
Business is designed for sales professionals, recruiters, marketers, and anyone leveraging LinkedIn to promote their business in a professional context. The additional analytics help track lead generation efforts, while expanded search makes identifying and contacting prospects easier.
LinkedIn Premium Sales
Premium Sales has all the features of Premium Business plus even more sales-focused capabilities. It costs $79.99 per month. Additional perks include:
– Lead recommendations from LinkedIn’s AI
– Sales Navigator chrome extension
– TeamLink collaboration integration
– Customizable sales pipelines and analytics
Sales is tailored specifically for sales professionals who rely on LinkedIn as a lead gen and prospecting platform. The sophisticated tools help maximize your sales productivity and streamline the outreach process.
What are the key benefits of a LinkedIn Premium membership?
While the three tiers provide varying features based on use case, some of the overall benefits of upgrading to any LinkedIn Premium plan include:
Enhanced profile and network analytics
Premium members gain access to analytics that provide insights based on profile views, engagement, and network updates. You can see who viewed your profile, drill into demographics, and analyze weekly updates vs. past periods.
Ability to search full profiles outside your network
With a free account you can only view limited information from profiles outside your 1st-degree network. Premium opens up full profiles regardless of connection, making recruiting, sales prospecting and general networking much easier.
Unlimited InMail messages
InMail allows you to directly contact any LinkedIn member without a connection. Free users only get 5 InMails per month while Premium removes that limit, letting you send as many as you need.
Advanced profile search filters
Premium enhances LinkedIn search with additional filters for location, company size, seniority, industry, and more. You can laser focus your searches to precisely target the profiles that matter most.
Learning and development resources
Premium includes access to LinkedIn Learning course content. You can build skills and enhance your professional abilities with over 16,000 expert-led video courses.
Other notable perks
– Ad-free browsing
– Premium customer support
– Workspace collaboration (Sales Navigator)
– Interview prep tools
– Lead recommendations (Sales Navigator)
The expanded capabilities that come with a premium membership can significantly improve your LinkedIn experience and effectiveness. The right features help you stay organized, work smarter, and accomplish your professional goals.
Who can benefit most from Premium?
While anyone can get value from Premium, below are some common LinkedIn users who may benefit most from the paid features and functionality:
Recruiters and talent acquisition
Premium enhances recruiting efforts by unlocking the full LinkedIn database. Advanced search, InMail, and profile analytics enable recruiters to identify, contact and engage with more relevant candidates.
Sales professionals
Premium Sales Navigator optimizes prospecting with lead recommendations, saved lead lists, and CRM integrations. Sales teams can generate more qualified leads and nurture relationships.
Career changers
Job seekers can stand out from the crowd with additional profile promotion tools. InMail also facilitates direct contact with recruiters at your target companies.
Active networkers
For those focused on expanding their network, Premium facilitates connecting with new contacts through unlocked profiles and unlimited InMail.
Business marketers
Premium provides data to measure content and ad performance. Marketers can track engagements, get follower demographics, and optimize their LinkedIn strategy.
Executives and thought leaders
Premium offers insights that help executives and influencers understand their audience and share content more strategically. Brand building analytics reveal opportunities.
In general, Premium works best for those who actively use LinkedIn as an integral part of their job or career efforts – whether it be recruiting, sales, job seeking, networking, or marketing. Casual users may be fine sticking with the free experience.
Is LinkedIn Premium worth the cost?
Whether Premium is “worth it” depends entirely on your individual use case and professional goals.
For many, the paid features are transformative and provide ample value that more than offsets the monthly or annual cost. Sales Navigator – at $79.99 per month – may single-handedly pay for itself many times over if you land even one or two opportunities you otherwise would have missed.
That said, occasional users who just want to dabble in LinkedIn for basic networking or passive job seeking may do fine with the free account. Evaluate what LinkedIn objectives matter most and whether the Premium features will genuinely help you achieve them better or faster.
Some key questions to consider:
– How actively do you use LinkedIn as part of your job?
– Do you need to recruit talent, make sales, or apply for jobs?
– How much time do you currently spend on LinkedIn?
– Do you struggle with search limitations or profile visibility?
– Could Premium features save you time or increase your success rate?
For most professionals today, LinkedIn has become a required platform for career and business success. The expanding capabilities of Premium memberships mirror that increasing importance and integral role that LinkedIn plays.
While the cost may give some pause, for those who rely on LinkedIn, the benefits likely justify the investment. Premium facilitates more connections, more discovery, more engagement and ultimately, more results.
Conclusion
LinkedIn Premium unlocks a host of features, analytics and tools not available to free members. Depending on your specific needs and use cases, upgrading can provide advantages that boost productivity, enhance visibility, expand your reach, and help accomplish your career or business objectives faster.
Consider which of the membership tiers offer capabilities that align with your LinkedIn goals. Evaluate whether those additional benefits could generate a strong enough ROI to warrant the monthly or annual fee. For many professionals today, the answer will be a definitive yes.