If you’re in B2B sales, recruiting, or trying to get a job, there’s little question that LinkedIn is valuable At the same time, LinkedIn is a great place to become a subject matter expert or influencer within your industry. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that you should always get a premium. I already posted that I thought LinkedIn Premium was a worthwhile investment, but let’s dig deeper into some of the key LinkedIn Premium features to better understand how they can help us and our business.
For many users, the LinkedIn premium features are highly valuable. In fact, it is estimated that 39% of LinkedIn users are subscribed to LinkedIn Premium. So, if you are in the other 61%, read on to see what you might be missing out on!
What is LinkedIn Premium?
LinkedIn is the only social network that offers a “premium” paid plan offering additional features because of the large numbers of professionals who use LinkedIn as part of their job. While YouTube has some premium features, it’s primarily the right to watch videos without advertising. You don’t get additional features to communicate with other members. On the other hand, LinkedIn Premium provides greatly increased search and communication tools above and beyond what most LinkedIn tools can offer.
So, who uses LinkedIn Premium? There are several demographics that love it. In short, they are the categories of users who derive some economic benefit from using LinkedIn. This can be true whether it’s a short-term boost or the use of an ongoing tool. And for a few people, the LinkedIn Premium features won’t be needed because their use of the network is relatively casual.
Who Uses LinkedIn Premium?
Like most businesses, LinkedIn understands that there’s no one size fits all solution that benefits everyone equally. For that reason, LinkedIn has different Premium plans, each of which has slightly different LinkedIn Premium features. Similarly, if you’re trying to be found on LinkedIn, there’s a good chance you’re tailoring your profile to one of these groups. Likewise, LinkedIn Premium is offered for the following demographics, who are its biggest users:
Recruiters
95% of recruiters are on LinkedIn and for them, they have “Recruiter Lite.” The LinkedIn Premium features included in this plan allow recruiters to more easily find the right candidates. Then, there are options to contact these potential candidates and see if they’re interested in the position the recruiter is trying to fill.
Keep in mind, for recruiters there’s more to finding candidates than skimming job applications. LinkedIn has job postings, but not all potential candidates are going to respond. It’s relatively common for companies to hire top talent away from their employers. By finding people with valuable job skills, recruiters can crack those tough cases more easily.
Job Seekers
Knowing that the recruiters are on LinkedIn, so are the job seekers, and for the “Premium Career” exists. It used to be called “Jobseeker Premium,” and for a while, they only had “Premium Business” available. With that said, the LinkedIn Premium features offered to jobseekers are very useful for getting their name (and qualifications) in front of the right people. As the saying goes, sometimes all it takes is getting your foot in the door.
The fact that LinkedIn Premium options are available for job seekers doesn’t mean that it’s worthwhile. However, LinkedIn claims that using LinkedIn Premium will help job seekers get hired 2x faster on average. Since this also results in getting that paycheck restarted faster, it means that the subscription quickly pays for itself. And of course, if the job seeker is trying to improve working conditions or increase their salary, they can get there faster.
B2B Salespeople
Smart salespeople who understand the benefits of social selling on LinkedIn have “Sales Navigator Pro” to rely on. These tailored LinkedIn Premium features help salespeople find the decision-makers in their industry. From there, these professionals can forge connections and build relationships.
Here’s the thing. In many cases, even for B2B industries, a lot of procurement professionals get bombarded with marketing materials and sales calls. These can get annoying, especially when multiple people are presenting competing products and services. salespeople can use Sales Navigator and other tools to increase their LinkedIn Social Selling Index (SSI). This can help bring in the sale.
Further Reading: 15 Incredible AI LinkedIn Headshot Tools to Create the Perfect LinkedIn Profile Picture
How Much Does LinkedIn Premium Cost?
While the pricing always changes, at the time of this writing monthly fees are anywhere from $30 to $120 a month with monthly payments around $20% more. The annual savings is especially handy for sales and recruiting professionals since they need to use the LinkedIn Premium features on a long-term basis.
Of course, because the benefits are different between one Premium plan and another, the pricing is different. Premium Career costs as little as $30 per month with an annual subscription. Next up, Premium Business costs $48 per month. For sales professionals, the price is $80. Finally, Recruiter Lite is the most expensive plan at $120 per month. One of the reasons behind these price differences is the number of InMails included in each plan. We’ll talk about that feature below.
What are the 11 Most Valuable Features That Come with LinkedIn Premium?
While many LinkedIn Premium features are available with selected plans, there are some options that are common to all Premium plans. After all, different tools lend themselves to different goals better than others. And some features are more needed than others for various users. Here is the breakdown of those key features that come with LinkedIn Premium.
1. InMail Credits
InMail is a kind of private messaging on LinkedIn. However, regular private messaging can only be used with people who are part of your LinkedIn network, or who have permitted open messaging. The latter group often includes recruiters and similar industry professionals. InMail can be sent to anyone, but you must pay for each message or use one in your monthly allotment.
Since many professionals use email, which is freely available, it’s easy to wonder why InMail is among the valuable LinkedIn Premium features. LinkedIn claims that InMails are 2.6x more effective than emails alone. One reason for this is that these messages can be sent and received only in limited quantities, meaning you get noticed more easily.
You are provided monthly credits dependent on your plan. Subscribers to Career get 3, Premium Business gets 15, Sales Navigator Pro (20), or Recruiter Lite (30). These numbers reflect the level of expected usage for each type of LinkedIn Premium subscriber. You can also purchase additional credits as needed.
Further Reading: What is a LinkedIn InMail and How to Leverage Them
2. See Who’s Viewed Your Profile
LinkedIn users without a Premium account are allowed to see a few profile viewers. In addition, they’ll often get a clue about who else could’ve visited, such as where the other member works. However, for most visitors, the information is generalized, along with a total number of views. This can leave the member scratching their head, and it doesn’t allow for follow-up in many cases.
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However, among the LinkedIn Premium features this is one of the more valuable. That’s because you can turn profile views into opportunities. For jobseekers, visits from recruiters might indicate a company is interested in you. And for recruiters or sales professionals, a profile view might indicate a sales/recruitment lead to follow up on. Everyone with a LinkedIn Premium account can use those views as a reason to send an InMail. After all, that person has shown some interest in you.
3. Access to LinkedIn Learning
Formerly Lynda.com, LinkedIn Learning now features access to over 15,000 expert-led courses. This is a great, nearly free resource that lets you upskill or keep abreast of industry trends. You can also use LinkedIn Learning to explore career changes, gain insight into target markets, and more. Just about every industry on the planet is covered. The possibilities are endless.
4. Unlimited Search
If you use LinkedIn to search for people and find the results are limited, LinkedIn Premium provides you unlimited search results. While job seekers might not find the lack of limits as valuable (you only need to find one person at a target company, for instance), other LinkedIn Premium users often need a lot of leads. For this reason, unlimited search is one of the LinkedIn Premium features that should not be ignored.
Further Reading: The Two Easy Ways to Disconnect and Delete a LinkedIn Connection
5. Job & Salary Insights
This feature is especially useful for Career users, but other Premium account holders can find salary information valuable. Think of this as market research for the talent pool, or like analytics for your website. The feature comes in two parts: Job Insights, and Salary Insights. With Job Insights, you can compare yourself to other candidates applying for a certain job. So, you’ll see right away how competitive you are (and where you might need to make up deficits in an interview).
Salary Insights lets you see how much a job will likely pay, but does so without needing your personal data. This can be valuable for recruiters who are trying to determine what market salaries are for a certain position. Job seekers can find out if the salary they’re making or being offered is competitive. They can also use market information during contract negotiations or the “salary expectations” of a job application.
6. Business Insights
No matter why you need LinkedIn Premium, the ability to see information about a business is valuable. While everyone can see basic information like location and industry on a business’ profile, Premium users get more information. For instance, you can see how fast a company is growing. You’ll also get access to hiring trends and other data points like changes in key personnel. This information can be used in several ways. For instance, job seekers can see if a business is relatively sound for long-term employees, while sales professionals can get current data on who to talk to about purchases.
7. Advanced Search Filters
Searching is easy, narrowing down your options is hard. Let’s face it, especially with unlimited search results, it can be difficult to find the right person among possibilities. So, with advanced filters, you can find buyers or job candidates using specific criteria. For instance, you can find out their seniority at a company, job description, or other criteria like location.
Further Reading: The Easiest Way How to Add Your Portfolio to LinkedIn
8. Saved Notes on Profiles
This is one of the LinkedIn Premium features that can be incredibly flexible. In particular, you can “mark up” someone’s profile with key information. The information is saved on the profile and helps you remember why a person came to your attention. For instance, you could write “top candidate for position X” or “Might be interested in this product.” From there, you can discover the person’s pain point to make them receptive to your pitch.
9. Saved Leads and Accounts
Sometimes you can find someone and not be ready to offer them an opportunity yet. For that reason, LinkedIn Premium members can keep track of these relationships more carefully. This can involve following key decisionmaker, for example. Or, you can save a company page and monitor it for job openings or personnel changes. Either way, this helps a professional know when it’s time to take advantage of an opportunity.
10. Saved Search Alerts
This is one of the best LinkedIn Premium features for recruiters. That’s because you can save a candidate search, and get a notification when new people meet your criteria. For example, if you’re looking to hire a VP of Marketing, you can set a search alert for that position. By saving a search, you don’t need to constantly run the search and eliminate the same people over and over.
Getting alerts is very convenient if you want to be notified when there are new employees or job titles for which you target for sales, too. If you sell business machines, then, you might be interested when a new director of procurement or factory manager gets hired at a target company or industry. You can then forge a relationship that may result in getting the sale. Best of all, you’ll find that person faster than a competitor who doesn’t use Premium or doesn’t have a relevant saved search.
11. Email Integration
Finally, let’s look at LinkedIn’s email integration. The integration is especially valuable for sales and marketing professionals, and it lets you see profile data for contacts in your email inbox. This is very convenient for more effective communication outside of LinkedIn, although there are other solutions that give you similar functionality like the Google Chrome Extension Discover.ly. Then again, there’s a lot to say about the convenience of using fewer tools with more comprehensive features.
Naturally, you can use a combination of email integration, email marketing, and InMail. Once you’ve become a connection for someone, you’ll no longer need to send InMail and can switch to regular email or messaging. At the same time, the LinkedIn information added to your email inbox helps remind you who is important for what reasons without leaving the site.
Further Reading: Why and How to Change Your LinkedIn URL
Conclusion
As you can see, there are a lot of LinkedIn Premium features to consider. Some have greater value for different kinds of Premium users, but most can be useful in a few cases for most people. In addition, it’s worth noting that you don’t need to use all these features for Premium to be worth it. LinkedIn Premium is a value-packed tool for most professionals looking for opportunities. Which LinkedIn Premium features are most attractive to you? Which do you want more information on? Please comment below with your feedback and questions!
Hero photo by Nathana Rebouças on Unsplash