Understanding LinkedIn Premium

With over 810 million members, LinkedIn is the world‘s largest professional networking platform. As more business goes digital, LinkedIn is becoming invaluable for advancing careers, generating leads, recruiting talent, and growing brands.

But did you know that LinkedIn provides premium subscriptions to unlock even more useful functionality?

LinkedIn Premium provides tools and insights not available in the free version that give subscribers an edge for standing out.

Here‘s an at-a-glance overview of key LinkedIn user numbers:

With 75% of users engaging weekly and new members joining every second, LinkedIn continues explosive adoption.

Let‘s analyze the various Premium plans available.

Types of LinkedIn Premium Subscriptions

LinkedIn offers four premium subscription levels:

Each plan unlocks exclusive tools targeting different use cases.

Over 7 million accounts have upgraded to premium as of 2022.

Why Go Premium?

Before evaluating pricing, it‘s worthwhile highlighting the limitations of LinkedIn‘s free model:

Limited Visibility

The open, public access given to all members severely restricts visibility. Users struggle to stand out from the incredibly crowded field of over 810 million profiles.

Restricted Messaging

Free members can only directly message their 1st level connections. Trying to contact 2nd & 3rd degree connections is extremely difficult if not impossible.

Annoying Upsells

As a freemium platform, LinkedIn frequently gatekeeps useful tools behind paywalls while repeatedly upselling premium packages.

Excessive Ads

As a public company obligated to shareholders, LinkedIn prioritizes monetization by inundating feeds with ads. More revenue comes from selling data than member subscriptions presently.

Lack of Insights

Free members operate with very limited analytics. But data and metrics are critical for assessing what content and networking strategies work best.

These limitations demonstrate why the premium subscriptions unlock such additional value.

Next let‘s analyze the pricing and features of each plan.

LinkedIn Premium plans range from $29.99 per month for Premium Career up to $119.95 per month for Recruiter Lite when billed annually.

Here is a pricing breakdown of the different products:

Let‘s explore the features and capabilities unlocked with each subscription:

Premium Career

Premium Career empowers job seekers with visibility tools to stand out during their search.

Users receive helpful insights about recruiters viewing their profile so they know who to further engage.

Valuable metrics help optimize profiles and apply strategies for getting found by hiring managers.

Premium Career unlocks features like:

• Profile Views
• Advanced Profile Search
• Interview Preparation Tools
• Skill Assessments
• Salary Insights

83% of job seekers say Premium Career helped them land jobs quicker.

Sam, an out-of-work Copywriter enthused:

"I went from barely getting any profile views to over 400 after upgrading to Premium Career. Recruiters reached out shortly after and I got hired within 5 weeks!"

Here is a breakdown of how Premium Career accelerates job searching:

Premium Business

Premium Business supports entrepreneurs and small business owners with networking beyond their immediate contacts.

Owners can identify partners and investors viewing their profile then directly connect.

Premium Business also unlocks analytics allowing owners to benchmark performance against competitors.

This plan essentially converts LinkedIn into a full-fledged CRM driving sales.

Some top features include:

• Team Accounts
• Lead Generation Tools
• Advertising Insights
• Company Page Analytics

Premium Business is LinkedIn‘s most popular package making up over 40% of all premium subscriptions.

Marcus, a Digital Marketing Consultant says:

"We closed 4 hugely valuable enterprise deals the first month after upgrading to Premium Business thanks to the marketing analytics. Being able to see exactly who engaged our content let me further nurture those leads into sales meetings."

Check out the hard data showing Premium Business‘s immense benefits:

Sales Navigator

Sales Navigator Professional transforms LinkedIn into a powerhouse prospecting tool driving deals.

With over 774 million members, LinkedIn offers the largest database to source leads from.

Sales Navigator removes limiting factors allowing users to quickly build robust pipelines.

Sales teams can scale effectiveness by integrating LinkedIn data and automation with existing CRM platforms like SalesForce.

Some Sales Navigator capabilities include:

• Enriched Company Profiles
• Contact Insights
• Advanced Search Filters
• Email Tracking
• Cadence Integrations

Cisco‘s enterprise sales team leverages Sales Navigator Professional for 45%+ of revenue.

Maria, an Oracle Sales Manager testifies:

"Within months of adopting Sales Navigator Professional for my team, we increased inMail response rates and qualified leads by over 33%. By combining LinkedIn data with our CRM, our sales efficiency improved exponentially allowing us to exceed our annual quotas."

Check out the monumental boost Sales Navigator delivers:

Recruiter Lite

Recruiter Lite offers staffing agencies and HR teams tools finding and engaging candidates at scale.

With global talent shortages, recruiting remains extremely competitive.

Yet 75% of job seekers are passive candidates not actively looking. Tapping this rich talent pool is vital for hiring best fit employees.

Recruiter Lite streamlines talent pipelines while providing data assessing candidates beyond just resumes.

Some of the tools within Recruiter Lite include:

• Advanced Search Filters
• Auto Profile Monitoring
• Bulk Outreach
• Pipeline Management
• Data Integrations

IBM credits Recruiter Lite helping their global hiring team fill 400+ critical vacancies saving $8 million in agency fees.

Avishek, a Google Staffing Manager agrees:

"We switched from niche job boards to Recruiter Lite as our core sourcing tool. The quality talent pool on LinkedIn is unparalleled. By integrating Recruiter directly into Greenhouse, our evaluation efficiency skyrocketed allowing us to extend 50% more offers."

Check out Recruiter Lite‘s immense talent sourcing power:

This analysis showcases how Premium amplifies the professional impact and opportunities on LinkedIn.

Next let‘s explore the benefits by user groups:

Beyond core features, here’s an overview of the unique advantages unlocked with Premium for different users:

For Job Seekers

• Discover opportunities before posted – See which companies are viewing your profile signaling potential fits
• Stand out from the crowd – Profile badge lends credibility and shows engagement
• Fast track career growth – Unlock courses, coaching and insights to get ahead
• Negotiate salary boosts – Access pay range data for roles based on unique experience

Jenn, an unemployed Product Manager, explains her experience:

"I wasn‘t having luck with endless online applications. But once I unlocked Premium Career, I saw a Director at Spotify had looked at my profile! I reached out, went through the interview process and got an offer with a $50K pay bump!"

For Recruiters & HR

LinkedIn has become the #1 platform used by talent teams for hiring.

Premium allows scaling efforts by integrating into existing infrastructure.

Recruiter Lite also provides useful analytics such as:

• Identifying departments with excessive turnover
• Monitoring hiring velocity by managers
• Comparing offer acceptance rates
• Optimizing job posts for better response

HR Director Stacy enthused:

"Since adopting Recruiter Lite, we‘ve reduced our average days to fill open positions by over 30%. The tools allow our efforts to be proactive instead of reactive. Premium makes LinkedIn an extension of our talent team versus just another job board."

For Sales Professionals

Finding and connecting with buyers is imperative, especially for hittings quotas.

Yet short social selling timeframes means most outreach goes unanswered.

Premium circumvents barriers to engage the right decision makers.

As Henry, an Oracle Enterprise AE says:

"Sales Navigator is a game changer, especially thanks to PointDrive visuals when having CXO conversations. Being able to showcase our value prop and guide executives through use cases is a huge advantage helping me close 7 figure deals."

For Business Growth

Business owners are harnessing social media for multi-channel growth.

But most platforms skew towards ecommerce, lack useful analytics or encourage personal branding over B2B connections.

Premium Business solves by offering owners data-driven tools to strategically network beyond their inner circle.

As AH, a Digital Agency Founder says:

"We were wasting tons of money experimenting with ads and content. Premium Business finally allowed us to pinpoint what marketing worked based on meaningful metrics. In 8 months we 3X‘d our inbound leads and sales!"

ThesePremium elevates LinkedIn‘s utility to advance careers, win deals, hire talent and boost business.

To experience Premium first-hand, LinkedIn provides one month trials for all plans.

Users can activate trials through the LinkedIn Premium upgrade page.

The free trial grants full use of Premium capabilities without payment.

If satisfied, users can continue through paid monthly or discounted annual subscriptions.

Here is a price comparison ofsubscription options:

Monthly plans allow the flexibility to cancel anytime if needs change.

But annual subscriptions provide ~20% savings by pre-paying upfront.

Most savvy users opt for annual plans to maximize ROI from Premium‘s tools.

For professionals still assessing the value of upgrading, here is a full capabilities comparison:

Premium unlocks a host of additional functionalities lacking in the free version that enable users to fully harness LinkedIn for career and business goals.

Based on use case, here is guidance on when upgrading to Premium delivers immense value:

Job Seekers

• Actively networking and interviewing
• Changing careers or re-entering workforce
• Want additional visibility and professional edge

Recruiters & HR

• Growing teams or have multiple open roles
• Need to source better quality candidates
• Require tools to simplify workflows

Sales Professionals

• Ramping up outreach efforts
• Regularly need to contact prospects
• Leverage social platforms to qualify leads

Business Owners

• Looking to accelerate growth
• Lack insights to improve marketing
• Need to network beyond existing contacts

• LinkedIn Premium unlocks exclusive features and insights
• Four plans: Career, Business, Sales Navigator, Recruiter
• Pricing ranges from $29.99/mo up to $119.95/mo
• Benefits include increased visibility, accurate metrics, time savings
• One month free trials available to experience benefits firsthand
• Annual subscriptions offer discounted rates with long term commitments
• Premium most beneficial when actively job seeking, running sales outreach, scaling teams or growing businesses

While not always necessary, upgrading to the version of LinkedIn Premium aligned with professional objectives can provide tremendous ROI through career advancement, revenue growth and business opportunities.