It’s not the primary time I’ve tried out LinkedIn Premium — however it’s the first time I’m approaching the platform’s paid subscription as a creator.
Whereas actively attempting to find my new position in early 2023, I took benefit of the free trial of LinkedIn Premium, then prolonged it for one more few months. As a job seeker, the advantages have been nice — the platform advisable jobs I’d be a prime applicant for and allowed me to succeed in out to hiring managers straight, even when I wasn’t related to them.
I didn’t find yourself as a content material author at Buffer due to LinkedIn (that was all the way down to a enjoyable Instagram put up, apparently sufficient), however I positively discovered it priceless in my job search. I landed a number of interviews due to the service and would extremely suggest it to these searching for a brand new alternative.
However, after nabbing my dream position at Buffer, my targets on LinkedIn shifted. I really like creating content material on the platform, plus I’ve simply launched a podcast for B2B entrepreneurs that I’m eager to, nicely, market. In a nutshell, I need to generate engagement and develop my viewers — might LinkedIn Premium assist with that, too?
It simply would possibly. I’ve seen an uptick in banner adverts promising every little thing from AI help to elevated profile views — and I used to be curious to place it to the take a look at.
So, on the outset of 2024, I signed up for LinkedIn Premium once more and made it my mission to reply the query: “Is LinkedIn Premium value it for creators?”
Right here’s every little thing you want to learn about utilizing LinkedIn Premium to construct your private model, enhance engagement, and develop your following.
What you get with LinkedIn Premium
First, let’s discuss concerning the LinkedIn instruments and options you’ll unlock with LinkedIn Premium. All of the issues listed beneath can be found with all 4 tiers of the premium plans (extra on this beneath):
- LinkedIn Premium badge: A gold badge in your profile.
- InMail credit: The power to message somebody you’re not already related with.
- Profile view insights: See precisely who has considered your profile inside the final 90 or twelve months (relying in your plan) until that consumer can be on Premium and has set their profile to personal.
- Non-public searching: Entry to public, semi-private, or personal mode to maintain your id hidden whereas searching different profiles.
- AI Profile writing assistant: A comparatively new function that can enable you to polish up the headline and about part in your profile.
- AI message drafts: AI assist in composing messages (solely obtainable within the U.S. now).
- LinkedIn Studying programs: Entry to LinkedIn’s intensive library of on-demand programs per week.
- Open profile: A setting you possibly can activate to make it attainable for anybody to get in contact with you, whether or not you’re related or not.
LinkedIn Premium pricing
How a lot does LinkedIn Premium price? That is determined by which plan you go for. LinkedIn Premium plans vary from $39 per 30 days to over $150/month. Costs will rely in your area.
Your choices, so as of price:
- LinkedIn Premium Profession
- LinkedIn Premium Enterprise
- LinkedIn Gross sales Navigator
- LinkedIn Recruiter Lite
The first variations between the plans are how far again you possibly can see profile views, folks searching, extra superior search filters, and saved leads. The costlier plans are focused at salespeople and recruiters.
This is a take a look at the largest variations between the plans.
As a part of the LinkedIn Premium sign-up, LinkedIn advisable the Marketing strategy for my wants. I went with that plan to make sure this evaluate was as complete as attainable.
Are you able to get LinkedIn Premium free of charge?
Technically, sure! You possibly can check out a LinkedIn Premium account free of charge as a part of their 30-day free trial of the service.
There are a number of Ts and Cs, although. LinkedIn Premium’s free trial is barely obtainable to customers who’ve by no means subscribed earlier than, and also you’ll additionally should enter your bank card particulars (however it’s fairly simple to cancel earlier than you’re charged in case you determine the plan is just not for you).
How to enroll in LinkedIn Premium
I used to be actually impressed by LinkedIn Premium’s onboarding course of. It’s extremely clean, and there are many suggestions and assets obtainable that will help you profit from all the brand new performance you will have entry to.
First, I’ll stroll you thru how to enroll.
- Log in to LinkedIn.com.
- Click on the Me profile icon on the prime proper of your homepage.
- Select Settings & Privateness from the dropdown menu.
- Select Account preferences on the left pane.
- Underneath Subscriptions & funds, click on Change subsequent to Premium Subscription.
- Reply the prompts, and LinkedIn will suggest a plan that fits your wants (you possibly can select any, although!)
- Observe the prompts on the web page to complete.
Now, it’s time to discover. You’ll obtain a welcome electronic mail from LinkedIn, and it’s a good suggestion to discover the assets they direct you to.
There’s additionally a useful web page that can present you precisely what instruments you possibly can entry, plus the best way to use them. Click on on the Me dropdown menu > Premium options.
LinkedIn Premium: My expertise as a creator
LinkedIn is not only for jobseekers — it’s turn out to be a strong platform for creators, due to the rise of the non-public model. Nonetheless, LinkedIn’s Premium subscriptions are squarely geared toward jobseekers, salespeople, and recruiters, with instruments explicitly constructed to satisfy their wants.
That stated, a few of these options might come in useful in case you’re seeking to create content material and construct a following on the platform.
Right here’s a take a look at these and the way I’d suggest utilizing them.
Profile view insights
Profile views are among the best LinkedIn Premium options. First, seeing precisely who’s taking a look at you is a great deal of enjoyable. However most significantly, this function might be an fascinating one to keep watch over as a creator, too.
I see the oldsters heading over to my profile as an indicator of click-through price. There’s no easy approach to tie profile views again to a selected piece of content material, after all, however it’s helpful to get an image of the sort of folks your content material is attracting.
Profile views provide extra of a deep dive into the precise folks your content material or headline evokes sufficient to click on over to your profile and take motion. To see this, head over to Profile > Analytics > Profile views.
From there, click on on ‘Present extra Premium analytics’ to get a breakdown of the highest corporations, places, and industries who’ve checked out your profile.
Is there a workaround for non-premium customers?
Kind of. Whilst you can solely see the id of a small share of the oldsters who view your profile with a free LinkedIn account, you possibly can nonetheless get a strong breakdown of follower demographics — supplied you will have Creator Mode turned on (it’s utterly free and never tied to any LinkedIn Premium subscription).
For viewers demographics in LinkedIn’s analytics, go to Profile > Analytics > Followers, and also you’ll see an analogous breakdown (although that is for brand new followers, not simply views). You possibly can filter these by job title, location, and trade, too.
InMail credit
In case you’re on the hunt for a brand new job or working in gross sales, LinkedIn’s InMail messages system has some fairly apparent use circumstances — speaking to hiring managers or potential prospects — although they’re much less overtly helpful for creators.
However whenever you’re constructing a following, tapping into the audiences of others could be a win-win for each creators. Actually, social media collaboration is without doubt one of the ways well-followed creator Aarushi Singh advisable in her latest Buffer visitor put up on how she grew on LinkedIn. These might take form in loads of methods — associate carousel posts, LinkedIn Lives, collab movies — however all that requires constructing a relationship first.
That’s the place InMails are available. With 5 credit per 30 days on the LinkedIn Premium Profession plan and 15 on the LinkedIn Premium Marketing strategy, you’ll have greater than sufficient to get in contact with different creators in your area of interest {and professional} community and (in case you play your playing cards proper) plan a collaborative technique.
Is there a workaround for non-premium customers?
Sure — a reasonably good one, too. LinkedIn presents a (extra restricted) approach to contact of us exterior your community with a primary account: customized connection requests. All it requires is hitting the Join button on one other consumer’s profile after which clicking Add be aware.
You’ll be restricted to 300 characters, however it’s an important springboard. And as soon as that consumer accepts your connection request, their DMs are open to you.
Customized button
LinkedIn Premium members can create a personalized button for his or her profile, which might be an effective way to direct followers to your link-in-bio or touchdown web page. That is significantly helpful in case you monetize your work by consulting, a publication, or one thing comparable.
To edit yours, navigate to your profile, then click on the Edit button (the pencil icon) on the highest proper. Scroll to the underside of the pop-up to seek out the Edit customized button possibility, then select Premium customized button.
The button textual content choices are:
- Go to my retailer
- Go to my web site
- View my portfolio
- View my weblog
- Ebook an appointment
Is there a workaround for non-premium customers?
Sure! There may be one other nice possibility right here for these utilizing the free model of LinkedIn. Whereas the button received’t seem as prominently in your profile because the Premium model, the free customized button is extra customizable. You possibly can select no matter textual content you’d wish to be clickable and nonetheless use any hyperlink.
LinkedIn’s AI Profile assistant
All of the profitable LinkedIn creators I’ve spoken to have careworn the significance of your LinkedIn profile. I’m already pretty proud of mine, however I used to be excited to see if LinkedIn’s AI might assist make it actually stand out.
As a part of this function, the AI will evaluate your present headline and bio and make strategies to enhance it. I discovered the outcomes to be mediocre.
The headline strategies weren’t groundbreaking — however, I reasoned, the AI-recommended key phrases would possibly give me a leg up with regards to LinkedIn search. I opted for the one beneath.
The about part AI suggestion was first rate. Whereas it was extra formal than I’d have preferred, it didn’t have that clearly AI-generated tone. The suggestion additionally wasn’t 100% correct (seemingly all the way down to gaps in my profile), however with a number of tweaks, it will have been good to go.
That stated, I’m fairly a fan of my present, pithy about part, and I really feel prefer it showcases my ability as a author a bit of higher than the AI’s tell-don’t-show possibility. I opted to maintain my outdated about part:
Is there a workaround for non-premium customers?
LinkedIn has no options that would work as an alternative to the AI profile assistant. Nonetheless, you need to be capable of get comparable outcomes with an exterior AI device like ChatGPT, supplied you give it sufficient info in your immediate.
My content material efficiency on LinkedIn Premium
LinkedIn guarantees 2.6X quicker hiring and 4X extra profile views — however not that content material by Premium members can be favored by the LinkedIn algorithm.
However, as social media platforms transfer more and more in the direction of a pay-to-play future (Meta Verified for Instagram and Fb appears to be headed that approach), I felt it was value testing to see if LinkedIn Premium affected content material efficiency.
I saved my content material technique and cadence the identical throughout my two-week Premium trial to remove variables.
Right here’s a take a look at my analytics:
Impressions
I noticed a drop in my impressions throughout this era, however that was one thing I’d been anticipating. A number of weeks prior, I’d had a LinkedIn put up carry out exceptionally nicely, and I used to be nonetheless feeling the tail-end of that nice efficiency within the run-up to this experiment.
With that within the combine, I felt that my impressions regarded precisely as anticipated — LinkedIn Premium appeared to don’t have any impact on my put up impressions.
Engagement
My engagement numbers painted an analogous image. I purpose that this drop has extra to do with the content material that got here earlier than this and little or no to do with LinkedIn Premium.
New followers
This quantity was fascinating to me since my content material was clearly not reaching as many individuals as I had been within the weeks prior — and but, I used to be changing extra. Whereas I can solely theorize why that is, I think it might have one thing to do with a rise in profile views beneath.
Profile views
I noticed a powerful enhance in profile views — 28 % — which I consider is the one metric impacted by subscribing to LinkedIn Premium.
My content material doesn’t appear to be getting a lift as a LinkedIn Premium subscriber — however it seems that my profile did. In different phrases, I think these new profile viewers weren’t discovering my content material of their feeds, however discovering my profile in LinkedIn’s search.
The decision: is LinkedIn Premium value it for creators?
In case you’re searching for a brand new job, LinkedIn Premium will certainly provide you with a leg-up.
However as a creator, I don’t assume LinkedIn Premium is value the associated fee. A handful of options would possibly profit creators, however there are some nice workarounds free of charge LinkedIn customers that can have an analogous impact.
In case you’re seeking to develop your following and enhance engagement as you share content material on the platform, turning on Creator Mode is way extra highly effective than Premium.
It provides you entry to a ‘comply with’ button in your profile, deeper analytics, that customizable button, LinkedIn Dwell, newsletters, and extra.
Turning it on is very easy, too. Go to your LinkedIn profile, scroll all the way down to Sources, and click on on Creator mode.
You’ll seemingly additionally discover extra worth within the articles on rising on LinkedIn proper right here on the Buffer weblog. These are a few of my favourite assets:
Are you seeking to develop your following on LinkedIn? Be a part of us within the Buffer group, the place we’re studying collectively and supporting one another.