To Pay or Not to Pay: Is LinkedIn Premium Business Worth Your Dollars in 2024?

Ever found yourself hovering over that 'Upgrade to Premium' button on LinkedIn, wondering if it's really the key to stepping up your professional game in 2024?

You're not alone.

As we all hustle to carve out our niche in the ever-evolving world of work, the big question pops up: Is LinkedIn Premium actually worth the splurge?

Today, we're diving deep into what LinkedIn Premium has to offer!

Whether you're looking to expand your network, or just wanting to boost your online presence, I'm here to unpack all the perks and let you know if they’re really as game-changing as they sound.

So, let’s cut through the fluff and figure out if this shiny LinkedIn premium badge is your golden ticket or just another subscription.

Ready? Let's get into it!

First things first, WTF is LinkedIn Premium?

Consider LinkedIn Premium as your exclusive access to enhanced networking opportunities.

It’s like holding a VIP pass at a massive networking event, allowing you to skip the usual wait, see who’s viewing your profile, and initiate conversations with key industry leaders.

Essentially, LinkedIn Premium serves as your privileged gateway to connect, learn, and distinguish yourself within the professional community.

According to LinkedIn , here are some of the benefits, which I'll break down with my honest opinions a little later on.

LinkedIn Premium Business:

LinkedIn Premium Business is specifically designed for business professionals looking to expand their networking capabilities and access more detailed insights about industries and other businesses. Priced at $59.99 per month or $575.88 annually, it offers a suite of features aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of networking and business development efforts on LinkedIn.

Key Features of LinkedIn Premium Business:

1. InMail Credits: Provides 15 InMail credits per month, allowing users to reach out directly to other LinkedIn members they aren't connected to, which is particularly valuable for building new business relationships.
2. Unlimited Searches: Unlike the basic account, LinkedIn Premium Business offers unlimited people searches, which is essential for extensive market and competitor research.
3. Who's Viewed Your Profile: Extends the visibility of who's viewed your profile from the last 5 days to the last 90 days, offering deeper insights into who is interested in your professional profile and services.
4. Advanced Search Filters: These filters help refine searches to target the right individuals or companies, making it easier to find potential leads and collaborators.
5. Business Insights: Offers more comprehensive insights into companies, such as trends in hiring, company growth rates, and other key business intelligence that can inform strategic decisions.
6. Learning Resources: Provides unlimited access to LinkedIn Learning, which features a wide array of courses to enhance your business acumen and technical skills.
7. AI-Powered Experience: Our innovative AI-powered experience is designed to continually bring you new opportunities and value.

Ok, sounds pretty good, right? But how valuable are these features ACTUALLY?

Luckily (and for full disclosure), I get free access to LinkedIn Premium because I'm a LinkedIn Learning Instructor.

However, because I don't work for LinkedIn, I CAN give you my honest, real opinion on whether or not it's actually worth your hard earned money.

So, let's break it down.

Cost: remember again that Premium Business costs $59.99 (could be more or less depending where you live). So it ain't cheap!

For me, a subscription like this would need to be generating more opportunities/clients/money in order to be worth paying that amount since I'm self-employed.

Let's see if LinkedIn Premium can do that!

1. InMail Credits: Now for me, I think that the InMail credits/Open Profile alone COULD possibly justify the price tag.

First, let's talk about InMail credits. InMail credits are essentially tokens that you can use to message people you want to get in touch with WITHOUT being connected to them on LinkedIn.

Like, look, here I have the option to message Snoop ! Ps. Snoop, message me if you want to optimize that profile!

And here, I spilled my life story to Brene Brown (I'm cringing so hard right now).

When you have a Premium account, you have 15 credits per month, and that can be incredibly helpful if you're trying to be proactive and build relationships with people. Do I use 15 credits per month? Nope. However, they've seriously come in handy many times over the years.

Overall, I'd say that this one of the most valuable features of Premium Business.

Ok, moving on, when you sign up for LinkedIn Premium, you also have the option to set up your profile as what is called an "open profile".

This I would say is even more valuable for me personally because what it does is allow any member on LinkedIn to message me WITHOUT using an InMail credit if we aren't connected. Through messages, I've gotten countless gigs, clients, or just connected with people that I couldn't because of the 30,000 connection limit.

I also realize that this is situation dependent, and is far more valuable a tool for coaches, consultants, creators, etc.

2. Unlimited searches: Meh. This could be really useful for somebody doing market or competitive research, and I have used it in the past to find more event planners, but overall, I don't generally hit the cap on searches, so this isn't a huge gem for me.

3. Who's Viewed Your Profile:

Admittedly, I don't check this as often as I should, but it is handy to be able to see the individual people viewing your profile (and when), and also have advanced analytics like interesting viewers that can help you get a job, or people senior to you or thought leaders in your space.

However, while this sounds like a solid gold feature, let's be real how often are we talking big game changers?

For me, it's cool to see who's snooping around, but it hasn't always translated directly into business wins or monumental career shifts. It’s more about satisfying curiosity and occasionally, it gives me a nudge to reach out to someone who's been checking out my profile, that's it.

So I'd say that this is helpful, but not reason enough to upgrade, imo.

4 and 5: Advanced Search Filters & Business Insights:

These are like having a business intelligence tool right at your fingertips. If you’re in sales, marketing, or any role where you need to understand market dynamics or scout for potential leads, this is your toolkit.

For me, this feature is a bit more niche but absolutely vital when I need it. When the situation calls for it, it's invaluable. I've pulled potential client lists and even scoped out the competition to see how they position themselves.

If you're in sales and don't want to dive into Sales Nav just yet, this would be a great starting point.

6. Learning Resources:

Unlimited access to LinkedIn Learning ? Now we're talking.

For those that don't know this already, In 2015, LinkedIn acquired Lynda.com .

Since then, it's grown exponentially, and is now one of the biggest e-learning platforms in the world.

This is a treasure trove of knowledge, and if you're all about personal or professional development, it can be a big draw. Courses range from bite-sized TikTok tutorials called "nano courses" to comprehensive training across a variety of fields.

Honestly, this is one of the features I’ve leveraged the most.

Even though I don't make more money directly from taking courses on LinkedIn Learning , it does help me stay in the know when it comes to ever changing technology like AI, or brush up on communication skills (something that can be a struggle for me as a socially anxious girlie).

Also, shameless plug...I have three courses available now !

7. AI-Powered Experience:

These are the newest tools available for Premium subscribers. You can now use AI tools to rewrite your headline and summary, and to switch up Featured section.

To be entirely candid, I'm not a fan at all.

Just to show you, here's my original headline:

And here's the AI generated version:

Now, this could be helpful for somebody that didn't have anything other than their current position for their headline, but overall, this is not really compelling.

Here's a free newsletter on how to update your LinkedIn headline to attract the right visitors:

https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/how-craft-perfect-linkedin-headline-2024-michaelaalexis-qxi6e/?trackingId=7y91HXI9QnOoS8iJF56Ncw%3D%3D

Ok, so the AI powered headline tool isn't great, let's try the summary one.

Here's my original summary:

And here's the AI-generated one, that sounds absolutely nothing like me and feels cold:

Lastly, the AI profile tool messed up my featured section by randomly adding certifications that don't matter whatsoever for what I do (like security clearance):

I do, however, like that you can pin recommendations to your featured section with Premium, that's one feature I would possibly take advantage of!

Overall, I don't think the AI tools (currently) are worth upgrading for.

Some other LinkedIn Premium Business tools:

• Claim your free Perks: Redeem free access to 4 months of Calm, 3 months of Microsoft 365, and up to 4 BetterHelp therapy sessions.
• Drive viewers to action with a custom button on your profile: Drive viewers to visit your website, book an appointment and more with a custom button added to your profile.

• Stand out when you apply with Top Choice Jobs: Stand out among other applicants by letting an employer know that a role you’ve applied to is your top choice. Start by applying to a job with LinkedIn easy apply.
• Stay private and still see who’s viewed your profile: Choose from public, semi-private or private mode to keep your identity discrete while browsing other profiles.
• Get hired faster with Top Applicant Jobs: Increase your chances of hearing back from a recruiter by up to 10% by applying to jobs where you’d be a top applicant.
• See how you compare to other applicants: Access data and insights to understand how you compare with other applicants for the role you want.
• Prepare for your next interview with expert help: Ace your interview with exclusive access to expert-led guidance on how to structure your answers.
• Build your resume with relevant keywords and skills: Make your resume stand out by tailoring it with keywords and skills for the role you want.

Overall thoughts on whether it's worth upgrading to LinkedIn Premium Business:

It's worth a free trial.

I'm a big believer in starting where you are with what you have and then upgrading if necessary. The free version of LinkedIn is so robust and offers so much value that I can't honestly tell you that I think you NEED Premium Business to be successful.

However, if you've been active on LinkedIn and are finding yourself frustrated because you can't reach out to certain people, or hit the cap on searches, or want to know exactly who is viewing your profile, than it's definitely worth signing up for a trial of Premium Business to see if it's the missing piece of the puzzle for you.

I also think that for a skills development perspective, LinkedIn Learning is incredibly valuable. Nothing is promised, and it's so important to stay sharp with your skills to keep growing and landing the opportunities that you want. So, for that alone, it's worth doing a trial (and take as many courses during that time as you can!).

If you want to check it out for yourself, here's a handy article on how to get LinkedIn Premium Business for FREE !

Also, as a special thanks for being a subscriber and reading this, I'm giving away an extended trial to the first people that messages with the code word TRIAL.

I hope you're found this helpful! And if you did, I would love if you'd share this with your LinkedIn community right now and help them out too!

Until next time...

Love and coffee,

Mick