Independent Linkedin expert Jillian Bullock gives her verdict on whether it’s worth paying LinkedIn subscriptions.
With more than 800 million members, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional social media network. While it’s free to join, LinkedIn’s features go far beyond what the site makes available through its free accounts. The main difference between the free LinkedIn and premium subscriptions for B2B marketers include the amount of search tools and data. Such as limiting the number of searches you can do and accessing who viewed your profile. Premium members enjoy unlimited searches with more filter options and access to profile viewing information and data. Here are few of the differences:
Who’s viewed your profile
As a Premium Subscriber you’re able to see if someone is online at the same time as you by a green online status enclosed circle next to their profile image. If they have notifications switched on via their mobile devise but are not live right now the green circle will be hollow.
Having access to who’s viewed your profile with premium membership will show you whether or not they have seen your message and clicked through to view your profile. This tool helps you to gage how effective your outreach messages are.
LinkedIn Search features
LinkedIn has been very strategic about what limitations they have placed on free LinkedIn users in their ability to search LinkedIn, whether that be for connections or job opportunities. It’s a case of you get what you pay for, so it should come as no surprise there are better features when you invest in LinkedIn premium membership. One of the perks is that you are able to view any profile on LinkedIn, up to 3rd connections in search results or browsing. Of course, this gives you access to finding many more of the right people but it actually saves you a lot of time.
Sales Navigator is the next level of LinkedIn Premium membership. It’s designed for sales people or sales teams when they really need to use LinkedIn as a critical part of their role. Again, you get what you pay for particularly since this level is almost double the cost of Premium the expectations are high.
The advanced search filter options of Sales navigator are categorised and specific under headings such as Top filters which includes geography, Roles and tenure, Company, groups and posted content keywords.
Open Profile
LinkedIn premium members are able to switch their profile to “open”. This allows any LinkedIn member to not only view your profile but send you a direct message without having InMail credit. This is a huge benefit on LinkedIn as it makes you easier to reach and takes away any hesitation someone might have from reaching out and requesting your services.
Again, as with any membership, you really do get what you pay for. The Free version of LinkedIn is powerful but limited, the Premium is definitely better and great if you are a serious business owner but the Sales Navigator top level membership is the most powerful and is a must if you are serious about lead generation in the B2B space.