The objectives for joining LinkedIn are as diverse as the 770 million users on the platform. LinkedIn is the best job search tool for some people, while others join the platform to generate leads for their business. Whether you are a job seeker, a recruiter seeking to find the right talent, or a sales representative striving to generate leads on LinkedIn, there is a perfect plan for you.
However, knowing which the ideal is for you can be a challenge with the many subscription options. This article explores the free and premium plans’ features, price, and functionality to help you choose the best chance to meet your objective.
Overview of LinkedIn plans
The basic version
The basic version, also known as the free version, is the starting point of every LinkedIn user.
Like Facebook and Twitter, the basic LinkedIn version gives you a platform to connect with colleagues, potential employers, former schoolmates, and former colleagues.
The basic version’s main objective is to share updates, share knowledge and information, post and apply for jobs, and share valuable content.
For job seekers, the basic version is a virtual resume. You can use the profile to share your educational background, professional background, career objective and receive recommendations from former colleagues.
For entrepreneurs, the basic version is the first touchpoint with potential leads. With the basic LinkedIn version, you can create a personal profile, hide or show your profile on search engines, create and post content, follow, like and comment on the conversation or share interesting content.
You can also create a company page, post information about your company like job posts, and hire the best talent. As an entrepreneur, use the basic version as a landing page to generate leads, demonstrate your industry expertise, follow and engage with prospects, as well as market your services.
With a LinkedIn basic version, you can perform the following:
- Find and connect with friends, colleagues, and classmates.
- Give recommendations to colleagues that you have worked with.
- Request recommendations from clients, colleagues, former bosses, and your university lecturers.
- Search, view the profile and send a connection request to other LinkedIn users. These users can be your first-degree connections or second-degree connection.
- Sent messages to LinkedIn users who have accepted your request to connect.
- Receive unlimited in-mail messages from anyone on LinkedIn, including people you have not connected with.
- Check who has viewed your profile in the last week. With the free version, you can only see the last five people who have viewed your profile.
- Receive job notification when a job matching your skills is posted.
- Receive a notification when a member of your network gets promoted, starts a new job, or celebrates a significant life milestone like a birthday or job anniversary.
With a basic LinkedIn version, you get all the tools required to network, connect, and build relationships with leads or potential employers.
However, the basic version has some limitations as you can only send a message to someone who has accepted your connection request. The premium version addresses these limitations.
Premium version
The LinkedIn premium version is a paid version of LinkedIn. Unlike the basic version, the premium version has additional features and functionalities, making it ideal for professionals seeking to grow their local network.
The LinkedIn premium has two major versions, the business premium and the career premium. If your goal on LinkedIn is to network with recruiters, then a LinkedIn premium career is the ideal option. At the same time, the LinkedIn business premium is suitable for generating business leads and growing their business.
Premium career features
Resume Builder
This is one of the best features of a LinkedIn premium career. Using this tool, you can create a unique customized resume on LinkedIn, guaranteed to capture the recruiter’s attention.
Further, with the resume builder, you can adjust the settings to ensure your personal information like phone number and email are accessible to those you choose.
Once you have updated all your details, like your educational background, job history, and referees, you can save the resume on LinkedIn or download it as a PDF to share with other potential employers via email.
See who’s interested in your profile.
Like the basic version, the premium career version allows you to see who has viewed your profile. However, you can see who has viewed your profile in the last 90 days with the premium version.
Using the personalized insights on the premium version, you can see the profile, contacts, companies, and all users who have viewed your profile in the last 90 days. With these metrics, you can reach out to the network expressing interest in your profile and start building a relationship.
How can you use this information to improve your odds of getting a job? Someone viewing your profile must have been intrigued by something you shared, posted on, or commented on. This is a warm lead that you should aim to convert.
For instance, if you are looking for a job and notice that someone in a company who is interested has viewed your profile, you can send them a connection request and request for their referral in the job.
If you are looking to grow your professional network, you can send a message like;
“Hi, Mark, I noticed that you checked my profile on LinkedIn and felt it would be great to connect. I have realized that we are in the same industry, and we can share insights, data, and information that can help us grow. Let me know what you think. Thank you”
See how you compare to other applicants.
One of the critical functionalities of LinkedIn premium careers is that it can rank job applicants based on their application compared to job requirements. For instance, if you are an accountant and have just applied for a senior accountant job, LinkedIn can rank your application compared to the job description, job requirements, and other applicants. Using this information, you can customize your application to increase your odds of getting shortlisted.
Get access to 15 InMails per month.
With the LinkedIn basic version, you can only send messages to people in your network. The Inmail credit is one of the best features of a LinkedIn premium career. With this feature, you can send InMails to anyone on LinkedIn, including the CEO of LinkedIn, if you feel they are the right prospect. The premium version gives you 15 complimentary Inmail messages, but you can purchase more credits on LinkedIn.
According to a study by LinkedIn, Inmails are 2.5 times more effective in garnering responses than cold calls, cold emails, or LinkedIn cold messaging. This is because, with LinkedIn Inmail, the message is strongly tied to your LinkedIn profile and the prospect’s profile.
Other features of LinkedIn premium career include:
- With the premium version, you get direct access to recruiters and great talents.
- Get access to the entire profile information of the potential candidates.
- It gives you access to all the materials on LinkedIn learning which you can use to improve your skills.
- It gives you access to detailed business insights, industry insights, data-driven reports, and global trends. These help you make the right informed decisions for your business and career.
Which plan is right for you?
After understanding the features and functionalities of the two plans, knowing which platform is right for you should be easy. While all two plans are great, the ideal one comes down to your budget.
If you don’t have a budget for your LinkedIn marketing strategy, the best plan is the free or basic plan. The basic plan is the best for small entrepreneurs, unemployed graduates, and students striving to get an internship.
A premium version is an ideal option for anyone with a limited budget. The premium career version costs $29.9 monthly, while the premium business plan costs $ 59.9 monthly.
If you are a stable company and have a bigger budget, the sales navigator is ideal. We did not consider the LinkedIn Sales Navigator in this comparison as we talked about entry-level tools.
