Should You Upgrade to a LinkedIn Premium Account

Ah, LinkedIn. It provides a seemingly inexhaustible number of professional connections, interactions, and business opportunities, yet most of us still don’t know what to do with it. Perhaps an upgrade to a LinkedIn Premium account would fix everything? Not quite. But it might make your social media a little more effective.

If you look online you will find that LinkedIn lists the features of a paid account, but doesn’t really show you what to do with one. So, in an effort to shed some light on its application, I will provide an overview of the Premium features I use.

Introductions
I use this feature very rarely when I encounter two people who I want to connect. I have never exceeded the 5 Introductions that come with the basic level of membership, let alone the 15 that come with a premium account.

InMail
I have only used InMail on one or two occasions. According to LinkedIn, it is five times more likely to be read by a stranger than a regular email. (Given how little of my SPAM I read, I’m not sure that’s saying much.)

Who’s Viewed My Profile
Now this feature alone is worth $24 a month. With a premium account, I can see everyone “Who’s Viewed my Profile.” Occasionally I will reach out to them, especially if we haven’t spoken in a while. Obviously I was on their mind – I often find it useful to learn why.

It’s also beneficial to understand whether the people researching my profile are mostly competitors or prospective clients. LinkedIn tells me what companies they come from and what keywords they’re using to find me. (It’s like spying on the people who are spying on me.)

Visibility
The other reason I pay for a premium account is so I can see more of people’s profiles. $24 a month is a bargain given to the amount of time I would otherwise have to spend researching bio pages or other sources on the Internet.

More Search Filters
I often use the premium filters that come with a paid account. They allow me to include things like Company Size when I do an Advanced Search.

Saved Profiles
With the premium account I can both save more searches – up to 5 – and I can save/tag/set reminder/write notes on the profiles of people I am not directly connected to.

In summary, I find my premium account to be well worth the investment. If you use LinkedIn often, or intend to, you will likely save yourself some time and frustration with a Premium account. Plus, you can see if I’ve been spying on you.