Which LinkedIn Account Do You Need?

Ever wondered if you should get some version of a paid LinkedIn account to grow your network, increase your visibility or find more ideal clients? 🙋🏽 ♀️

If you're like many of my clients, you may have upgraded your LinkedIn account at some point but could not put a finger on WHY or WHAT it was good for! Sound familiar? 🧐

✅ Why should you pay for something you're not using?

✅ Which LinkedIn accounts are best based on your goals?

✅ Can you get away with a free account?

✅ Will getting a premium account protect your LinkedIn profile from restrictions?

In this next episode of Mondays with Mindi, we will discuss the best types of LinkedIn accounts based on your objectives and activity levels -- and how to protect your profile if you've recently increased your activity and got slapped with a temporary restriction!

Should You Pay for LinkedIn?

Not everyone needs a paid LinkedIn account to get the results they want on LinkedIn, but it helps to make an informed decision.

Too many people I know either hop on a free trial of LinkedIn Premium, but don’t actually use it or know why they signed up.

As a savvy LinkedIn user, you should be able to make a smart decision about whether or not to pay for LinkedIn and when it makes sense to invest or hold back.

In a nutshell, if you’re planning to do any type of network growth or social selling activities beyond sending a few connection invitations here and there or accepting inbound connections, you may want to upgrade your account for a span of time.

On the other hand, if you’re looking for a new job and want to increase your chances of finding and landing that dream job, you also may want to consider a certain type of LinkedIn Premium account until you find your next job. 

And we all know that recruiters, headhunters and hiring managers must have a LinkedIn account to find and hire the best talent.

What if you’re a typical business owner or entrepreneur who’s still not sure about whether a paid LinkedIn account is for you? What should you do?

Today, we’ll get into a side-by-side comparison of the different types of accounts, which features you get with each, and when it makes sense to upgrade or downgrade your account.

Plus, I’ll share a few behind the scenes tips and tricks I’ve picked up along the way having worked with hundreds of individual LinkedIn accounts over the years.

What’s Your LinkedIn Objective?

One of the biggest mistakes I see people make when it comes to deciding whether to pay for a LinkedIn account or not is upgrading to some type of account without knowing WHY.

Many of them see the nudge for a free trial of a Premium or Sales Navigator account and upgrade without knowing which features they’re signing up for or having a clear understanding of what that type of LinkedIn account will actually help them accomplish.

The most important thing I talk about often is that you must get clear on your LinkedIn objectives before you try any sales and marketing tactics on LinkedIn, and this includes upgrading your LinkedIn account.

If you’re a casual LinkedIn user who doesn’t do much besides have an active profile and check your inbound connections a few times per week, maybe sending out a connection here or there to someone you meet at a business event or meeting, you likely only need the Basic free account. End of story.

If instead you’re looking to increase your activity on LinkedIn to raise brand awareness, get a job, land more clients or build thought leadership, you’re likely going to need to determine if a Basic account is too limiting for your tactics.

For example, one of my clients is really interested in becoming a thought leader in her niche on LinkedIn and is not so interested in booking 1:1 calls. For her, it’s more about growing her network by leaps and bounds with the right people over the next several months.

At which point, she’ll likely turn on LinkedIn Creator Mode and start doing a regular newsletter and maybe a LinkedIn Live show to reach more people.

What she soon discovered was that having a Basic account was too restrictive because she wanted to research a few dozen people per week and reach out to about 25-50 of them to get connected.

Within a couple of weeks, she received a warning that LinkedIn thought she was using third-party automation software and then a temporary restriction not too long thereafter with a warning that they would permanently restrict her account if she continued that behavior.

Was she breaking any LinkedIn rules? No. 

She was literally going from being a dormant LinkedIn account to intentionally approaching her network strategically and sending very thoughtful connection invitations to a very specific type of person, but LinkedIn was alarmed because she had not been doing that behavior previously.

What you need to know about LinkedIn is that there are a lot of things on the backend designed to keep out the automation tools, like those that automatically view profiles or send messages from users’ accounts. 

If LinkedIn thinks you’re acting too much like one of these tools AND you’re not paying for a type of Premium LinkedIn account, where this type of research and outreach activity would be considered normal, you may experience the same thing.

So what did we do? We decided to upgrade her account to a Sales Navigator account and back off on the connection request sending until LinkedIn realized she was doing all of this legitimately and not trying to skirt the rules by hooking up a janky piece of automation software and hack things together on a free account.

One of the safest things you can do to protect your LinkedIn account, especially if you decide to go from being relatively inactive to extremely active, is to upgrade your LinkedIn account.

You’ll also want to gradually increase your activity if you ever get a warning that LinkedIn thinks you’re doing something with an automation tool. Vary the activity, so it knows you’re a human and not a bot.

I know this may not feel as “efficient” as sending 10 LinkedIn connection requests every weekday as quickly as possible, but you will be able to let LinkedIn know that you’re a human - not a bot!

If in doubt, upgrade your LinkedIn account when you increase your outreach activity, and I’ll share some of the various options to help you decide which may work best for you.

Getting Clear on Your LinkedIn Goals

Decide what your next objective is on LinkedIn, and then you’ll understand the tactics required to reach your goals. If those tactics do require a lot of outreach, you’ll definitely want to think through the types of accounts you might want to use.

Are you trying to get popular and build thought leadership? You might want a Premium Business account.

Do you need to get more 1:1 conversations with your ideal prospects? You’ll definitely want a Sales Navigator account.

Is deepening your connections with your existing network a priority? You may be fine with a Basic LinkedIn account.

Do you already have a solid following established and simply need to focus on working your existing network? If you want to simply grow at a slower pace, you’ll probably be fine with a Basic account.

Hoping to be known as the go-to expert in your niche and want to build a following? Again, if you have a tiny network and need to grow it rapidly, you’ll want to choose between a Premium Business and Sales Navigator account.

See how determining which LinkedIn strategies first will help you determine which account is ideal for you? The goal is not to pay for something you’ll never use, and it’s also to protect your account from being flagged for activity that seems outside the norm.

Be honest with yourself about where you are currently and where you want to go on LinkedIn, based on your primary objective. If you have never run into issues with your existing Basic free account, then you’re going to likely be fine as long as you continue with a similar flow of activities.

Keep in mind that one of the biggest triggers for LinkedIn feeling like something is fishy is viewing too many LinkedIn profiles in a short span of time. For example, if you have a spreadsheet of LinkedIn profile links and open a bunch of them up in windows at the same time, this could be a red flag.

All right, let’s get into the fun part and take a look at all of the LinkedIn types of accounts, so you can determine which is right for you!

Let’s Explore the Six LinkedIn Account Types

Here are the main types of LinkedIn accounts for individual users. Keep in mind there are alternative options for sales teams and enterprise organizations, but we’ll only cover LinkedIn from the personal LinkedIn account perspective in this breakdown.

#1 - LinkedIn Basic Account

The LinkedIn Basic account is perfect for the everyday LinkedIn user who is a bit more casual in how they approach using their profile. I’d recommend this to most people who want to have a presence on LinkedIn, but don’t need to supercharge their networking.

Here’s a snapshot of what is included in a Basic account:

• Find and reconnect with colleagues and classmates

• Request and provide recommendations

• Search for and view profiles of other LinkedIn members

• Receive unlimited InMail messages

• Save up to three searches and get weekly alerts on those searches

Cost: FREE

#2 - Premium Career Account

The Premium Career account is built for professionals who are either actively job seeking or looking to have a few of the benefits (like LinkedIn Learning access and InMails) to stay ahead professionally. If you’re looking for one of the most cost-effective Premium accounts, this is a good option.

Here’s a snapshot of what is included in a Premium Career account:

• Get 5 InMails per month

• Stand out as a job applicant

• Receive more career insights

• Access to LinkedIn Learning

• Find out who’s viewed your profile

Cost: $29.99/month

Details here.

#5 - Premium Business Account

The Premium Business account is the streamlined version of the Sales Navigator account and provides a bit more benefit that the Premium Career plan. It’s perfect for people who don’t need the advanced search features on LinkedIn, but also want to be sure they’re not limited when it comes to people browsing and networking consistently.

Here’s a snapshot of what is included in a Premium Business account:

• Everything in Premium Career

• Unlimited people browsing

• Business Insights

• Get 15 InMails per month

Cost: $59.99/month

Details here. 

#3 - Sales Navigator Core Account

The Sales Navigator Core account is built to help you generate leads and build your clientele, as it’s basically its own CRM inside of LinkedIn. If you plan to do business development, prospect research, very targeted outreach, and want to keep track of your target accounts, this is the best subscription by far. (It’s also the one I have!)

Here’s a snapshot of what is included in a Sales Navigator account:

• Everything in Premium Business

• Get 50 InMails per month

• Standalone sales interface

• Lead recommendations and saved leads

• Custom lead and account lists

• Real-time updates and alerts

• Access to LinkedIn Learning

Cost: $99.99/month 

Details here.

#4 - LinkedIn Recruiter Account

The LinkedIn Recruiter account was created for HR leaders, headhunters, recruiters and hiring managers who are seeking the best talent. If you’re looking to hire in the next 90 days and want the latest-and-greatest information and access to the best candidates, you’ll want to sign up for this premium account (even if temporarily.) 

Here’s a snapshot of what is included in the LinkedIn Recruiter account:

• Everything in Premium Business

• Advanced Search

• Get 30 InMails per month

• Recruiting-specific design

• Automatic candidate tracking

• Integrated hiring

• Access to LinkedIn Learning

Cost: $134.99/month

Details here.

#6 - LinkedIn Learning

If all you want is access to the 15,000+ courses inside LinkedIn Learning, then you can purchase this subscription. But, since it’s already included in Premium Career, it makes sense to opt for the Premium Career account instead. You’ll get access to LinkedIn Learning in EVERY type of paid LinkedIn account by default.

Cost: $29.99/month

Details here.

So there you have it! If paying for LinkedIn makes sense for your objectives, you now have a comprehensive comparison guide to know which account type will work best for you. 

If you’re looking for that extra edge to get your started on the right path, get on the waitlist for The 90-Minute LinkedIn Profile available in early October, which is tailored to take you through optimizing the seven sections of your LinkedIn profile in less than 90 minutes. If you’re interested, here’s the link to get on the waitlist and find out a few more details.

I’ll see you next week on Mondays with Mindi! Feel free to leave questions or comments below - and my inbox is open if you want to message me directly! :)