If you follow social media news, you may have heard that LinkedIn is rolling out a new subscription-based service offering aimed at business users with its new Premium Company Pages. Following a quiet testing period in June, this new paid series of enhancements for promoting your organization’s LinkedIn page will be available to all business profiles on the social media platform at the end of July 2024.
It may feel like everything is a subscription these days. And you may be questioning why your business needs to sign up for yet another service—especially one offered by a social media platform that you may be currently using for free. However, many companies will find the subscription valuable, and we wanted to provide some insights into discovering if it’s a good fit for you and your business needs. Before we dive in, it is important to note that Premium Company Pages is separate from the existing LinkedIn Premium Business subscription option (which offers a different suite of features that boost discoverability and more).
Premium Company Pages provides businesses with enhanced features and tools to boost their online presence beyond what LinkedIn offers for free. Unlike standard, unpaid pages, the Premium Company Pages subscription offers access to various advanced analytics options, page customizations, and increased visibility, helping companies more effectively engage with their audience, showcase their brand, and drive business growth.
But what are those tools and features, and what can they do for your business for the premium cost of $99 per month? Let’s dig in together and take a look at the best features that the subscription is currently offering and discuss what types of organizations might benefit most.
Top Tools and Features of LinkedIn Premium Company Pages
Social Media Today reports, “Custom CTA buttons, auto invitations for leads, and insights into visitors are among the tools subscribing brands can use to maximize their presence.” And these profile enhancements are just the start of available upgrades.
LinkedIn noted in a recent article that subscribers will have access to 15+ “value-driven enhancements” if they subscribe to both LinkedIn Premium Business and the new LinkedIn Premium Company Pages option. With the ability to choose these subscriptions separately, organizations with smaller social media advertising budgets will gain about eight of the so-called enhancements, including access to some packaged discounts on other services.
Specifically aimed at small-to-medium businesses (SMB), which LinkedIn claims account for 35 million+ active users, some subscription features may actually pay for themselves (at least in the short term). Here’s the rundown of what’s included with a LinkedIn Premium Company Page subscription:
- Robust insights on “Who’s Visited My Page”
One of LinkedIn’s most interesting features has always been the ability to access information on who is viewing your profile. With Premium Company Pages, admins can turn on a setting to see a list of all visitors with a lookback of up to 365 days in Visitor Analytics. (Free Pages may see the job title and industry of some) - Custom testimonial
Described as a way to “set your business apart from others,” this feature allows admins of Premium Company Pages to include a testimonial or quote from a client and an optional image at the top of your LinkedIn page. - Custom call-to-action (CTA) button
Subscribers can choose from CTAs that include “Visit Website,” “Learn More,” and “Buy Now.” This doesn’t seem too revolutionary unless you consider that non-subscribers’ CTA buttons are hidden behind a (…) button. - Gold LinkedIn IN logo badge on page
This little verification signal appears at the top right of your organization’s page header to show you have a Premium Company Page subscription to anyone visiting your page. - Credibility highlights
This feature is not fully available yet, but LinkedIn promises that it will allow page admins to choose company differentiators that help your page stand out. It can be utilized to “display awards, certifications, rankings, news features, or other notable highlights.” - AI-powered post writing assistance
LinkedIn is a big proponent of AI, so it’s not surprising that an AI writing tool is included. From their info page about the tool, its main benefit is that “you can generate a first draft of a post for your Page using your ideas on a topic. The tool quickly transforms your ideas into a draft that you can edit before posting.” - Auto-invites to engaged individuals to follow your page
Without a subscription, page admins only have the capability to invite 1st-degree connections to follow the page. (1st-degree connections are individuals you have accepted connection requests from or who have accepted your connection requests.) This feature makes growing page followers less cumbersome by allowing invitations to be automatically sent to users who engage with your content, not just users already directly connected to the person who administrates the page. - LinkedIn Ads credit & other packaged discounts
Per LinkedIn on June 13, 2024, eligible paid subscribers also get as part of their package $500 ad credits on LinkedIn, three months of free access to DropBox, Microsoft 365, GoDaddy and Hootsuite, and have special discounts to Intuit QuickBooks and MixPanel A/B testing. (Note that these discounts may not be available in all areas and are subject to change.)
Where to Start: Ensuring You Have a Solid LinkedIn Foundation Before Upgrading
The good news is that there’s no cost to use LinkedIn at a basic level to promote your business. The network has plenty of resources for business users that are available for free, and if you’re not currently using the platform to promote your SMB, considering how it can add value as part of your marketing mix is an excellent first step. Backed by Microsoft, LinkedIn is a tried-and-true business-centered social media platform that provides individuals and organizations with many useful promotional tools that are supported by their subscription model regardless of whether you decide to buy additional services for your specific organization.
Even if you opt for the free version, LinkedIn is a social platform that is sometimes overlooked in favor of Facebook and Instagram. Yet, it offers excellent visibility for businesses because it was built around making professional connections simple. There’s no question that LinkedIn can be a very effective sales and marketing tool that can support customer retention, sales and acquisition, and recruitment as part of an integrated plan. You can read more here about why we think it’s crucial for B2B leaders especially to be active on LinkedIn.
Who Will Benefit Most from Signing Up for Premium Features?
While leveraging LinkedIn’s free company profile is often recommended by GRIT’s digital marketing experts as part of an integrated plan, we wouldn’t suggest that all organizations pay for premium features. Solid statistical data is somewhat limited, but the top 10 industries represented on LinkedIn are typically those offering professional services like information technology and software. Healthcare providers and businesses in the construction industry rounded out the top three as of 2022. For firms in these industries, there may be an incentive to sign up as a way to stand out from the crowd.
As with most service subscriptions, the value your organization derives will depend on how much you use it. If you’re looking to increase lead generation, LinkedIn Premium Company Pages—and LinkedIn Premium Business more broadly—will likely be a good investment. A key point to remember is that LinkedIn makes it easy to “try before you buy” with a month of free access to LinkedIn Premium benefits that you can cancel at any time.
Let GRIT Help You Get the Most from LinkedIn!
Want to make LinkedIn a meaningful part of your organization’s digital marketing strategy but not sure where to start or need support to manage the effort? As a dedicated full-service marketing agency providing complete social media marketing services, GRIT is your partner in unlocking success for any business promotion goal. Reach out to us or dig into our past projects to discover how we can help you get the most from your social media advertising and so much more.