I get the question all the time, and last month LinkedIn offered me a 30-day free trial, so I decided to give it a go. I’m going to have to say that I didn’t find it worthwhile.
I’d read that the Premium membership allowed you to see last names of 3rd degree contacts. Well, it’s true, but not quite. The $24.95 Premium level doesn’t allow it. The $99.95 per month level does. Seriously? You want me to pay a hundred bucks a month to get last names? Not worth it.
What about more searches? They say you can get more results with the Premium level. True. But I’ve never needed more than 200 at a time. Spending money to get more isn’t a good deal for me.
Inmails? Now, that’s got to be a big benefit, right? Not really. I don’t need to connect to people I don’t know. I did send one, but I could have gotten to the guy another way, so no big deal.
The one feature I had been really excited about was seeing who had looked at my profile. I figured that would be useful. Um, not so much. I get a few names, but most of the results are like this one:
Someone in the Leadership function in the Government Relations industry from Washington D.C. Metro Area
Yeah, that was useful. And totally worth my money each month. [end sarcasm font]
So, I decided to cancel my 30 day trial. And guess what? My welcome email said my 30-day trial was good through yesterday, so canceling yesterday should have worked. Nope. They’d already charged me for March.
So, have any questions about LinkedIn Premium? I’ve got the darned thing for another month. Might as well get something out of it.
Tags: social media