LinkedIn’s trying out a new subscription option, in line with its LinkedIn Premium offering, though this time it’s targeting businesses, with “LinkedIn Premium Company Pages”.
With LinkedIn Premium Company Pages, LinkedIn’s experimenting with a new way for brands to stand out in the app, with a range of dedicated features that will only be available for paying brands.
Those features, thus far, include:
- Custom call-to-action (CTA) button – Brands will be able to choose a custom name for the CTA button displayed on their page, which will link through to whatever URL they choose.
- Who’s visited my Page – Like Premium individual members, Company Pages will also be able to get a listing of people who’ve visited their presence, as opposed to only demographic overviews for regular company pages.
- Custom testimonial – Premium Company Pages will be able to feature a testimonial or quote from a client, as well as an optional image at the top of your LinkedIn Page
- AI-powered post writing assistance – The tool, LinkedIn says, is designed to help you compose a first draft of your Company Page updates, which you can then refine. But many will no doubt use this to create updates for them.
- Auto-invite engaged members to follow your Page – People who engage with your company content will be automatically invited to follow your page, helping you grow your audience with less effort.
- A LinkedIn Premium logo on your Page – Finally, you’ll get an icon, like a checkmark, to display that you are a LinkedIn Premium page.
LinkedIn has confirmed that it’s testing this new option with selected SMB users, at a starting price point of $99 per month.
Which is a lot, probably too much for the majority of SMBs to consider. And really, there’s not a heap here that would be of huge value in broader terms.
I mean, knowing the individuals who’ve visited your page would have some additional value over more generalized insights, and some of the display tools will help you stand out. But you can already use AI writing tools via external apps, if you really want to, while auto-inviting people seems a bit spammy.
One other potential perk of the scheme could be priority placement in search, which is currently speculated, but has not yet been confirmed by LinkedIn. That would hold some additional value, but then again, it very much depends on the business, and the audience you’re looking to reach. There definitely would be some SMBs that generate the majority of their leads from LinkedIn, but presumably, that’s also a minority of overall small businesses.
Though LinkedIn has been getting more attention of late.
The chaos at X (formerly Twitter) has pushed more brands to look at other alternatives, and LinkedIn has been a big winner, reaching record highs in usage and engagement. LinkedIn’s looking to capitalize on that with a range of new features, including its new dedicated video feed.
Premium Company Pages is another step in this direction, and maybe, there will be interest from brands who are enticed by these early features.
But it still feels like it’s missing a key worm that’ll get more of them on the hook. Maybe that’s coming, with LinkedIn only in initial testing at this stage.