LinkedIn Expands Newsletter Access, Previews Coming Premium Package for SMBs

LinkedIn will now enable all users to create a newsletter, no matter how many followers they have in the app, while it’s also added a new option to help small businesses boost their in-app engagement.

First off, on newsletters. LinkedIn has updated the requirements for newsletter access, with all members now able to create a newsletter in the app.

LinkedIn newsletters were initially limited to members with over 150 followers and/or those who has signed up to its Creator Mode option. But with the retirement of Creator Mode last year, LinkedIn has now made newsletters more broadly available, providing another option for your content approach.

And it could be worth considering.

LinkedIn reported last year that newsletter engagement has been rising, with a 59% increase in the amount of people publishing newsletter articles on the platform, and a 47% increase in engagement on newsletters. LinkedIn also reported that more than 184,000 newsletters are being published in the app.

It’s worth noting that company pages still require more than 150 followers to create a newsletter in the app, but for individual users, it’s now free for all, so you can start pitching your concept to LinkedIn members.

On another front, LinkedIn’s also developing a new Premium subscription option for SMBs, which is more tailored to their specific requirements, and includes an interesting new engagement option.

LinkedIn’s “Premium Business Suite” offering, which is still in early testing, would provide SMBs with a lot of the usual Premium add-ons, including the option to invite page visitors to become followers, and product/service spotlights to showcase your work.

But there’s also a new boosting option in development, which would allocate monthly credits to subscribers to fund LinkedIn ads.

As per LinkedIn:

“LinkedIn’s member boosting with Premium feature allows you to use monthly boost credits to enhance their marketing efforts. These credits increase post visibility to a wider audience. You get $50 of credits per month to boost your posts to reach a wider audience and gain more visibility.” 

So SMBs may soon get monthly ad credits as part of their Premium subscription, in order to boost their presence in the app. LinkedIn does offer one-off ad credits within some of its Premium offerings, but this would be a replenishing version, facilitating more opportunity.  

And there’s also this:

“Join top prospect conversations: Participate in top prospect conversations to increase your visibility and network engagement on LinkedIn. These posts are top prospect conversations from your target client audience.”

So LinkedIn will seemingly highlight relevant discussions that you can join, as an individual or business, in order to enhance your connection, and potentially drive more business outcomes.

That could be an interesting addition, giving you more direct guidance on how to engage in the app, and reach the decision-makers you want to influence.

LinkedIn says that its Premium Business Suite offering is focused on providing easy-to-use tools for SMBs, but it’s not quite ready for a full launch as yet. LinkedIn says that it’ll share more info soon.