June 14, 2021
Yes, we heard the whispers. LinkedIn advertising may not be for everyone. While there’s some truth to it, there are a ton of B2B marketers who are smashing their sales targets with advertising on LinkedIn. The bottom line is, you can find success with LinkedIn advertising; it’s just a matter of pinpointing whether the platform can help meet your specific business goals.
Stick around as we walk you through everything you need to know about LinkedIn advertising.
LinkedIn advertising is a perfect way to boost business social interactions. In particular, B2B marketers are leveraging LinkedIn ads to elevate brand awareness and nurture leads. Whether you’re targeting c-suite professionals, are sharing educational material, or simply raising brand awareness, advertising on LinkedIn enables you to connect with qualified leads who share the same business mindset.
While LinkedIn ads work well with B2B businesses, many B2C companies, universities, nonprofits, and service providers can also benefit from the platform.
Some of the most influential decision-makers hang out on LinkedIn. In fact, from the 690 million community members on LinkedIn, four out of five users have the power to make swift business decisions. What’s more, they usually have twice the buying power than typical online users.
So why advertise on LinkedIn?
There are several LinkedIn advertising options to consider, and each comes with its own perks and considerations.
LinkedIn sponsored content
LinkedIn sponsored content is a popular choice among businesses wishing to boost posts from the company’s own feed. You can create a post with a headline, image, and link, or opt for other ad styles like carousel, video, and lead generation that will appear in the same sponsored format.
LinkedIn text ads
Think Google search ads but for LinkedIn. They usually work on a pay-per-click basis and are featured in the sidebar when you’re browsing on LinkedIn. Simply formatted, they appear as a text block with a headline and company logo, enabling you to get your message across with minimal fuss.
LinkedIn Sponsored InMail
The beauty of LinkedIn lies in the sponsored InMail feature. With this ad, you’ll show up in your cold lead’s inbox, where you can personalize your message to your heart’s desire. The content you input in the sponsored message is up to you. Still, anything too salesy or irrelevant to your niche audience could be off-putting, so think carefully about your ad objective.
LinkedIn display ads
B2B advertisers, this one’s for you. With LinkedIn programmatic display ads, you can cast the net wide, targeting an essential portion of engaged, professional audience members on the platform. You set up the ad based on intent or personas, scaling your display programs on the platform with auction-based pricing and real-time purchasing across open and private LinkedIn auctions.
LinkedIn dynamic ads
While personalization is a given in advertising, LinkedIn dynamic ads couldn’t work better with this principle. Using segmented audience data, dynamic ads will use your prospect’s information from their own profile and apply it to the ad template you’ve created. The result? Highly personalized ads that speak to your targeted audience.
While how to advertise on LinkedIn isn’t rocket science, there are some step-by-step considerations you must take into account before setting up your ad campaign.
1. Set up a Campaign Manager account so you can manage your ad
Campaign Manager is a must when creating your ad campaign. Simply put, it gives you complete ownership over your campaign, allowing you to customize your ad, track your performance and ultimately meet your advertising goals.
2. Choose a campaign objective (Awareness, Consideration, Conversion)
Picking an ad objective will not only keep you focused, but it’ll help determine the end result of your campaign. The Awareness goal is for elevating your brand, the Consideration goal is to boost website traffic and engagement, and the Conversion objective is for generation leads, job applicants, and even website conversions.
3. Pick your targeting criteria
No matter what ad format you select, the targeting criteria work the same way. For campaign success, think carefully about who you want to target. You can choose from over 20 categories, including company size, member interests, and job title.
4. Choose your LinkedIn ad format
This is where the action happens. Pick your ideal ad format (Sponsored Content, Message Ads, Dynamic Ads, Text Ads, or pick and mix) and set up your ad.
5. Input your budget and schedule
You have three options for the campaign budget. Cost per send is specifically for message ads; you pay for each open message. Cost per click is used for action-led campaigns like lead generation or event sign-up. Lastly, cost per impression works perfectly if you’re after brand awareness. Once you select your budget, you must input a bid, daily budget, start and end date, and the campaign’s total budget.
6. Track and optimize your campaign
You did it. Your ad is now live. Now sit back, and watch your campaign bloom. And whenever you’re after campaign analytics, just go to Campaign Manager and track your performance.
You guessed it, LinkedIn has an advertising playbook for marketing gurus and newcomers. Below we outline some quick LinkedIn advertising tips to set you up for success.
Test, test test
And test. Regardless of what product or service you’re advertising, the only way to know what works and doesn’t is to test. Play with your campaign size, budget, headline copy, call to action, and visuals. Through trial and error, you’ll be able to optimize campaign performance until you get your desired results.
Offer irresistible content
At the end of the day, valuable content is what makes all the difference. Use a mix of visuals and compelling copy. In fact, LinkedIn has shown that a good visual can double a campaign’s click-through rate.
Cast the net wide with your targeting options
Think ripples, not waves. You want a big enough audience to matter but small enough for your ad to be relevant. Most successful campaigns target between 60K and 400K members.
Sponsored InMail for high-value engagement
On average, 58% of members open Sponsored InMail. That’s an impressive number in itself, showcasing the power this ad format has in boosting your brand’s visibility.
So you’re more or less sold on going on a LinkedIn adventure but are wondering whether LinkedIn advertising actually works. The truth is, it all depends on your business. Based on other marketers’ experiences with LinkedIn ads, it can serve as a fantastic investment that generates high-quality leads. If you have enough funds to invest in a higher cost-per-click rate and are after a positive return on your investment, then chances are, advertising on LinkedIn is highly effective.
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