Table of Contents
- What are LinkedIn Ads?
- Why Advertise On LinkedIn?
- How Does LinkedIn Advertising Work?
- If You’re In B2B, You Should Be Using LinkedIn Ads
In the vast landscape of digital marketing, where platforms and strategies constantly evolve, one platform remains a steadfast beacon for professionals and businesses alike – LinkedIn.
Welcome to the ultimate beginner’s LinkedIn Advertising guide. If you’re new to the world of online advertising or just beginning to explore the vast potential of LinkedIn, you’re in the right place.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll unravel the intricacies of LinkedIn Ads, demystify its features, and empower you to create impactful campaigns that resonate with your target audience.
Whether you’re a recent graduate, a small business owner, or a seasoned marketer seeking new avenues, join us on this journey to unlock the tremendous opportunities that LinkedIn Advertising guide has to offer.
What are LinkedIn Ads?
LinkedIn Ads serves as a premium marketing solution that facilitates engagement within the LinkedIn social ecosystem through diverse sponsored content and promotional avenues.
This platform proves to be a potent asset for B2B enterprises, enabling them to foster lead generation, bolster online visibility, share valuable content, and more.
In the realm of professional networking, leveraging LinkedIn marketing is essential for businesses aiming to flourish.
By harnessing the capabilities of LinkedIn Ads, companies can effectively amplify their footprint on this dynamic platform.
The advantages presented by LinkedIn ads extend beyond mere expansion of reach and visibility. This tool opens doors to heightened sales potential, recruitment of top-tier talent, and integration within the broader social media sphere of respective industries.
Engaging with LinkedIn not only facilitates a robust digital presence but also bestows the favour of organic growth in the online landscape.
Why Advertise on LinkedIn?
Advertising on LinkedIn offers a plethora of compelling reasons that make it a strategic choice for businesses aiming to expand their reach, establish meaningful connections, and achieve their marketing objectives.
Boasting a staggering user base of over 660 million individuals spanning 220 countries, LinkedIn stands as the preeminent global social network for professionals and businesses alike.
Notably, since 2016, it has operated under the umbrella of Microsoft. The decision enabled Microsoft to tap into LinkedIn’s extensive user community and leverage Microsoft’s robust sales and distribution capabilities to bolster the already largest and highly prosperous social network globally.
Here’s why you should consider advertising on LinkedIn:
Professional Audience
LinkedIn boasts a user base that is primarily composed of professionals, decision-makers, and industry experts.
This environment is conducive for businesses targeting B2B audiences, as well as those seeking to establish their brand within a professional context.
B2B-Focused Platform
For companies engaged in B2B activities, LinkedIn provides an ideal playground.
Its user demographics align with business interests, making it an effective platform to engage with key stakeholders, forge partnerships, and drive B2B relationships.
Precise Targeting
LinkedIn’s robust targeting options allow you to narrow down your audience based on factors such as job title, industry, company size, seniority, and more. This precision ensures your ads are displayed to the right individuals, enhancing the chances of meaningful engagement.
Brand Visibility
Advertising on LinkedIn enhances your brand’s visibility among a professional audience. Whether through sponsored content or display ads, you can establish your brand as an authority in your industry and keep it top-of-mind for potential clients and partners.
Lead Generation
LinkedIn Ads can facilitate effective lead generation through lead generation forms. These forms allow users to express their interest in your offerings without leaving the platform, streamlining the conversion process.
Thought Leadership and Content Sharing
With LinkedIn Ads, you can promote valuable content such as articles, whitepapers, and videos. This not only helps position your brand as a thought leader in your field but also fosters engagement with your target audience.
Career and Talent Opportunities
Companies can advertise job openings on LinkedIn to tap into its massive user base of professionals. This is a strategic approach for recruiting talent and finding candidates with specialized skill sets.
Diverse Ad Formats
LinkedIn provides a range of ad formats, such as sponsored content, sponsored InMail, display ads, and dynamic ads. These options enable you to customize your advertising strategy to align with your campaign objectives and the preferences of your target audience.
Performance Tracking
LinkedIn Ads provides detailed analytics, enabling you to track the performance of your campaigns in terms of clicks, impressions, conversions, and engagement. This data empowers you to refine your strategies for better outcomes.
Industry Networking
Being active on LinkedIn allows you to engage in industry discussions, join relevant groups, and connect with like-minded professionals. Advertising on the platform enhances your participation in these circles, contributing to your overall industry presence.
In a nutshell, advertising on LinkedIn presents a unique opportunity to connect with professionals, establish brand credibility, generate leads, and foster B2B relationships in an environment tailored for business networking and growth.
How Does LinkedIn Advertising Work?
1. Create a LinkedIn Advertising Account
If you don’t already have a LinkedIn advertising account, you need to create one.
Begin by logging in to your LinkedIn Campaign Manager. This tool serves as your central hub for overseeing your LinkedIn advertising initiatives.
To initiate your Campaign Manager journey, it’s essential to establish a LinkedIn account if you haven’t already done so. The account creation process is swift, requiring only a few moments of your time.
2. Choose Your Campaign Objective
Now, proceed to select the primary goal for your advertising campaign. Are you aiming to enhance brand visibility, increase website traffic, or generate more leads?
LinkedIn advertising offers a range of objectives tailored to different phases of the sales funnel, encompassing awareness, consideration, and conversions.
At this point, you can specify the most pertinent objective for your specific LinkedIn advertising campaign.
3. Define Your Target Audience
You can target your ads based on criteria such as job title, industry, company size, seniority, location, and more.
This allows you to reach the specific audience that matches your campaign goals.
This helps ensure that your ads are shown to the right people who are most likely to engage with your content or take the desired action.
Here are the key steps to define your target audience in LinkedIn ads:
Demographics: You can narrow down your audience by factors such as age, gender, and location. This helps you reach users who fit your ideal customer profile based on these basic criteria.
Job Title and Function: LinkedIn allows you to target users based on their job titles, functions, and seniority levels. This is particularly useful if you’re trying to reach decision-makers or specific professionals within an organization.
Company and Industry: You can specify the companies and industries you want to target. This is valuable if your product or service is particularly relevant to certain businesses or sectors.
Company Size: Targeting by company size allows you to focus on organizations of a specific size, whether it’s small startups, mid-sized companies, or large corporations.
Skills and Interests: You can target users based on the skills they’ve listed on their profiles or their interests. This can help you reach individuals who have a genuine interest in your offerings.
Education: If the education level or alma mater of LinkedIn users is relevant to your campaign, you can use these criteria for targeting.
Group Membership: LinkedIn groups can be a valuable source of targeting. You can select users who are members of specific groups related to your industry or niche.
Custom Audiences: LinkedIn allows you to upload a list of email addresses or connect with your website’s retargeting pixel. This lets you target your existing customers or website visitors specifically.
Lookalike Audiences: LinkedIn offers a feature similar to Facebook’s lookalike audiences. You can create an audience similar to your existing customers or connections.
Exclusions: In addition to specifying who you want to target, you can also define exclusions. For instance, you can exclude current customers from seeing certain ads intended for new customer acquisition.
Audience Size: As you make these selections, LinkedIn provides an estimate of your potential audience size. This can help you gauge the reach of your campaign.
4. Set Your Campaign Budget and Schedule
Determine how much you want to spend on your campaign and set a daily or total budget. You’ll also set the start and end dates for your campaign.
The typical range for the cost-per-click (CPC) on LinkedIn falls between $5 and $6.
However, the precise expense associated with LinkedIn ads is contingent on various elements, including the ad type, targeting parameters, budget allocation, and the campaign’s effectiveness.
Furthermore, the pricing structure for ads may exhibit variability. As an illustration, sponsored content commonly adheres to a CPC (cost-per-click) or CPM (cost-per-mille) model, whereas sponsored messages are generally priced on a cost-per-send (CPS) basis.
5. Choose Budget Type
LinkedIn offers two types of budgets:
- Daily Budget: Specify the maximum amount you’re willing to spend per day.
- Lifetime Budget: Determine the total budget for the entire campaign duration.
i. Set Your Budget Amount:
- Depending on your selection (daily or lifetime budget), input the specific budget amount. This is the maximum you’re willing to spend.
ii. Select Your Campaign Dates
- Define the start and end dates for your campaign. This sets the campaign’s duration. For ongoing campaigns, leave the end date open.
iii. Budget Format
- Continuous Schedule: This option allows your campaign to run continuously starting from a designated launch date. The campaign will conclude when your entire budget has been utilized. You can employ this scheduling method for all three budget types.
- Set Schedule: With a set schedule, your campaign operates between a defined start and end date. You can apply this schedule option to both lifetime and daily budget alternatives. However, it’s not compatible when using a combination of the two.
6. Choosing The Right Ad Format
LinkedIn offers several ad formats to help advertisers achieve different marketing objectives. Choosing the right ad format depends on your campaign goals, target audience, and the type of content you want to promote.
Here’s an overview of the main LinkedIn ad formats and how to choose the correct one:
i. Single Image Advertisements
Objective: Increase brand awareness, engagement, website traffic, or generate leads.
Format: LinkedIn Single Image Ads are a type of advertising format on the LinkedIn platform.
These ads allow businesses and advertisers to create visually appealing advertisements using a single image, along with accompanying text, to engage with a targeted audience on LinkedIn. It can be further divided into
Sponsored Content, often referred to as native ads, appears within your audience’s LinkedIn feed, whether they are browsing on their mobile devices or desktop computers. LinkedIn marks these advertisements as “promoted” to differentiate them from typical content.
Direct Sponsored Content: Sponsored Content ads created in Campaign Manager are known as Direct Sponsored Content. When you create Direct Sponsored Content, it won’t appear as an organic post on your LinkedIn Page but might display when members use the Ads filter on your Page.
ii. Conversation Ads
Objective: Drive conversions, such as webinar sign-ups, demo requests, or content downloads.
LinkedIn Opening Message Template:
LinkedIn Sample Conversation Template:
Format: Conversation Ads deliver personalized messages directly to a user’s LinkedIn inbox.
Initiate discussions with a professional audience through LinkedIn Messaging, fostering a more personalized approach to enhance interaction.
To boost brand recognition, consider sharing a success story from a satisfied customer or presenting a product demonstration.
How to Choose: Use Conversation ads for personalized outreach to a specific target audience. It’s particularly effective for lead generation and conversions.
For lead generation, craft engaging conversations that encourage potential clients to attend an event or register for a webinar.
Additionally, leverage content incentives or arrange product demonstrations to pique interest and capture potential leads.
iii. Carousel Ads
Objective: Tell a story, showcase multiple products or features, or engage the audience with interactive content.
Format: Carousel Ads allow you to include multiple images or videos in a single ad unit.
How to Choose: If your campaign involves showcasing a series of products, highlighting different features, or delivering a narrative, Carousel Ads can be a compelling choice.
Tips: Experiment with various methods of grouping carousel cards together. Modify the overall card count, the sequence in which they appear, and the specific headline descriptions on each card.
Analyze the performance metrics for Carousel Ads, such as click-through rates and impressions, for each individual card within the reporting data, and make improvements accordingly.
iv. Text Ads
LinkedIn Text Ads are a type of advertising format on the LinkedIn platform.
They are a form of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising that allows businesses and advertisers to create and display brief text-based advertisements to a targeted audience on LinkedIn.
These ads typically appear in the right-hand column of a LinkedIn user’s desktop feed or in various locations on the LinkedIn mobile app.
v. Video Ads
Objective: Engage the audience with video content, tell a visual story, or drive traffic to your website.
Format: Video Ads appear in the LinkedIn feed and auto-play without sound until clicked.
How to Choose: Video Ads are effective for conveying visual messages and engaging users. Use them if you have compelling video content or want to drive traffic to a video landing page.
How to Set Up: Utilize LinkedIn Video Ads to fuel expansion across all phases of the sales journey.
- Customize your video campaigns to foster brand recognition, encourage exploration, or spark actionable conversions.
- Initiate a Sponsored Content campaign to endorse video content through your LinkedIn Page or Showcase Page.
- Activate targeting on the LinkedIn Audience Network to extend your outreach by up to 20% within your intended audience.
- Employ Direct Sponsored Content for tailored or experimental video advertisements aimed at specific audiences, all without publicly posting them on your LinkedIn Page.
vi. Lead Gen Forms
Objective: Streamline the lead generation process and capture user information.
Format: These forms are attached to your Sponsored Content or Sponsored InMail. Users can submit their information without leaving LinkedIn.
How to Choose: If lead generation is your primary goal, using Lead Gen Forms can improve conversion rates by simplifying the data collection process.
vii. Spotlight Ads
Spotlight ads represent a Dynamic Ad variant personalized for each LinkedIn user, guiding them to your website or designated landing page.
These advertisements are visible on desktop devices and are customized for individual members by utilizing their LinkedIn profile information, such as their profile picture, company name, or job title.
Note:
Personalized information is visible only to the respective member; other members cannot view this member’s profile data.
Members also have the option to decline the use of their profile details for ad personalization.
Spotlight ads are versatile and support every stage of comprehensive marketing campaigns.
This ad format can be employed for various objective-oriented advertising goals, including:
- Enhancing Brand Awareness
- Driving Website Traffic
- Attracting Job Applicants
To choose the right LinkedIn ad format, consider your campaign objectives, and target audience, and the type of content you want to promote.
Additionally, regularly monitor and optimize your campaigns to ensure they align with your goals and deliver the desired results.
7. Bid Strategy
Choose your bidding strategy, which could be cost per click (CPC), cost per thousand impressions (CPM), or other options.
Your bid strategy will affect how your ad competes in the auction for ad placements.
LinkedIn advertising operates within an online auction system where your ad competes with others for placement. Success in this arena depends on your ability to make competitive bids for your ads.
Within Campaign Manager, you have the option to select from three bidding types:
Manual Bidding: This bidding strategy empowers you to establish a specific bid amount for a key result.
It can charge based on clicks, sends, impressions, or views, depending on your ad format, objective, and goal.
Manual bidding offers greater control over bid amounts, but it requires ongoing monitoring to adjust bids for campaign performance.
Cost-Cap Bidding: With cost-cap bidding, you define a maximum cost per key result.
This enables the system to automatically adapt your bids to achieve optimal outcomes while staying within your campaign’s budget.
Maximum Delivery Bidding: This is an automated bidding strategy that leverages machine learning to set and adapt bids while utilizing your entire budget.
The objective is to maximize key results and use your total budget in the most efficient manner possible.
Each bidding type offers distinct advantages and suits different campaign goals.
Manual bidding provides control, while cost-cap and maximum delivery bidding offer automation and optimization.
The choice of bidding type should align with your campaign objectives and your preferred level of bid management involvement.
8. How To Set Up Conversion Tracking
Conversions refer to actions like downloading whitepapers or registering for events. You can designate particular conversions you’ve set up to be incorporated into your LinkedIn campaigns, allowing you to gauge the influence of your LinkedIn advertising.
To specify which significant conversion actions you’ll be monitoring, like completing a lead form or obtaining a whitepaper, you’ll employ conversion names. Implement clear naming conventions to simplify tracking various conversion events.
When reviewing the conversion count within Campaign Manager, it encompasses both the cumulative post-click and view-through conversions generated.
9. Types of conversions
i. Online Conversion
- Website Conversions: LinkedIn can track online conversions that occur on your website after users click on your LinkedIn ads. This includes actions like form submissions, product purchases, whitepaper downloads, or any other goal you’ve set up.
- Conversion Tracking: You can set up specific conversion events in LinkedIn Campaign Manager and associate them with the LinkedIn Insight Tag installed on your website. This allows you to measure the performance of your LinkedIn campaigns based on these online actions.
- Attribution: LinkedIn provides insights into which LinkedIn ads and campaigns contributed to online conversions. You can analyze the conversion paths and attribute them to specific ad interactions.
ii. Offline conversion
- Website Conversions: LinkedIn can track online conversions that occur on your website after users click on your LinkedIn ads. This includes actions like form submissions, product purchases, whitepaper downloads, or any other goal you’ve set up.
- Conversion Tracking: You can set up specific conversion events in LinkedIn Campaign Manager and associate them with the LinkedIn Insight Tag installed on your website. This allows you to measure the performance of your LinkedIn campaigns based on these online actions.
- Attribution: LinkedIn provides insights into which LinkedIn ads and campaigns contributed to online conversions. You can analyze the conversion paths and attribute them to specific ad interactions.
If you want to measure the effectiveness of your ads in terms of conversions (e.g., sign-ups, and purchases), you can set up conversion tracking using LinkedIn Insight Tag or third-party tracking tools.
10. LinkedIn Insight Tag
The LinkedIn Insight Tag is a powerful tool that helps you track and optimize your LinkedIn advertising efforts by providing insights into the actions users take on your website after clicking on your LinkedIn ads. Here’s how to use the LinkedIn Insight Tag:
- Access the LinkedIn Campaign Manager:
- Log in to your LinkedIn Campaign Manager account, where you manage your advertising campaigns.
- Create or Edit a Campaign:
- You can either create a new campaign or edit an existing one. The Insight Tag can be added to any campaign to track website conversions.
- Generate the LinkedIn Insight Tag:
- In the Campaign Manager, navigate to the “Account Assets” section and click on “Insight Tag.” Here, you’ll find options to generate your Insight Tag.
- Add the Insight Tag to Your Website:
- To begin tracking, you need to add the Insight Tag code to your website’s pages. You can do this by copying the provided code snippet and pasting it into the header section of your website.
- This allows LinkedIn to track users’ interactions with your site.
- Set Up Conversion Tracking:
- If you want to track specific actions on your website, like form submissions or purchases, you can set up conversion tracking using the Insight Tag.
- To do this, you’ll need to create conversion events in the Campaign Manager and associate them with the Insight Tag.
- Verify Tag Installation:
- After adding the Insight Tag to your website, LinkedIn provides a verification tool to confirm that the tag is working correctly.
- This tool checks if the tag is installed and tracks conversions.
- Segment Website Visitors:
- With the Insight Tag in place, you can segment website visitors based on their interactions with your site.
- For example, you can create audiences of users who visited specific pages, completed certain actions, or abandoned shopping carts.
- Use Insights for Ad Campaigns:
- Once the Insight Tag starts collecting data, you can use the insights to optimize your LinkedIn ad campaigns.
- You can create retargeting campaigns to reach users who visit your website, tailor your messaging, and adjust your bidding strategies based on visitor behaviour.
Why is LinkedIn transitioning to JavaScript?
Certain web browsers have taken steps to block 3rd-party cookie tracking as a default feature, with browsers like Safari and Firefox leading the way.
Others, like Chrome, have also declared plans to implement such blocking in the near future.
For advertisers, it’s becoming increasingly vital to make the shift to JavaScript tags and activate ‘enhanced conversion tracking’ within their settings.
This adaptation ensures the continuous collection of valuable signals even in environments where 3rd-party cookies are restricted.
11. Review and Launch
Inspect your campaign settings, ad creatives, targeting, and budget to ensure their precision. Once you’ve confirmed your contentment, move forward with the campaign launch.
12. Monitor and Optimize
After your campaign is live, regularly monitor its performance using LinkedIn’s analytics dashboard.
The LinkedIn Ads Manager boasts a comprehensive reporting tool that enables you to monitor LinkedIn analytics and metrics, offering insights into your ad’s effectiveness.
This encompassing set of metrics comprises figures such as clicks, impressions, cost per click (CPC), click-through rate (CTR), cost per impression (CPM), conversions, cost per conversion, leads, and cost per lead.
Moreover, the Ads Manager permits you to track performance across various audience demographics.
For instance, you can analyze the response of individuals in specific job functions concerning your ads, examining metrics like clicks, impressions, and CTR.
13. Adjust and Scale
Based on the performance data, refine your campaigns to optimize results. You can adjust your targeting, bidding strategy, and ad content to achieve your desired outcomes.
If a campaign is successful, consider scaling it by increasing the budget or expanding the audience.
If You’re In B2B, You Should Be Using LinkedIn Ads
LinkedIn Ads are crucial for B2B businesses. With a vast professional audience, precise targeting, content relevance, lead generation tools, ABM capabilities, brand building, detailed analytics, community engagement, competitive edge, remarketing options, and budget flexibility, it’s the ideal platform for reaching decision-makers and achieving marketing goals. To learn more visit our blog on digiXL Media for the latest updates and guides.