LinkedIn advertising: What you can do
PPC or pay per click advertising has been well established by Google and widely used by businesses across Australia for some time.
With the advance of Social Media Platform advertising on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, it is important to evaluate where advertisers choose to spend their PPC budget and how well it can work for their business.
So here is a brief overview of the advantages of using LinkedIn advertising as part of your marketing spend.
LinkedIn is not just for recruitment
David Cowling of Social Media News Australia recently released his SMA statistics for January and reports that LinkedIn had – 5,500,000 active Australian user accounts for the month.
When it comes to Business to Business (B2B), LinkedIn is the most successful platform for capturing quality leads. 26% of B2B decision makers are using LinkedIn, and companies that engage through LinkedIn generate 80% of their overall social media marketing leads through LinkedIn.
LinkedIn ad formats
There are four main ad types in LinkedIn Advertising, some of which comprise of multiple formats:
- Sponsored Content (Single Image Ads, Video Ads and Carousel Ads)
- Sponsored Messaging (Message Ads and Conversation Ads)
- Text Ads
- Dynamic Ads
Sponsored Content:
The most common type of ads on LinkedIn are Sponsored Content Ads, which appear in the feed across devices (as you can see above). There are three formats within this ad type, which are designed to engage users on a visual basis, much in the same way we’re used to seeing on networks like Facebook.
- Single Image Ads
- Video Ads
- Carousel Ads
These are native ad formats, meaning they appear in the LinkedIn feed in the same way regular content does, which is good news for click-through rates. You can also turn these clicks into conversions by using LinkedIn Lead Generation Forms on your Sponsored Content campaigns to generate high-quality leads from inside the LinkedIn app.
This is one of LinkedIn advertising’s most powerful features so take the time to get familiar with Lead Generation Forms.
Sponsored Messaging
Sponsored Messaging allows you to reach individual prospects on a personal basis and start meaningful conversations with the people who matter most to your business.
There are two formats within this ad type:
First up, we’ve got Message Ads, which allow you to send direct messages to users with a call-to-action message and CTA to encourage immediate action.
The other format is Conversation Ads, which create a chatbot-like experience designed to engage prospects and guide them through a more complex conversion process.
Text Ads
Text Ads are the simplest ad format in LinkedIn, displaying in dedicated ad spots across the platform – eg: in the sidebar for desktop users. Text Ads are also the cheapest ad format to use on the network – both in terms of CPCs and not needing to invest in visual content.
Dynamic Ads
Dynamic Ads are a personalised ad format that reaches out to prospects by their name and uses their account data – such as profile photo, company name and job title – to build quick connections. The ad format places users alongside your brand image to suggest the relationship is already there to nurture and encourages them to follow your brand.
LinkedIn targeting options
LinkedIn already has a highly-focused user base so it doesn’t need such an advanced targeting system as Facebook to help you narrow down your target audiences. The biggest advantage of this is that you don’t have to spend months getting to know LinkedIn’s targeting options.
Here’s a quick summary of what you can do.
- Location Targeting
- Company Targeting
- Demographics Targeting
- Education Targeting
- Job Experience Targeting
- Interests and Traits Targeting
Of course, the success of your campaign is going to depend on a few things:
- How well have you profiled your target market?
- Where are they?
- How do they like to be engaged?
- and all the other basics of marketing
The opportunity to drill down as a small to medium enterprise and target your PPC budget towards the market with which you are trying to connect and their decision makers is one that should be seriously considered.
If you would like assistance with advertising on LinkedIn, please contact us. We are always up for a cup of coffee.
