Getting Started with LinkedIn Ads

If you want to reach professionals, LinkedIn is the place to be. There are more than 467 million people on the network now (including 41% of millionaires, and it continues to grow like crazy. They’ve been steadily slaying it the last few years in terms of revenue and monthly active users.
In terms of our trucking, construction, and driver recruiting audiences, LinkedIn is generally one of the top 3 most popular social networks (usually behind Facebook and YouTube). Fleet executives are especially fond of LinkedIn, 47.6% of whom prefer the network.
In terms of our trucking, construction, and driver recruiting audiences, LinkedIn is generally one of the top 3 most popular social networks (usually behind Facebook and YouTube). Fleet executives are especially fond of LinkedIn, 47.6% of whom prefer the network.
So your audience is on LinkedIn, but how do you reach them? We’re here to help with some LinkedIn advertising basics.
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First Things First

 
If you want to advertise on LinkedIn, you need to create a LinkedIn account. Already have one? Great!
Your next move is to figure out exactly who you want to reach (and by what means). In terms of marketing methods, you can go the self-service DIY route, or choose to run a managed campaign with help from someone at LinkedIn.
Then you’ll want to figure out who exactly you want to target and reach with your messaging. LinkedIn is much smaller than Facebook, but its targeting options are pretty awesome. Check out all the different criteria you can use to sift, sort, and filter prospects.

 
In terms of messaging, your options are Sponsored Content/native ads (those ‘Sponsored’ posts you see in your customers’ news feed), Sponsored Inmail (direct, private, personalized messages), and pay-per-click Text Ads

Here’s a text ad example.

For all these options you can set your budget, opt for paying by clicks or impressions, and measure your campaign success to gauge ROI.
LinkedIn is also making a big push toward account-based marketing — or targeting specific accounts. They let you go after 30,000 specific companies.
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Targeting

 
Now for the fun part! We already mentioned the plethora of ways you can target whomever you’re trying to reach. It’s up to you to determine whether you want to segment your audience via company name, industry, company size, job title, job function, years of experience, gender, location, skills, education, age, or whatever other demographic aspect matters to you.
Then you’ll be able to craft your campaign’s headline, body copy, and call-to-action. LinkedIn is big on A/B testing, so you’ll have an opportunity to pit different ads against one another see which one reigns victorious.
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Bidding, Measuring, and Optimizing

 
Your bidding options are cost-per-click or to pay on a per-thousand-impression (CPM) basis. Dealer’s choice here; there’s no ‘right’ answer. Paying a set amount for a click is pretty straightforward, while CPM is a nice option for those looking for a higher volume of eyeballs and awareness. You can then set a daily budget to ensure you don’t give LinkedIn all your money.
Once you’ve got all this locked in, it’s just a matter of measuring, monitoring, tweaking, and optimizing your campaigns as you see fit. If something’s not working, LinkedIn makes it pretty easy to track statistics/metrics and edit or rearrange content as you see fit.
One word of caution before we go: LinkedIn ain’t cheap. Mallory Walker, one of our digital advertising experts here on staff, relayed to me that price is usually the biggest potential downside folks need to consider when mulling LinkedIn advertising. For a ballpark idea of cost differences between social platforms, the Financial Times listed an estimated median CPM for LinkedIn at $27.90, compared to just $1.54 for Facebook.
But of course it costs money to make money, right? You can see for yourself how LinkedIn advertising has worked out for other companies.   

Is LinkedIn For You?

Hopefully this post will help you get a conversation going with your team. Are LinkedIn ads worth the expense for your company? That’s for you to decide.
If you think you should be advertising on LinkedIn, but you’re not sure where to start, or perhaps you need a hand on taking your social media marketing to the next level, we can help! Contact us today and let’s find your target audience.
 
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