LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 722 million users worldwide. With its huge user base, LinkedIn provides an excellent platform for promoting events and attracting attendees. Many event organizers leverage LinkedIn’s paid advertising options like Sponsored Content and Sponsored InMail to increase event registration.
In this article, we will look at how you can advertise an upcoming event on LinkedIn to maximize its reach and engagement.
Benefits of Advertising Events on LinkedIn
Here are some of the key benefits of using LinkedIn to promote your event:
Targeted Reach
LinkedIn allows advertisers to target their ads based on member demographics, interests, location, job roles, and more. This ensures your event promotions reach the most relevant audience. For example, you can target your ad to software engineers in San Francisco if you are hosting a tech conference there.
Engaged Professional Audience
LinkedIn members are there for professional networking and development. So they are more inclined to check out and register for career-advancing events and conferences advertised on the platform.
Credibility
Anything advertised officially on LinkedIn lends a level of credibility and trustworthiness to your event. Members will take it more seriously than ads on regular social media.
Company Page Promotion
You can feature your company page and build followers in the process of advertising your event. More page followers mean more visibility for future events.
Lead Generation
LinkedIn ads allow adding lead generation forms and calls-to-action so you can capture attendee information like emails. This helps build your prospect database.
Event Page Creation
LinkedIn enables creating dedicated event pages where all event details can be showcased in one place. Interested members can follow the page for updates.
Types of LinkedIn Ads for Events
Now let’s look at the main LinkedIn advertising options suitable for amplifying events:
Sponsored Content
This is similar to organic posts but gets additional visibility in members’ feeds because it’s paid content. You can create posts with event details, calls to register, and eye-catching imagery. Then use detailed targeting to serve it to the right audiences.
Sponsored InMail
You can send personalized event invites and announcements as direct messages to members via Sponsored InMail. They have high open rates and response rates.
Text Ads
These are text-based ads that appear on the right sidebar. They are best used along with Sponsored Content for multichannel promotion.
Dynamic Ads
Target members who have already engaged with your content and pages by retargeting them with customized Dynamic Ads. For instance, if someone viewed your event page, re-engage them with a “Still Interested?” ad.
Best Practices for Advertising Events on LinkedIn
Follow these tips to make your LinkedIn event ads more effective:
Catchy Visuals
Use eye-catching banners, images, or videos in your Sponsored Content. This drives more clicks and engagement.
Clear Call-to-Action
Include a strong CTA like “Register Now” or “Buy Tickets” so people take the desired action.
Relevant Targeting
Leverage LinkedIn’s detailed targeting features to only reach audiences likely to be interested in your event. Avoid a spray-and-pray approach.
Retargeting Pixels
Install retargeting pixels on your event site so you can create lookalike audiences and re-engage visitors through LinkedIn ads.
Multiple Ad Formats
Use a combination of Sponsored Content, InMail, and Text Ads for optimal visibility across desktop and mobile.
A/B Test Ads
Test different headlines, images, calls-to-action, and targeting to determine what resonates best with your audiences.
Promote Early
Start running LinkedIn ads for your event well in advance to generate maximum registrations. Don’t wait until the last minute.
Optimize Based on Insights
Analyze performance metrics in LinkedIn’s advertising platform frequently. Identify and double down on what’s working.
Step-by-Step Guide to Advertising Events on LinkedIn
Here is a step-by-step walkthrough of the LinkedIn ads setup process for promoting events:
Step 1: Create a LinkedIn Company Page
If you don’t already have one, create a LinkedIn Company Page for your organization. This serves as the hub for showcasing your brand and events.
Step 2: Set Up LinkedIn Campaign Manager
Access LinkedIn Campaign Manager by going to the “Advertise” section of your Company Page. Set up your billing information and payment method to start running paid campaigns.
Step 3: Design Your Sponsored Content
Come up with a compelling image, headline, and description for your Sponsored Content promoted post. Include event details like date, location, agenda, speakers, etc.
Step 4: Target Your Audience
Use LinkedIn’s targeting options to select the right demographics, job roles, companies, and interests to reach people likely to attend your event.
Step 5: Place Your Ad Order
Set your daily budget, duration, and placement preferences. Submit your order and your Sponsored Content will be live immediately.
Step 6: Create Your Sponsored InMail
Craft a personalized message to send as an InMail to targeted individuals. Mention their name and include a call to register.
Step 7: Design Your Text Ads
Come up with compelling 125-character headlines and text for your sidebar text ads. These should redirect to your event site or LinkedIn event page.
Step 8: Analyze and Refine
Check campaign metrics regularly in Campaign Manager. Identify top-performing ads, placements, and audiences to optimize your spend.
Step 9: Retarget Engaged Visitors
Create Dynamic Ads to re-engage visitors who already checked out your event but didn’t convert initially.
Real-World Examples of LinkedIn Event Ads
Here are some real examples of LinkedIn ads from brands promoting their events and conferences:
Sponsored Content Example
TechCrunch promotes one of their popular conferences with a colorful Sponsored Content post targeting the tech community.
Sponsored InMail Example
The American Marketing Association sends a personalized event invitation via Sponsored InMail to engage members directly.
Text Ad Example
Forbes uses a text ad with a catchy headline and strong CTA to drive registrations for their conference.
Metrics to Track for LinkedIn Event Ads
To gauge the success of your LinkedIn event ads, focus on monitoring these key metrics:
Impressions
How many times your ads were shown to members. Aim for maximum reach.
Clicks
The number of clicks on your ads. Higher engagement is better.
Click-through-rate
Clicks divided by impressions. Benchmark against the industry average.
Cost-per-click
How much you pay for each click. Lower is better.
Leads/Registrations
Vital to track conversions, i.e. event sign-ups driven by the ads.
Engagement Rate
Likes, comments, shares earned by your Sponsored Content posts.
Tips to Reduce LinkedIn Advertising Costs for Events
Here are some tips to control LinkedIn ad spend when marketing your event:
Set a Daily Budget
Cap your daily ad expenditure to what you can afford. LinkedIn will stop showing your ads once the limit is reached.
Pause Low Performers
Disable ads that aren’t delivering results to avoid wasting budget.
Use Cost-per-Lead Bid Strategy
Only pay when you acquire an event registration lead via the ads.
Tightly Refine Targeting
Ultra-specific targeting ensures ads only reach qualified audiences likely to convert.
Create Custom Event Audiences
Target past event attendees or website visitors to re-engage high-intent prospects.
Leverage LinkedIn’s Nonprofit Credit
If you are a nonprofit, apply for LinkedIn’s 100% advertising credit through the Ad Grant Program.
Partner with Sponsors
Get sponsors to fund part of your LinkedIn ad spend in return for branding/lead gen.
Negotiate Volume Discounts
LinkedIn sales offers better rates for high-spending advertisers, especially during renewals.
Use Lead Gen Forms
Adding lead gen forms to your ads lets you collect data even from non-clickers.
Test Extensively
Experiment to find the most cost-efficient targeting, creatives, offers, placements, and formats.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are answers to some common questions about advertising events on LinkedIn:
Can I create an event listing on LinkedIn?
Yes, LinkedIn now allows creating dedicated event pages to provide attendees with a hub for all event details and updates in one place.
What’s the ideal ad frequency for promoting events?
Aim for 2-3 impressions per day for each target member in the 2-3 months leading up to the event for optimal results.
Can I reuse existing creative assets for LinkedIn event ads?
Absolutely. You can repurpose banners, images, videos, or posts from other marketing channels. But optimized, natively-formatted creatives work best.
Is it better to send individuals or groups LinkedIn InMail for events?
For open rates and conversion, personalized 1:1 InMails tend to outperform group InMails. But for maximum reach, use both strategically.
What’s the ideal text ad length for event campaigns?
Aim for 125 characters in your title, 90 characters in line 1 of the text, and 30 characters in line 2 to keep within LinkedIn’s text ad limits.
Can I integrate LinkedIn advertising with my other marketing channels?
Yes, you can track LinkedIn conversions in Google/Facebook Ads Manager by using LinkedIn’s Conversion Tracking tag. This enables closed-loop attribution.
How quickly does LinkedIn review and approve event ads?
Most properly formatted LinkedIn ads are approved automatically within minutes. But allow up to 1 business day for LinkedIn to manually review your first-time ads.
What type of targeting should I use for events?
Combine demographic, geographic, company, job title, interests, and custom audience targeting to reach those most likely to attend your event.
Can I reuse parts of other LinkedIn Sponsored Content for my event ads?
No, LinkedIn’s advertising policies prohibit reusing content across multiple Sponsored Content ads. Each post must contain unique copy.
Conclusion
Advertising events on LinkedIn is a highly effective strategy to increase awareness, registrations, and ticket sales. Take advantage of precise targeting features, professional audiences, and multiple ad formats like Sponsored Content and InMail.
With compelling creative, strategic targeting, and continual optimization, your LinkedIn event campaigns are sure to deliver great ROI while keeping costs under control. Use this guide to successfully promote your next conference, seminar, workshop, or other events.