LinkedIn advertising allows for highly targeted campaigns based on professional data and demographics. Here’s an overview of how LinkedIn ads can be targeted to reach your ideal customers.
Targeting by Geography
One of the most basic targeting options for LinkedIn ads is location. You can target ads by country, state/province, city, or down to the postal code level. This allows you to geo-target your campaigns to only reach users in your serviceable locations or local markets.
Some examples of geographic targeting for LinkedIn ads include:
- Targeting only people located in the United States
- Targeting people in specific states like California or New York
- Targeting major metropolitan areas like Chicago or Houston
- Targeting a specific suburb or postal code within a city
Geographic targeting works well if you have a physical business location and want to reach local prospects. It can also be helpful for B2B companies targeting customers in specific regions.
Targeting by Job Title and Function
One of the unique advantages of LinkedIn advertising is the ability to target professional roles and job functions. Over 90% of LinkedIn members share their job title and other work information on their profile.
This allows you to target ads to specific jobs or departments, like:
- C-level executives
- Marketing managers
- Engineering directors
- Sales professionals
- Human resource roles
For example, a B2B tech company could create an ad campaign targeting CIOs and technology decision makers. Or a HR software provider could target people who list human resources as their job function.
This level of professional targeting makes it easy to engage your target buyers based on their role. You can further refine your audience by seniority level, company size, and other attributes.
Targeting by Industry
Along with job function, members often add their industry and company details to their LinkedIn profile. This enables industry targeting for LinkedIn ads.
Some examples of industries you may want to target include:
- Software
- Financial services
- Healthcare
- Higher education
- Retail
- Manufacturing
Industry targeting works well if you have a product or service focused on a specific vertical market. For example, a cybersecurity company could target people in the technology industry. Or a HR provider could target healthcare companies.
Targeting by Company Size
In addition to industry, many LinkedIn members work at companies of various sizes – from small businesses to large enterprises. LinkedIn ads allow you to target company size through options like:
- 1-10 employees
- 11-200 employees
- 201-500 employees
- 500+ employees
This enables B2B companies to engage decision makers at specific company sizes. For instance, an enterprise software firm could target companies with 500+ employees. Or a small business accounting platform could target 1-10 person companies.
Targeting by Interests and Skills
Beyond professional data, LinkedIn members often share details on their interests, skills, education and more. This enables interest and skill targeting for ads based on profile keywords.
Some examples of interest targeting include:
- Small business owners
- Entrepreneurs
- Cycling enthusiasts
- Frequent travelers
- Photography pros
For skills targeting, you could target proficiency in areas like:
- Social media marketing
- Web development
- Graphic design
- Cloud computing
- Project management
This type of targeting works well for both B2B and B2C offerings aligned to specific interests and professional skills.
Targeting by LinkedIn Group Membership
LinkedIn Groups enable professionals to connect based on shared interests, affiliations and associations. There are over 2 million groups covering nearly every industry and topic.
As a result, LinkedIn ads can be targeted to specific Groups based on their membership. For example, you could target ads to people in Groups like:
- Marketing Professionals
- Entrepreneurs
- UI/UX Designers
- HR Management
- Software Engineers
This approach helps you engage the right audiences based on Group affinity and participation, even if they don’t list those details explicitly on their profile.
Targeting by ENGAGEMENT
Beyond explicit profile targeting, LinkedIn ads offer ENGAGEMENT targeting to reach audiences based on their on-site behavior and actions. This includes options like:
- Targeting people who view or engage with certain post types, like long-form articles
- Targeting people who view or follow specific LinkedIn pages
- Targeting people who click on competitor ads
- Targeting lookalike audiences from your website visitors
For example, an enterprise software company could target people who view and read long-form posts about business software. Or an accounting firm could target people who follow and view competitors’ LinkedIn pages.
This form of ENGAGEMENT targeting enables expanding your reach based on on-site behavior signals beyond explicit profile attributes.
Targeting Website Visitors with MATched Audiences
One of the newest and most powerful LinkedIn audience targeting options is MATched Audiences. This enables targeting your LinkedIn ads to people who have previously visited specific pages on your website.
To use it, you simply install the LinkedIn Insight Tag on your website to anonymously capture site visitors. Then within your LinkedIn ads, you can target website retargeting ads to people who have visited key pages like:
- Your homepage
- Your pricing page
- Product pages
- Blog articles
- Contact/request demo pages
For example, you could create an audience of people who have visited your pricing page, then create special offers and discounts specifically for them. This leverages your website traffic to drive highly targeted ads.
Targeting Website Visitors with Website Demographics
Beyond creating MATched Audiences from your site visitors, LinkedIn also offers Website Demographics targeting. This enables targeting website visitors based on:
- Company size
- Job function
- Industry
- Job seniority
For example, you may want to target website visitors from companies with 500+ employees, or specifically target C-level execs. Website Demographics make this possible.
Targeting Website Customers with Lead Gen Forms
LinkedIn now offers integrations with marketing and CRM platforms using LinkedIn Lead Gen forms. This enables capturing lead contact information directly from your LinkedIn ads.
A key benefit is that once leads are captured, you can then target “website customers” by uploading them as a custom audience. This allows you to engage known prospects with highly relevant messaging after they’ve converted.
For example, if someone downloads an ebook from your ad, you can then target them with content offers for related topics. Or if they request a demo, you can target them with nurturing ads focused on product education.
Targeting with Custom Audiences
In addition to website visitor targeting, LinkedIn enables broader custom audience creation from:
- Email lists
- CRM data
- Offline event attendees
You simply upload hashed email addresses or other identifiers to LinkedIn. Then you can target your custom audiences in a privacy-safe way without exposing individual information.
For example, a SaaS company could upload their customer emails as a Custom Audience then target upsell messaging. Or a university could engage event attendees by targeting their email addresses.
Targeting with Account-Based Advertising
Along with individual member targeting, LinkedIn now offers Account-Based Advertising to target companies and teams. This enables you to:
- Create targeted account lists
- Engage contacts at target accounts
- Prioritize advertising to key accounts
For example, you may want to focus advertising on your top 100 enterprise prospect accounts. Or target specific contacts and titles within accounts you’re trying to penetrate.
This makes LinkedIn advertising highly relevant for ABM strategies focused on your ideal companies.
Targeting Options for Dynamic Ads
Beyond standard LinkedIn text ads, newer ad formats like Dynamic Ads offer unique targeting capabilities:
- Dynamic ads – Target by job role, industry, company size
- Follower ads – Target fans of your LinkedIn Page
- Content Engagement ads – Target viewers of your LinkedIn posts
For instance, you can automatically display dynamic ads to marketers at retail brands. Or target your new ebook to people who engaged with your thought leadership posts.
These expanding options make LinkedIn targeting highly customizable for any audience or use case.
Targeting By Demographics
Like other advertising platforms, LinkedIn does allow basic demographic targeting for metrics like:
- Age
- Gender
- Education level
- Household income
While less unique than professional targeting, demographic options are helpful for consumer brands and campaigns focused on broad age groups like millennials.
Targeting By LinkedIn Campaign Manager
LinkedIn Campaign Manager offers robust targeting based on AI and machine learning. Features include:
- Lookalike Targeting – Find audiences similar to your best customers
- Audience Expansion – Expand your target audience reach
- Audience Recommendations – Discover new target segments
For example, Lookalike Targeting can model your ideal customers, then find new people with a high propensity to engage. This evolves your advertising beyond static targeting parameters.
Targeting Best Practices
To maximize the impact of your LinkedIn ad targeting, keep these best practices in mind:
- Leverage professional targeting like job title, industry, and seniority to reach your ideal buyers.
- Layer in interest, skill, and group membership targeting to expand reach.
- Use website visitors and custom audiences to target known prospects.
- Test different audience segments and targeting options.
- Refine based on performance data – double down on what works.
With the wide range of targeting available, it’s important to have a clear audience definition and persona. Try to combine 2-3 professional traits with interests, behaviors, or custom options.
While you can target very granular segments like “CMOs in New York”, larger audiences tend to perform better by increasing reach. Try 100,000+ targetable members for most use cases.
Evaluate data frequently and optimize your targeting strategy. LinkedIn’s depth of member data makes this highly customizable for your goals.
Conclusion
In summary, LinkedIn advertising enables precise targeting unmatched by other platforms. You can zero in on your total addressable market using attributes like:
- Job function
- Industry
- Company
- Location
- Interests and skills
- Website engagement
- Custom audiences
This level of granular professional, behavioral, and custom targeting powers your ability to reach and engage the right decision makers and contacts.
As a result, LinkedIn advertising delivers outstanding results, with 56% lower CPLs and 4X higher conversion rates compared to industry benchmarks. And with robust targeting options, it provides unmatched potential to connect with your target audiences.
In today’s digital landscape, the ability to reach your total addressable market across channels is critical. LinkedIn advertising provides the toolset to achieve this with powerful targeting capabilities.
