Giving an agency access to your LinkedIn ads can be beneficial if you want help managing and optimizing your campaigns. However, it requires trusting an external party with access to sensitive business data and campaigns. There are a few key steps to granting proper agency access on LinkedIn Ads while maintaining control and security.
Why Give Agency Access?
Here are some top reasons to grant advertising agency access:
- Expertise – Agencies have experience running successful LinkedIn ad campaigns for other companies. This can help improve your LinkedIn ad performance.
- Time Savings – Agencies take over the time-consuming process of managing daily ads, freeing up your internal team.
- Expanded Capabilities – Some LinkedIn advertising options like lead gen forms are only available to agencies.
- Account Administration – Agencies can assist with tasks like billing, tracking, reporting, and optimization.
Concerns Around Providing Access
While there are benefits, it’s also understandable to have reservations around granting outside access to your LinkedIn accounts and ad spend. Common concerns include:
- Loss of Control – You rely on an external agency managing campaigns on your behalf.
- Data Security – Outside parties accessing sensitive company data and interests.
- Lack of Transparency – Not having full visibility into how your budget is spent.
- Misaligned Incentives – An agency may focus on their commissions over your company goals.
With the right strategy, you can minimize these risks while benefiting from agency expertise.
How To Add An Agency on LinkedIn
Here are step-by-step instructions on how to grant LinkedIn Ads access to an agency:
1. Confirm Who Will Act as the Agency Admin
First, confirm the specific person at the agency who will be the account administrator. This admin will receive the overall permissions granted by your company.
You want this to be someone trustworthy and senior-level who will be hands-on managing the accounts. Avoid granting access to more junior employees or contractors who may turnover.
2. Determine Admin Permissions
When inviting an agency, you will need to determine what level of LinkedIn Ads access they require. There are 3 key permission levels:
- Read Only – Can view ads but not make changes.
- Standard Access – Can edit existing campaigns but not create new ones.
- Account Admin – Full account control including adding new campaigns.
In most cases, you will want to start the agency with Standard Access to limit their capabilities until they prove themselves trustworthy.
3. Send Admin Invitation
To grant access, you will login to your LinkedIn Campaign Manager account. Under “Admin Roles”, select Invite Admin.
Enter the agency admin’s name and email. Set their permission level. And customize their access as needed, such as limiting to certain ad accounts.
4. Agency Accepts Invite
The agency admin will receive your invitation via email. By clicking through the link, they can accept it and gain access to your ad accounts.
Once accepted, you will see them listed under Admin Roles, where you can adjust permissions any time.
How to Maintain Control Over Your LinkedIn Ads
While you want your agency to actively manage your LinkedIn ads, you also want to ensure proper oversight and governance. Here are some tips:
1. Limit Admin Capabilities
Only provide the minimum admin rights needed for the agency to do their job. Avoid granting full account control unnecessarily.
You can customize permissions to limit access to certain ad accounts, exclude spending abilities, or keep them read-only. Update access if needs change.
2. Regularly Audit Accounts
Routinely check in on your LinkedIn ads to audit performance and spend. Look at active and paused campaigns, ad sets, creatives, targeted audiences, and changes made.
Watch for any gaps between your goals versus agency actions. This helps keep them accountable.
3. Create Campaign Guidelines
Provide your agency with written guidelines for managing your LinkedIn ads. Include your:
- Target audiences
- Products/services to promote
- Ideal customer profiles
- Brand messaging guidelines
- Monthly budgets
- Campaign objectives and KPIs
- Any restricted actions like adding new campaigns
Setting expectations upfront aligns your goals and their work. Update as needed.
4. Review Reports and Optimization Plans
Require your agency to provide regular reporting on campaign performance and their recommendations for optimization.
Reports should track key metrics like cost per lead, conversion rates, ROI, and target KPIs. Review their suggestions to improve campaigns and results.
5. Structure Pay for Performance
Rather than pay your agency a flat monthly fee, tie compensation directly to performance against your KPIs and goals.
For example, you could pay a bonus for delivering leads under your target cost per lead. This incentivizes results.
Key Takeaways
Here are the core recommendations for successfully granting LinkedIn Ads access:
- Vet the agency admin who will manage the accounts
- Start with Standard admin access instead of full Account Admin rights
- Regularly audit campaign performance, spend, and changes
- Provide the agency clear written guidelines and expectations
- Require regular optimization reports tied to your goals
- Structure agency fees based on performance incentives
Following these tips will allow your agency to effectively run your LinkedIn ad campaigns while maintaining control and achieving your objectives.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the risks of giving LinkedIn ad access to an agency?
The main risks are loss of control, security issues if data is mishandled, lack of transparency into spending, and potential misalignment with your goals. Following the recommendations in this article can help mitigate these risks.
Should I start an agency with full Account Admin rights from the start?
No, it’s recommended to start with Standard Access and elevate permissions later once the relationship matures. Full account control right away is risky.
How often should I audit the LinkedIn ad accounts under agency management?
You should audit at least once per week. Look at changes to campaigns, new ad sets or creatives, spending, target audiences, and performance against KPIs. More frequent checks may be warranted at first.
What metrics should the agency report on?
The agency should report on your core KPIs like cost per lead, conversion rate, ROI, and volume metrics like clicks, impressions, leads generated. Require insights into campaign optimization.
How can I incentivize the agency to align with my business goals?
Structure their fees based on performance goals rather than a flat monthly retainer. You can tie part of compensation to delivering leads below a target CPL, for example.
Conclusion
Giving a trusted advertising agency access to manage your LinkedIn ads can provide valuable expertise to scale campaigns. However, proper oversight is crucial to prevent issues like excessive spending. Follow the guidance in this article to maximize the benefits while minimizing the risks of empowering an outside team to manage your LinkedIn ad accounts and avoid compromising control.