As a professional social media platform, LinkedIn offers many opportunities for businesses to connect with potential customers and drive conversions. But what exactly does LinkedIn count as a conversion? In this comprehensive guide, we will examine the different actions on LinkedIn that constitute a conversion and how businesses can best leverage LinkedIn to generate more conversions.
What is a LinkedIn Conversion?
In simple terms, a LinkedIn conversion occurs when a LinkedIn member takes a desired action after viewing or engaging with your content on the platform. This action is a clear indication that your LinkedIn marketing efforts successfully convinced the prospect to move forward in their buyer’s journey.
Some examples of LinkedIn conversions include:
- Clicking on an ad or sponsored content
- Visiting your website or landing page
- Downloading an asset (e.g. ebook, whitepaper)
- Signing up for a free trial or demo
- Requesting a quote or pricing information
- Completing a lead gen form
- Making a purchase on your website
- Engaging further by email, chat, or phone
Essentially, any meaningful action beyond merely viewing your content can be considered a conversion. The type of conversion will depend on your business goals and where prospects are in the sales funnel.
LinkedIn Conversion Tracking
To measure conversions generated from LinkedIn, you need to implement conversion tracking. LinkedIn offers several options to track conversions accurately:
- LinkedIn Insight Tag – This lightweight JavaScript tag lets you track member activity like page views, button clicks, and form submissions on your website. You can see this data in your LinkedIn Campaign Manager.
- LinkedIn Matched Audiences – Build custom audiences in Campaign Manager by uploading email lists of your current leads and customers. This allows you to target lookalike audiences and see how your ads convert existing contacts.
- UTM campaign tracking – Append UTM parameters like utm_source, utm_medium, and utm_campaign to your LinkedIn ad and post links. When prospects visit your site, your web analytics platform will record UTM data to identify conversions driven by LinkedIn.
Additionally, LinkedIn’s analytics and pixel offer conversion tracking for actions taken directly on LinkedIn, like content engagement, Lead Gen form submissions, and messaging. Enabling conversion tracking provides visibility into the return on investment from your LinkedIn marketing initiatives.
Types of LinkedIn Conversions
Now let’s explore the main types of conversions you can generate from LinkedIn content and campaigns:
1. Content Engagement
Getting LinkedIn members to engage with your content is the first step towards conversion. Some examples of content engagement that LinkedIn tracks include:
- Likes, comments, and shares on your posts
- Clicks on your articles and videos
- Content downloads (PDFs, presentations, etc.)
- Link clicks back to your website
The more your content resonates with prospects, the more engagement it will drive. High engagement not only helps build your brand awareness, but also improves your content’s visibility in the LinkedIn algorithm. This leads to more impressions and engagement over time.
2. Conversions from Sponsored Content
You can turn content engagement into conversions by sponsoring organic posts or running Sponsored Content campaigns (formerly known as Sponsored InMail).
For example, you can boost an educational post with a call-to-action to download an ebook. The number of prospects who click the sponsored post and download the ebook would count as conversions.
Sponsored messages sent through the LinkedIn Campaign Manager also provide conversion tracking. You get notified whenever the recipient clicks links in the message or replies, giving you the opportunity to continue nurturing them.
3. Conversions from Lead Generation Forms
LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms allow you to collect prospect information directly within the LinkedIn platform. You can gate access to premium content by requiring prospects to fill out a Lead Gen form first.
The number of leads captured through Lead Gen forms is tracked as conversions in Campaign Manager. You can also export the lead data and import it into your CRM for follow up.
4. Conversions from LinkedIn Ads
LinkedIn advertisements offer flexible options to drive conversions across the funnel. The platform supports text, image, and video ads.
Here are some of the conversion actions you can track from LinkedIn ads:
- Clicks on the ad to your website or landing page
- Visits to your website from LinkedIn referrals
- Leads captured through LinkedIn Lead Gen forms
- Downloads of gated assets like ebooks and whitepapers
- Sales inquiries and demo requests
- Purchases and transactions on your website
Analyzing which ad formats, targeting options, and placements deliver the most conversions allows you to optimize your LinkedIn ads over time.
5. Conversions from Company or Showcase Pages
Your LinkedIn Company Page also provides conversion opportunities through:
- Clicks on your logo, cover image, or About Us section to your website
- Visits to your Careers page and job applications
- Interactions with your Products and Services tabs
- Engagement with your Company Page Showcase Pages
- Messaging your company for inquiries
- Follows of your Company Page
Adding more helpful information to your Company Page, sharing regular updates, and using Showcase Pages to highlight specific initiatives helps drive more visitors – and conversions – from LinkedIn members.
Best Practices for Generating LinkedIn Conversions
Here are some proven tips to help you maximize conversions from your LinkedIn marketing:
1. Define Your Goals and Target Audience
Having a clear understanding of your conversion goals and ideal customer profile allows you to shape content and campaigns that resonate best with your targets on LinkedIn.
2. Personalize Content
Generic content may attract views but won’t convert prospects. Well-targeted, personalized content and messaging convert significantly better. Research your audience insights to craft content that speaks directly to their needs and interests.
3. Use Compelling Calls-to-Action
Every piece of content should have a strategic call-to-action, like “Download ebook”, “Attend our webinar”, or “Start free trial”. The CTA provides a clear direction on the next step you want viewers to take.
4. Retarget Website Visitors
Upload your website visitor lists to LinkedIn Campaign Manager so you can retarget them with ads and content. Retargeting generates higher engagement and conversion rates.
5. Integrate LinkedIn with Your Website and CRM
Using the LinkedIn Insight Tag and integrations with systems like Marketo and HubSpot allows you to track the full conversion path – from initial LinkedIn content view to eventual purchase. This helps you identify the highest converting content and campaigns.
6. Continually Test and Optimize
Leverage A/B testing for content formats, calls-to-action, ad targeting, etc. to determine what resonates most with your audience. Testing allows you to refine your approach and improve conversion rates over time.
7. Analyze Performance and Learn
Use LinkedIn’s analytics to assess performance across all campaigns and content. Identify trends in your top converting pieces to inform future content creation and promotion. Continual optimization is key to driving more conversions from LinkedIn consistently.
Measuring ROI from LinkedIn Conversions
Tracking LinkedIn conversions provides real business impact when you can attribute revenue value to those conversions. Some ways to measure the return on investment (ROI) from LinkedIn include:
- Assigning a dollar value to each conversion type based on metrics like average deal size or lifetime customer value.
- Looking at the increase in sales pipeline and closed revenue influenced by LinkedIn.
- Tying revenue back to UTM-tagged LinkedIn campaigns using a multi-channel attribution model.
- Assessing the impact of your overall LinkedIn presence and activity on key business KPIs like market share, brand awareness, lead volume, and customer satisfaction over time.
By quantifying the revenue generated from prospects acquired through LinkedIn, you can accurately calculate your LinkedIn marketing ROI and optimize budget and resources accordingly.
Conclusion
LinkedIn is a dynamic platform that enables B2B marketers to generate various types of high-quality conversions across the funnel. But to capitalize on LinkedIn’s potential, you need a concerted strategy encompassing personalized content, sponsored campaigns, and conversion tracking.
With the right approach, you can drive significant conversions and pipeline growth through LinkedIn. The key is testing continuously, analyzing performance, and optimizing your LinkedIn activities to maximize engagement, conversion, and ROI over time.
