What is contact targeting on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn contact targeting allows you to reach specific people in your target audience by targeting their LinkedIn profiles. This targeting option enables you to serve ads to specific LinkedIn members based on their profile information, such as job title, employer, skills, location, and more.

How does LinkedIn contact targeting work?

With LinkedIn contact targeting, you create a target audience by searching for specific LinkedIn members that match your ideal customer profile. For example, you could target “software engineers at Microsoft” or “HR managers at Fortune 500 companies in New York”.

You can search for contacts on LinkedIn based on:

• Job title
• Job function
• Company
• Industry
• Seniority
• Location
• Skills
• School

Once you build your target audience, LinkedIn will serve your ads to those specific members when they are actively using LinkedIn. This allows you to reach your ideal customers with precision targeting.

What are the benefits of LinkedIn contact targeting?

Here are some of the key benefits of using LinkedIn contact targeting:

• Precision targeting – You can zero in on your ideal customers based on their LinkedIn profile data.
• Improved relevance – Serving ads directly to your target audience increases relevance and engagement.
• Increased conversion rates – Targeting the right audiences drives higher quality leads and conversions.
• Brand awareness – You can get your brand in front of decision makers and influencers.
• Competitive advantage – Contact targeting gives you an edge over competitors with broader targeting.

What types of campaigns can use LinkedIn contact targeting?

Here are some of the campaign objectives where LinkedIn contact targeting can be highly effective:

• Lead generation – Target leads by job title, function, industry, and more.
• Event promotion – Reach attendees by employer and location.
• Account-based marketing – Target employees at specific companies.
• Content promotion – Get your content in front of relevant audiences.
• Recruitment – Target passive job seekers based on their skills and experience.

Essentially, any campaign where you want to serve ads to specific groups of professionals can benefit from contact targeting.

How to create a LinkedIn contact targeting campaign

Here are the steps to set up a LinkedIn contact targeting campaign:

1. Access the LinkedIn Campaign Manager
2. Click Create Campaign and select your objective
3. Name your campaign and set the run dates
4. Under Audience, select Contact Targeting
5. Use the search tools to build your target audience based on profiles
6. Tailor your ad creative and landing page for the audience
7. Set your bid strategy and daily budget
8. Launch your campaign
9. Track performance and optimize as needed

It’s important to continuously refine your target audience and creative based on performance data. Test different targeting approaches and ad variations to see what resonates best.

Tips for successful LinkedIn contact targeting

Here are some best practices to get the most out of LinkedIn contact targeting:

• Leverage LinkedIn’s depth of profile data – Tap into job titles, skills, company details and more.
• Focus on quality over quantity – A tightly targeted, relevant audience drives better results.
• Personalize your messaging – Tailor your ads and landing pages to your audience.
• Test different segments – See which job levels, titles and companies perform best.
• Refine constantly – Eliminate underperforming targets and expand high-converting ones.
• Promote gated content – Offer exclusive resources in exchange for contact info.
• Follow up with high-value contacts – Continue nurturing promising leads.
• Measure ROI – Track campaign impact on pipeline and revenue.

What are some limitations of LinkedIn contact targeting?

While contact targeting is powerful, there are a few limitations to be aware of:

• Audience size – You may only be able to target a few hundred or thousand contacts for a highly niche audience.
• Profile accuracy – Some profile data may be outdated or incomplete.
• Relevance – Some in your target audience may not be in-market for your offering.
• Engagement – Members may ignore ads if they are not actively looking for your product/service.
• Frequency – You may reach the same contacts repeatedly as your campaign runs.
• Budget – Contact targeting campaigns can require higher budgets to achieve scale.
• Conversion tracking – It may be difficult to directly attribute conversions from contact targeting.

These limitations can be mitigated by targeting enough contacts, personalizing messaging, optimizing creative, and tracking ROI through your full sales funnel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I target contacts from my CRM database?

Yes, you can target website visitors, CRM contacts, or LinkedIn Matched Audiences using contact targeting. Simply upload your external contact lists and target those specific individuals.

What’s the minimum audience size for contact targeting?

The minimum audience size is 100 contacts. Audiences under 100 will not be eligible to run as a LinkedIn campaign.

Can I combine contact targeting with other targeting methods?

Absolutely. You may want to layer contact targeting on top of broader audience targeting based on demographics, interests, company attributes, and more. This allows you to zero in on the most relevant targets within a larger audience.

Is contact targeting effective for B2B or B2C marketing?

Contact targeting works very well for B2B marketing given the rich professional profile data on LinkedIn. For B2C, it can still be effective if targeting based on job titles, employers, skills, and other professional criteria relevant to consumer marketing.

What privacy regulations apply to contact targeting?

As with all advertising, privacy laws like the GDPR apply when contact targeting in specific regions. Ensure you have proper consent, disclosures, and allow users to opt out as required.

Conclusion

Contact targeting on LinkedIn enables precise targeting of your ideal customers based on their LinkedIn profile data. By zeroing in on specific individuals with relevant messaging, you can drive higher quality leads and increased conversions from your LinkedIn campaigns. However, contact targeting requires a thoughtful approach to build the right audience, create personalized creative, and analyze performance data to optimize results. Used strategically as part of a larger LinkedIn strategy, contact targeting can provide a powerful competitive edge for your business.