LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking platform with over 722 million members worldwide as of 2022. With its huge user base of working professionals and ability to target users by job title, industry, skills, and more, LinkedIn advertising can be a powerful tool for businesses looking to reach a specific target audience – especially B2B companies.
But like any platform, LinkedIn ads aren’t necessarily right for every business or campaign. The key is knowing when LinkedIn is the most effective place to allocate your advertising budget versus other platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or Google.
Here are some of the main factors to consider when determining if LinkedIn ads are right for your goals:
Your target audience and their behavior on LinkedIn
The most basic consideration is whether your target audience is actively using LinkedIn. While many professionals have LinkedIn profiles, not everyone checks their feed or engages with content on a daily basis.
You’ll want to assess if your targets are frequent and active LinkedIn users who will be likely to see and respond to your ads. Some signs of an engaged audience include:
– Having complete and updated LinkedIn profiles
– Frequently posting updates, articles, and engaging with content
– Connecting with new professional contacts and growing their network
– Joining relevant LinkedIn Groups and participating in discussions
– Following Company Pages related to their industry
If your ideal customers are passive LinkedIn users who rarely log in or engage, other platforms may be better suited for reaching them through advertising.
Your advertising objectives
LinkedIn advertising can be used to accomplish many different goals, but it’s better suited for some over others.
Goals like lead generation, increasing brand awareness, and driving traffic to your website can work very well through LinkedIn ads. The platform makes it easy to collect lead gen forms and target your ads by job role.
Other objectives like promoting an e-commerce product or increasing store/website sales may see better results through platforms like Facebook and Instagram that have more active shopping behaviors.
Consider what you’re trying to achieve overall and whether LinkedIn’s professional audience and targeting capabilities align with that goal.
Your industry and target job functions
While LinkedIn has a presence across every industry vertical, it tends to over-index towards certain professions like:
– Technology
– Finance
– Higher Education
– Healthcare
– Corporate Services (consulting, HR, legal, etc.)
– Business Services / Software
So B2B companies in these industries tend to get exceptionally strong results from LinkedIn ads given the large presence of their target audiences.
Looking at the specific job titles and functions you want to reach is important too. Roles like IT managers, financial analysts, professors, nurses, etc. tend to be very active in sharing and engaging with content on LinkedIn.
Whereas some roles like construction workers, cashiers, taxi drivers have lower representation – making other platforms may be better for reaching them.
Your budget for advertising
LinkedIn advertising does come at a premium cost-per-click (CPC) rate due to the high relevance of its audience. Lower budgets can be stretched further on platforms like Facebook.
But for companies willing to invest more per click, LinkedIn provides outstanding reach within a critical professional audience. Advertisers typically see strong return on ad spend (ROAS) from LinkedIn even with the higher CPCs.
In general, LinkedIn ads work best for companies with sufficient budget to manage CPCs averaging $5-$10+ per click for their target keywords. Those with lower budgets may need to experiment with different targeting approaches or use other platforms first.
Your type of product or offering
LinkedIn advertising works well for promoting:
– B2B software, tools, and services
– Educational programs like online courses or certifications
– Corporate training, consulting, and professional services
– Recruitment solutions and HR tech
– Financial services like insurance or enterprise software
– High-value B2C products like luxury vehicles, executive education, real estate, etc.
The high average income of LinkedIn users ($107,000 for US members) allows premium positioning for higher-consideration purchases.
Whereas lower-priced impulse buy products or discounts/coupon offers may be better suited to Facebook/Instagram ads aimed at the general public.
Your ability to create “professional” content
The types of ad creative and content that resonates most on LinkedIn is different than other social platforms:
– Short-form viral videos or memes have less appeal
– “Professional” messages focused on career/business value perform better
– Informative, thought-leadership style content is welcomed (e.g. advice, how-to tips, slideshares, whitepapers)
So having (or outsourcing) content creation resources to develop polished LinkedIn-friendly ads and content is key to success.
If you’re unsure about developing creative that aligns with the “unwritten rules” of communication style on LinkedIn, it may impact results.
Benefits of Advertising on LinkedIn
Now that we’ve covered some of the factors to weigh when considering LinkedIn ads, what are some of the major benefits this platform offers?
Targeting by Job Title, Company, and Industry
LinkedIn’s #1 advantage is the depth of professional profile data that allows precise targeting beyond basic demographics.
You can target ads by:
– Job title – ex. Marketing Managers
– Job function – ex. Engineering roles
– Company – ex. Employees of Microsoft
– Industry – ex. Healthcare professionals
– Seniority – ex. C-level execs
This level of granularity in targeting makes LinkedIn advertising extremely effective for B2B companies wanting to reach decision-makers and budget holders within their target accounts.
Target by Groups, Skills, and Interests
In addition to job role and company information, you can target users based on:
– LinkedIn Groups – target members of relevant professional groups ex. HR Management Association
– Skills – target by skills listed on members’ profiles ex. Content Marketing
– Interests – target audiences interested in your product or service ex. Cloud Computing
Layering in these additional filters during audience building lets you hone in on the segments most likely to convert.
Retargeting Website Visitors
You can integrate LinkedIn’s pixel with your website to track visitors and then re-target them through remarketing ads. This allows you to continue nurturing prospects who have expressed interest by visiting specific pages on your site like pricing, contact, resources, etc.
Detailed Campaign Reporting
LinkedIn provides excellent transparency into campaign performance and Optimization opportunities through metrics like:
– Clickthrough rates
– Job role of people clicking
– Company sizes clicked
– Top landing pages
Drilling into this data allows you to continuously refine your targeting and creative based on what’s resonating best with your audiences.
Integrates with CRM Platforms
LinkedIn integrates directly with many popular CRM and marketing automation systems like Salesforce, Oracle, HubSpot, and Marketo.
This makes it easy to sync your LinkedIn advertising data with existing platforms to nurture customers through integrated workflows.
Keys to Success with LinkedIn Ads
Here are some best practices to get the most out of advertising on LinkedIn:
Align Ad Objectives with Funnel Stage
The ads you run at the top, middle, and bottom of the funnel should have different objectives based on your targets’ readiness to purchase:
– **Top funnel:** Focus on brand awareness and interest – general product value props and thought leadership
– **Mid funnel:** Drive consideration – how you compare with alternatives, ROI calculators, demos
– **Lower funnel:** Promote trials and conversions – limited-time offers, free trials, contact lead gen forms
Mapping your ads to stage of user readiness will improve targeting and performance at each level.
Target by Job Role Relevance
Targeting by job title is one of LinkedIn’s biggest advantages, but the *relevance* of the role matters just as much.
For example, marketing ads would perform better targeting Marketing Managers vs. Accountants – even though both use LinkedIn. Take care to narrow your focus to roles closely aligned with your offering.
Test Different Ad Formats
The main LinkedIn ad formats are:
– Sponsored Content – attention-grabbing image/text ads
– Text Ads – short text-only ads
– Message Ads – direct messages to your target audience
– Dynamic Ads – highly-targeted ads based on user actions
Try different options and measure performance to see what resonates most with your audience and goals. Dynamic ads tend to convert best.
Adapt Creative Style for LinkedIn
As noted earlier, creative that’s overly promotional or salesy doesn’t work as well on LinkedIn compared to platforms like Facebook.
Focus creative on informative stats, thought leadership, advice and tips, and subtle calls-to-action rather than hard selling.
Expand Your Targeting Over Time
Start with a core group of job titles, companies, or groups directly tied to your offering. Monitor performance and incrementally expand your targeting to similar roles where you’re gaining traction.
Iteratively test, analyze, and optimize to hone in on the segments with highest conversion potential.
Conclusion
While not a fit for every business, LinkedIn advertising can be tremendously effective when aligned with your objectives, industry, budget, and target audience.
The platform provides unique depth in targeting professionals and allows highly focused promotion of B2B offerings.
But to maximize success, it’s essential to:
– Assess if LinkedIn aligns with your goals and target profiles
– AnalyzeCampaign data to optimize targeting and creative
– EmployLlinkedIn-specific best practices tailored to the platform
With the right approach, LinkedIn ads can become an invaluable component of a diversified marketing strategy – extending your reach and conversions within a valuable professional audience.
The decision of whether to invest in LinkedIn advertising depends heavily on your specific situation and objectives. But for many B2B companies and services, LinkedIn represents an unparalleled channel for engaging pivotal decision-makers and driving qualified leads.
Additional Resources
For more help determining if LinkedIn ads are right for your business, some recommended resources include:
– LinkedIn’s Marketing Solutions site – https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions
– LinkedIn’s Learning center – https://learn.linkedin.com/
– Lynda.com courses on LinkedIn advertising – https://www.lynda.com/LinkedIn-training-tutorials/2778-0.html
– Articles on the LinkedIn blog – https://blog.linkedin.com/topics/marketing-solutions
– Posts on the LinkedIn Marketing Solutions Blog -https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/blog
– LinkedIn analytics partners (like BI Science or Oribi) who can analyze your follower data to help inform your strategy