Are you using LinkedIn for your B2B marketing? Of all of the social media platforms, this may be one of the most powerful tools you have to connect with and sell to other businesses. According to LinkedIn.com’s Jerome Knyszewski, 80% of the B2B leads generated through social media come from LinkedIn. It’s also notable that over 77% of marketers plan to increase how much advertising they are doing on the platform.
It’s Powerful, But How Do You Use It?
There’s no doubt that the LinkedIn platform is more complex and multi-layered than most other social media sites, but what is the best way to invest time into it to create a strong network of leads? Sofia at Retargeted pinpoints what makes LinkedIn your go-to solution:
“LinkedIn boasts the highest concentration of educated professionals on social media, all of whom self-specify personal information such as industry, position title, educational background, and geographical information to get the most out of their experience on the site. The abundance of professional, categorizable information creates many options for detailed targeting and makes it easy for advertisers to build relationships with target prospects.”
What does that mean to you? LinkedIn is full of people who are in your industry, want to connect with you, are already educated about what you have to offer or do for them, and they are more than willing to listen.
What are the two different kinds of LinkedIn ads?
LinkedIn direct marketing response ad formats are a bit more expensive compared to other social media sites. However, if you use the targeting options available to you (more on that later) you’ll see better results. More so, you’ll also want to target micro-campaigns. These reach about 1,000 people, but they are more likely to convert.
To get started with ads on LinkedIn, you’ll need to go to the LinkedIn Ads page. These targeted ads allow you to create your own budget, pay by clicks or impressions, and allows you to remain very in-control. These ads include:
Sponsored Content: Your content is displayed in front of a larger group of people than your following.
Sponsored In Mail: This type of ad reaches LinkedIn Inboxes of those most likely to interact with your business. You can target these ads for different groups.
Dynamic Ads: Created based on the actions of platform users, these ads create personalized displays that attract users.
Display Ads: Meant to build brand awareness and keep people thinking about your business, display ads run a desktop display campaigns.
Text Ads: This is the least expensive, and most self-created option. These are simple text ads that appear on the site.
The second type of effective ad on LinkedIn is the indirect ad. That is, it’s content. Developing news and articles, and using the website to connect to others really does put you in front of a lot of people who are likely to be (or become) your customers. Content on this site is more like a blog. You’ll create visually interesting content to use on your profile, generating interest from groups and individuals who follow you.
How to Find Your Audience on LinkedIn
First, remember this is a B2B market for the most part. Here’s some things you’ll want to keep in mind as you create an audience:
- Who is your ideal customer?
- Who do you want to engage with on the site?
- What industry and type of business is your buyer in?
- What level of authority does your buyer need to have?
- What things set your potential buyers apart from non-buyers? What traits can you exclude?
LinkedIn’s targeting tools are a good place to start. After creating your ad page, you can begin to formulate a campaign that fits your unique needs. Really, the process is very simple. Plug in the needs you have and you can create a highly targeted campaign.
AJ Wilcox of Ad stage says this about targeting:
“As the Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising industry goes, LinkedIn Ads is the angsty teenager – it’s immature and difficult to work with at times, but the targeting is hands-down the best for reaching business-facing customers, and it exposes your ads to the most qualified traffic from any source. In short, it’s a gold mine if you can figure it out.”
- Best Practices for Images and Copy on LinkedIn
- What is going to help you do well on LinkedIn? Here are a few key tips to help:
- Set up a Sponsored Ad. You’ll have 600 characters to use and room for an image.
- For those promoting direct sponsored content, you only really have 160 characters. More than that will not show up on the company page for your business.
- For the best results, target your ads based on job function, job title, or education.
- For Text Ads, add an image that’s no larger than 50 by 50. Then, add a 25-character headline and another 75 characters for content that describes your ad.
No using overly sales words like “Free.” It will just get pulled down. You can create 15 variations of each text ad.
Your content needs to really showcase what you have to say. That is, why is this piece different than all the others on the site?
Source: Nuvi
