These days it seems like everyone is advertising on Facebook and Google. However, there is one often-overlooked platform that is finally getting the recognition it deserves.
That's right, folks. Let's talk about LinkedIn Advertising.
With over 310 million monthly users, LinkedIn ads have the potential to engage and market to customers around the world. So why isn't LinkedIn flooded with advertisers like Facebook and Google?
Frankly, not all businesses are a good fit for LinkedIn Ads. I've found that B2Bs tend to do well on LinkedIn, as well as companies with career advancement services and large amounts of professionally trained adults. When you think about the makeup of your own personal LinkedIn feed, this makes complete sense. Most of us would rather see advertisements for a training seminar or degree program in between professional updates than a recommendation for the newest gadgets. (I'm looking at you Amazon.)
If your business is focused on B2B sales, then keep reading because this article is for you!
LinkedIn Ad Types
To get started, we need to understand what LinkedIn offers us in terms of advertising options. There are 5 main types of ads that we can serve:
- Sponsored Content
- These are very similar to boosted or sponsored posts on Facebook. You can choose your audience and it'll show up in their feed with a small label under the title line.
- Text & Display
- Text and display ads function similarly to a Google PPC ad, except that each ad gets an image. They can appear almost everywhere but in newsfeeds.
- Premium Display
- These ads display on either LinkedIn's side or horizontal banners on the newsfeed.
- InMail Ads
- These unique ads look like emails and allow you to fully personalize your message to targeted users.
- Dynamic Ads
- Dynamic ads appear on the right side of the newsfeed and can target a specific audience. There are four different formats:
- Follower ads - Used to expand overall reach
- Spotlight ads - Best place for business expert promotion
- Job ads - Increases the applicant pool for your job posting
- Content ads - Used for lead generation
- Spotlight ads - Best place for business expert promotion
This wide variety of formats makes it easier to reduce ad fatigue and reach users in unique ways. Especially when combined with LinkedIn's robust targeting options.
What makes LinkedIn different than Facebook or Google?
LinkedIn is used exclusively by professionals looking to connect with other professionals. This creates a sort of baseline targeting for all advertisements on the site that Facebook and Google won't allow.
However, the best feature of LinkedIn Ads by far are the targeting attributes for campaign audiences. You can narrow your audience down by:
- Company Industry
- Company Size
- Company Name
- Job Title
- Job Seniority
- Job Function
- Fields of Study
- Groups
- Gender
- Skills
- Degrees
- Years’ Experience
- Age
In my opinion, this is LinkedIn's most powerful tool for advertisers. By allowing us to target EXACTLY the right buyer persona, the potential ROI is greatly increased. No more wasted spend on irrelevant users! In some cases, B2Bs saw a 69% decrease in lead generation costs and 2x increase in conversions when using LinkedIn Sponsored content.
Your mileage will vary based on your customer's journey and advertising content so plan for some trial and error before getting it right.
Best Practices
Once you've chosen your ad type, researched your customers, and built your ad, you'll be ready to get going on LinkedIn Ads! We've compiled a few tips and best practices for you to use over the life of your campaign:
- Target by more than just job or occupation. Use other attributes and interests to get better results.
- Bid low and slow then gradually increase to get better performance.
- Don't be afraid to use lead generation forms to get more leads.
- Invest in high-quality graphics and content writing. Each impression counts.
While not every business is right for LinkedIn Ads, it is a powerful platform for reaching new professional customer bases. When used correctly, LinkedIn Ads typically yield high-quality leads with a better ROI than Facebook or Google. As a plus, the intuitively designed platform and recommended targeting options that LinkedIn provides make getting started a breeze for seasoned marketers.
"But Eri, what if I'm not a seasoned marketing professional?"
No worries, the JH team can walk you through the advertising process and help you determine if LinkedIn Ads are right for your business. Plus, if you catch us on a Friday afternoon, we'll even throw in a cold beer. Everyone wins here!
A Note About Dark Mode
Drum roll, please.... LinkedIn dark mode is finally being rolled out to users! This new display setting gives members the option to browse their feed with white text on a dark background. Dark mode supposedly cuts down on eye strain and might also help preserve battery life on mobile devices. Sounds great right? There is one small catch.
Just like your favorite black sweater and lint, dark mode makes improperly sized designs and images glaringly apparent. This means updates are needed to profile, cover, and post graphics to make sure there are no annoying white edges on your favorite images.
As you can see in the MOCE profile image above, the white filler background that normally wouldn’t be noticeable is obvious in dark mode.
While this certainly isn't the end of the world, businesses should look over their accounts in dark mode to ensure proper sizing on all images going forward.
No design team? JH Specialty can help optimize your LinkedIn page for dark mode. Just give us a shout!
