Have you been wondering how you can attract more leads and prospects by using social media platforms? Or maybe you’re looking to raise awareness around your new product? Well, LinkedIn advertising might be the perfect solution for you! It’s a goldmine for generating leads, promoting thought leadership content and driving traffic to company websites.
Why LinkedIn Advertising is awesome for brands
LinkedIn is a valuable tool to network with like-minded professionals. Currently there are more than 700 million active users on the platform. Therefore, it is one of the top social media platforms, with specific business focus. This makes LinkedIn very effective for B2B marketers. On top of that, it was named the number one rated platform for B2B lead generation. Studies from LinkedIn have shown that when advertising on LinkedIn, brands see a 2-3x lift in brand attributes. In addition, they saw a 33% increase in purchase intent.
According to Hubspot, who ran LinkedIn Ads for a year, these ads had a conversion rate of 6,1% from U.S. customers which is a very impressive number! In comparison, their ads on Google – had a conversion rate of only 2,58%. In their study, they also found that CPCs are higher on LinkedIn ($5.74 per click to AdWords with $3.35), but their cost-per-lead was about $90 on LinkedIn Ads and $125 on AdWords!
Why click-through rate is crucial
The click-through rate (CTR) is low when users aren’t clicking on your ads. On average, a good CTR is 0.030% or greater. The lower your CTR, the least times LinkedIn will show your ad. As a result, you’ll end up with fewer conversions and a much higher cost-per-lead. Therefore focus on three things: great targeting, relevant and interesting content. Base your targeting on your buyer persona and aim for an audience between 50K and 500K.
Types of LinkedIn ads
Do you want to target job seekers, contractors, influencers, executives or others? Knowing who you want to target will help you determine what type of ad you should use. LinkedIn provides several types that each have their own benefits and approaches.
First of all, let’s have a quick look at the self-service ads. As the name implies, you can start immediately and on your own. You’re able to target your audience, schedule your campaigns and find out who’s clicking your ads.
Sponsored content 
If you want to promote content that is already existing on your Company Page, you can choose to share your posts with a targeted audience. These ads will appear on the home page-feed and increase awareness for your brand, attract users to click and will get you more impressions. Because of that, this type of ad naturally leads to more engagement.
LinkedIn text ads
The text ad is similar to Google search ads. Create a killer headline, description, and image to grab the attention of busy professional browsing through the LinkedIn newsfeed. They are easy to create, manage and optimize. As a result, you can drive the right traffic to you in a matter of minutes.
Sponsored Messaging
By using sponsored messaging, you’re able to deliver personalized one-on-one messages to users’ LinkedIn inboxes. When talking to users directly and in a personal way, they develop trust which results in a higher chance of them clicking and buying. These unique messages consist of a custom greeting, automated calls-to-action button, body text and the option to add a link.
Video Ads
It’s quite obvious, isn’t it? Using sight, sound, and motion to tell more interesting and compelling stories on your LinkedIn feed. Video has skyrocketed for consumer brands and business-to-business is quickly catching up. In conclusion, it’s time to jump on this train with LinkedIn as the perfect B2B-platform!
Dynamic Ads 
Do you want to deliver personalized messages and build relationships with influential people? By using Dynamic Ads, you can drive more traffic to a landing- or Company page. Members are able to send you their name and email address from this ad without typing a thing. Your content will automatically download to their desktop. But LinkedIn only serves two visual ads on a page a time.
Carousel Ads
Get your brand to stand out by using a new way to tell your story and interact with your target audience. This type of ad allows you to add multiple visuals that people can horizontally swipe through.
Display Ads
You can also buy ads and target a very specific audience. This is great if you want to use a variety of media such as text, audio, video, and images. Furthermore, Display Ads are an excellent way to be seen in a highly-specified audience, early in the buying cycle.
Do you prefer the help of an expert? Find and work with a LinkedIn partner. This type of advertising is called LinkedIn Marketing Partner Ads. Each partner is able to offer you different tools such as ad technology and content creation. You get the help of experts instead of starting from scratch, you can scale your ad campaigns and you’re able to gain deep insights.
Want to become an expert yourself? Here are some tips & tricks when advertising on LinkedIn:
Tips & tricks for LinkedIn advertising
#1 Write from the reader’s perspective and personalize your content
The messaging you use in ads should focus on the target’s problem and the solution that you offer to meet their need(s). They will only care if your content helps them solve a business problem. So remember to always create content that speaks directly to your audience. We advise you to use roughly 100 characters to avoid truncation. Make sure the content is worth it!
#2 Target your audience
LinkedIn offers a whole range of targeting options you can choose from. It’s recommended to target specifically and to test different types of targeting within your campaigns. You can target for example by group, then the title and the other way around. Overall, experiment to find the best mix for your audience.
#3 Use relevant images
LinkedIn offers a lot of stock imagery but using your own unique and creative images is always a lot more compelling. Because it supports your content, the right image could nearly double the CTR. In addition, update your messaging and imagery frequently for the simple reason that your target audience will be more attracted to variations.
#4 Test frequently
It doesn’t matter which products you’re using, your campaign size or your budget. Use variations of your ads by running multiple variations of headlines, creative, calls to action, visuals, etc. and see what works best for you.
#5 Budget and bid wisely
Your daily budget should depend on your audience and the bids that LinkedIn recommends. If you choose to apply the lowest bid, it’s likely to reduce the number of impressions of your campaign. When you notice your activity is low then this normally means your bids are too low as well.
Now you’re totally ready to create, run and optimize your own ads on LinkedIn. Feel free to reach out to our team of digital marketing experts if you have any questions!
