LinkedIn advertising is estimated to take over the marketing world this year. It’s becoming one of the top ad platforms where promotions for goods and services can be seen! Nowadays, almost everyone in the professional world has a LinkedIn account– over 575 MILLION users are on LinkedIn, as of July 2019. That are a lot of opportunities to get your ads in front of some smart, hardworking people who want to connect with others.
It’s also estimated that 40% of LinkedIn’s monthly users check their LinkedIn daily. Aside from Facebook and Instagram, LinkedIn is one of the largest social networking websites in the world. But it’s filled with only professionals looking to grow or find the right business. *winky face*
What Ads Can Be Run on LinkedIn?
There are different types of LinkedIn Ads. We’re not going to go super in-detail on each type, because they’re pretty self-explanatory. Plus (thankfully) LinkedIn advertising campaign manager is fairly straight-forward to set up and run. How you want to target your ads is an important factor to distinguish first. After that, you can decide what ad formats work best for your goals.
Sponsored Content
Sponsored content ads are posts that look like regular LinkedIn content that has been boosted. This is the type of ad that will say “Sponsored” in the top corner in small font. It’s been boosted to reach a larger target audience directly from a company’s feed. These types of posts are similar to Facebook Photo ads– they include a picture, Headline, link, and relevant ad copy. There are other types of ads you can sponsor, such as videos, carouse ads, or links to a landing page with the intention of direct lead generation.
LinkedIn Sponsored InMail
If you’re a LinkedIn user, you’ve likely seen these types of ads in your Messages. These ads are sent directly to users’ inboxes, and they’re often not cheap. Most messages contain a direct invite to an offer, strategy call, investment, or special event.
Text Ads
Most text ads on LinkedIn operate on a pay-per-click (PPC or CPC) function. These ads get featured on the sidebar of websites. Each time a viewer clicks the ad, it’s charged for within the backend of the campaign. Text ads are solely text and a headline.
Dynamic Display Ads
Dynamic ads help build your brand awareness and grow your audience and following. You can customize ads to specific Businesses. LinkedIn is good if you want to focus on B2B (Business to Business) marketing! Dynamic ads are also the ones where companies can promote job listings, free downloads, or share posts from their website.
Benefits of LinkedIn Advertising
As mentioned previously, one of the biggest benefits of LinkedIn Advertising is the ability to target your main area of focus. For example, if you want to target the U.S. healthcare industry, you’re able to do that no problem. If you want to focus on local musicians, that’s not a problem either.
Anything from finding the best hire in your area to collaborating with the largest industry in your field, LinkedIn lets you customize what your ads can bring you when you’re looking for a promising ROI (Return of Investment).
The algorithm on LinkedIn is known for being far simpler than Facebook’s. However, this means you don’t want to dump a bunch of money into LinkedIn. Disperse your marketing budget across multiple platforms for the best results.
Any Setbacks of LinkedIn Ads?
The main setback is that LinkedIn ads can be pricey. Like anything with marketing, it’s a big investment that’s often worth it over time, when done right! But if you’re expecting LinkedIn ads to pale in comparison to Facebook ad pricing, be prepared– they can be more expensive than Facebook. Know your budget beforehand and adjust your campaign accordingly.
Now That Your Ads Are Up, How Do You Generate Leads?
This is the part where you let the ads do their thing. It’s still up to you to capture the leads and turn them into clients and sales!
Your best bet is to have (or set up) an awesome landing page. One of the most helpful and popular ways entrepreneurs and businesses get traffic to their landing page is through something called “FREEBIES”! A freebie is something you give away for free as a little snipper or sample of your goods or services.
With a freebie, you can ask someone to enter their email so you can give away your freebie. Then they’re added to your email list. Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective and genius ways to form relationships with potential clients.
Another way to get good leads from LinkedIn Ads is by its own Lead Gen Forms. These are forms someone interested in your ad sees and responds to with automatically populated fields within the form. It’s a good way to keep track of how traffic rungs to your ads while obtaining useful info from future buyers.
Need some advice on LinkedIn marketing? Reach out and pick our brains first– we’d love to give any insight your business might be looking for!