By Jennifer Pauli
Most people are assured that LinkedIn is a platform for resumes only. While being a really good website to help employers and employees find each other, this resource also provides amazing marketing opportunities. As a B2B marketer, I have discovered for myself this side of LinkedIn recently.
The trick is that this platform gathers the professionally-focused community, which makes your messages highly targeted. What is more, it provides marketers with an opportunity to build a solid strategy, focusing on demographics such as particular groups of experts and jobs. LinkedIn is suitable for those who have business interests, which makes it more efficient than Facebook, that considers lifestyle.
There are some basics and nuances that I have learned from my own experience and now I would like to share them with you.
Making the most of your LinkedIn ad campaign
Focus on the narrow audience
It’s important to spread your message to a specific audience. First, choose a targeting option. Let’s say, you want to communicate with a specific group, job or industry. Make sure that you make a research first. Visit a number of pages that belong to people, who are in your targeted group, and check what content they are sharing. Maybe, there are some top stories or news they are discussing. Knowing the trends, you will adjust your own message to meet their interests.
Texts and pictures really matter
One thing I have realized for sure is that you won’t get clicks if your message doesn’t look attractive. This rule seems to work for every platform, whether it focuses on your vital, educational, or professional interests. People will only check your message if the overall look motivates them to do so. Therefore, unique images and engaging texts really work.
Advertising messages at LinkedIn are limited to 75 characters for a description and 25 for a title. So be sure that you put every word with a purpose. You can locate a link to your personal site there and promote it in targeted groups. This will direct users, who might be really interested in your offers, right to your service. Don’t forget that marketing messages cannot do without a clear CTA, so include “sign up” or “download” boldly.
Talking about images, they are really important when you do a PPC ad. Pictures are stronger attractors than the words, so make sure to upload a relevant one to your message.
And one more thing. If you are new to LinkedIn advertising, make sure to read the rules and conditions before you start. Some types of content and strategies are not allowed there.
Plan your budget
Every advertiser has a personal budget, which is an adjustable amount of money he or she wants to pay for ads every day. The prices for different periods vary: 50% for the morning, 25% for the day, and 25% for the night. As you have already guessed, the most popular time is the most expensive one.
When I just started my campaign, the number of clicks was pretty low and didn’t grow for a while. I have checked everything from the ground up before realizing that my daily budget was too small. Track and compare daily and weekly spends to be aware of these sums and make sure to increase your budget if they are too close to each other.
Experiment with your campaigns
There is a smart offer LinkedIn has for marketers. You can create 3-15 advertising messages for a campaign, trying different titles, pictures, CTAs, etc. This way, you can test different variations of your ad and LinkedIn will automatically show the most successful ones more often. This way, you will see which ads are better than the others and remove or edit those that don’t bring you clicks.
Pay attention to “auctions”
There is a bidding option on LinkedIn that activates every time a would-be customer views a page. You and other advertisers can bid for ads. The one who places a higher bid, receives more chances to get his message seen by a visitor. If you ignore this feature, your posts will lose valuable views and clicks.
Track the efficiency
Every marketer wants to know whether his ad is efficient or not. First, you need to make sure that you have a full picture of your business aims and then think about your LinkedIn aims. Consider these two crucial positions when measuring effectiveness.
Start with reviewing your CTR. Indeed, good ads have higher CTR than weak ones. Track this exponent regularly and adjust your ad if you notice a reduction. For example, you can refresh the text, change an image, or narrow the audience.
Next, measure the conversion rate. If your ad has a high CTR but the conversion is low, then something must be wrong with it. In most cases, this is something that happens when a nice ad leads to a weak landing page.
Whether you own a writing company, online shop, or any other service, creating a professional LinkedIn advertising campaign can bring significant benefits to your business. The reason is that this platform is audience-focused and provides advanced tools for marketing. So if you don’t have a marketing account yet, it is high time to get one.
Jennifer Pauli graduated from Corvinus School of Management and finished the faculty of Journalism at Corvinus University of Budapest. Currently, He is an editor, business writer, and copywriter, working with different well-known companies, blogs, and personalities. Follow her on Twitter, G+ and read the personal blog
LinkedIn stock photo by Ink Drop/Shutterstock
