LinkedIn is constantly changing. It’s much more than just a place to look for jobs. It’s become a community for people of all industries and job titles to collaborate, network, and more importantly, learn. It’s also a great paid advertising platform to consider when trying put your company in front of the decision makers at your ideal customer or client.
Can my business advertise on LinkedIn?
Yes. Whether you manufacture a tiny part that goes into an airplane, or you own an ice cream shop, you can advertise on LinkedIn. Would I advertise on LinkedIn if I owned an ice cream shop? No. Would I advertise on LinkedIn if I owned an ice cream brand that was trying to get in every grocery store east of the Mississippi? Yes.
LinkedIn is a great place for B2B professionals, so, naturally, it’s a great place for B2B advertising. Decision makers are often very busy and notoriously hard to reach. However, a lot of executives like to hang out on LinkedIn. If you have educational content that executives find incredibly valuable they will be more likely to engage with your company.
How do LinkedIn Ads work?
The two easiest leads to close are referrals and warm leads that are ready to start a conversation. LinkedIn can help you with both to:
- Increase awareness
- Increase conversions
- Promote your brand, core values and educational content
- Target your buyer personas
One of the biggest advantages to LinkedIn advertising is it allows you to target people meeting certain criteria. One criteria LinkedIn does better than Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or even Google AdWords, is it allows you to target individuals based on specific job titles. However, the one kicker is, it’s the most expensive of the social media advertising platforms.
For example, if you know your buyer persona typically holds the title of purchasing director, or COO, you can target those titles specifically. You can get even further down the rabbit hole by adding locations, ages, etc.
LinkedIn Advertising Works
There are so many benefits to LinkedIn advertising that make it an attractive option if you have room in your monthly advertising budget. For example, say you’re the director of marketing for a glass window manufacturer.
As the director of marketing, you’re tasked with generating leads for your sales team. And I mean not just any old lead, but qualified leads. How do you do that? You figure out who your persona is, map their journey, and finally, develop education content that resonates with that persona in each stage of their journey.
In order for this strategy to be effective you must have valuable content to promote, such as an eBook, a checklist, a free consultation, etc. Next, you need great creative (preferably, video, because who reads these days?) After you have your creative, you develop the campaign. You need to know how much you can spend, who you’re going to target, and the action you want them to take. Here’s an ideal example scenario:
- Buyer persona is defined
- Buyer’s journey is defined
- Content is created
- Content is promoted
- Persona clicks on the video, feels compelled to learn more
- Persona gives contact information of a landing page to receive the eBook, checklist, etc.
- Based on action, the persona is entered into a workflow to be nurtured along the buyer’s journey
- Marketing team hands off to sales team once the persona reaches the decision stage
- Sales team closes the deal
- Persona is a now a happy, fulfilled, repeat, referring customer
Sure, it sounds easy. However, you get out what you put in. If you’re skipping steps, your campaign will suffer. Paid social is a great option for many industries. And in most cases, the ROI can be astronomical. Don’t waste your money. Develop a solid strategy first,and then execute.
Your first campaign will be the toughest, but know that LinkedIn provides a wealth of statistics in their campaign manager. Monitor the campaign closely, making adjustments as you learn more about what content is resonating with your best buyers.
Not sure where to start? Give us a call…
ProFromGo loves helping clients increase their digital footprint. Whether you need a new website, a new marketing strategy, or a little bit of everything, we’re always happy to help!
