Many of my business colleagues use LinkedIn which is a great way to recruit staff, connect with colleagues and build online business relationships. I’m often asked about advertising on LinkedIn. LinkedIn advertising provides an opportunity to reach out to the business audience. However, LinkedIn advertising can also be used for business to consumer, not for profits organisations and educational institutions. If you are considering a LinkedIn advertising campaign, I have developed two blogs which provide valuable information to help you advertise on LinkedIn. This the first one explains the different advert categories and formats. Then the second blog outlines how to actually create adverts on LinkedIn.
Advert Objectives
The first thing to consider is what is the objective of your ad campaign. Having a clear objective will establish the results you wish to achieve, whether it is clicks or website traffic or lead generation. This helps you to choose one of the three advert categories LinkedIn offers which are coordinated with marketing funnel.
Awareness adverts
These adverts focus on generating awareness and are focused around impressions (how often the advert is seen rather than click.) So, if your objective is to generate or expand your business’s brand awareness then you should choose awareness ads.
Consideration adverts
This category is about the consideration stage of marketing funnel and is focused around getting you audience to interact and engage with your brand. The objectives include website visits where you pay for each click through to your website or engagement where you can pay for each engagement such as page follow. Finally, video views where you can pay for each video view on your video platform.
Conversion adverts
These types of adverts concentrate on the completion of specific actions and you can pay per action or conversion. The alternatives under the conversion category include
- Website conversions: downloading online resources, purchases or collecting onsite leads
- Lead generation: Offers users an online form which is auto filled with their information allowing the user to easily make an enquiry
- Job applications: When you are looking to increase the amount of people applying for a job role on LinkedIn
Types of Linked in Adverts
There are four different Linked advert categories
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Sponsored content
This appears in your feed and looks like normal posts though includes the word sponsored. They have good visibility and build engagement. Sponsored content uses the following advert formats: single image adverts, carrousel adverts (multiple images). Video adverts and event adverts to promote a particular event such as a conference, seminar or exhibition.
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Sponsored messaging adverts:
These adverts display as sponsored messages in LinkedIn members inbox. The message includes the word sponsored and always have a call-to-action button. The receiver of the message has to open it to mark as it read but it still stays in their inbox. These are very effective, have good open and success rates.
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Conversation adverts
Conversion adverts allow you to guide the user to a specific action to find out more information or about a book an event by including options in the message. For example, learn more which drives traffic to your website. You usually pay for each click on your advert.
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Text adverts
Text adverts display on the right-hand sidebar of the Linked In platform and stay there while users are active on LinkedIn. They include a logo, concise text and clickable CTA. Whilst not as visible as some of the other adverts they are less expensive but still get results.
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Dynamic adverts
These ads appear in the right-hand side bar like text but have two main differences. They include the user’s name and image as well as your logo and appear on their own rather than with either advert. Ideal for recruitment. The format used for these adverts are spotlight adverts.
Adverts formats
We have discussed the objectives and the different types of adverts and some of the advert formats. In addition to the formats included above Linked also offers:
- Lead gen ads look similar to sponsored posts however they include a CTA that takes the user to an online form.
- Follower adverts These adverts are for attracting followers to your profile or page.
What is the cost the of LinkedIn adverts?
The cost of a Linked advert depends on the type of advert you place, how many other companies are competing with for your target audience and the current market place. This is similar to the bidding system of other Pay per click platforms such as Google ads. To keep control of the costs and your budget you can establish bid limits on a particular action or a set amount on spend for each click though. Be aware if your competitor is bidding more than your advert might not be placed.
In conclusion
This blog has focused on objectives and advert formats for LinkedIn advertising which I hope you find helpful. In the next blog I will cover how to create LinkedIn leads ads. If you have any questions on this or any other marketing activity. Please get in touch either call me on 07753941231, email or complete my online form
