LinkedIn Ads

LinkedIn was launched in 2003 as a professional social media platform and in two decades managed to attract more than 870 million users and more than 55 million companies from 195 countries around the world.

Today, LinkedIn is no longer just a platform for job seekers and employers to connect, but it has also become a very useful and important tool for marketing, especially B2B marketing by becoming the world’s largest professional social network. In simple words, marketing on LinkedIn is an integral part of B2B marketing nowadys.

You might think that platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok have attracted the attention of more audiences and therefore can be more suitable for marketing, but this is a wrong idea, the mentality of users on a platform like Instagram is completely different from LinkedIn.

Marketing on LinkedIn is completely different from other social media platforms, usually, most Instagram audiences are looking for entertaining content, but LinkedIn is a professional platform that people use to develop their businesses, learn from experts and achieve their work goals.

If you’re still hesitant to invest in LinkedIn Ads, remember that many professionals, corporate executives, and business owners are active on LinkedIn, and having a LinkedIn marketing strategy and executing it right will help you a lot on your path to reaching your goals.

In addition to making your brand name known/popular, you can also establish long-term professional relationships with these people.

Also, according to Nielsen research, “ brands whose ads are seen on the LinkedIn platform appear more professional (92%), more intelligent (74%), more quality (59%), and more respectable (59%). So, if you are looking to create a professional, respectable, and smart brand, LinkedIn marketing and LinkedIn advertising are vital issues for you.”

So, what are LinkedIn Ads?

As the name suggests, LinkedIn Ads are paid LinkedIn advertisements that can be adapted for any purpose, depending on their type. Yes exactly, what I mean is that you need to set specific goals for the success of these ads.

So, what are the benefits of these advertisements? How much is their cost? Which ones are good for us? I will answer all these and other questions below.

What are LinkedIn ads best for?

How about I talk a little about the types of these ads before we answer what LinkedIn Ads is better for?

There are features on LinkedIn that make it easy to create advertising campaigns; Therefore, you can use LinkedIn ads to introduce your products, services, or brand without any problems. One of these features is LinkedIn Ads, which has different types:

1- Sponsored content:

One of the most popular methods of advertising on LinkedIn is the use of sponsored content. This type of advertising is in a form that displays advertising content among other content on the home page. In this case, many audiences will see your ads among other posts throughout the time they are browsing LinkedIn.

It is interesting to know that sponsored content can be displayed from the company or showcase pages. For this reason, introducing the company’s products in this way will attract more audience. Also, since your audience usually checks your home page regularly, your sponsored content will get more viewers.

LinkedIn offers you a lot of options in this advertising method! There is no prohibition on using every kind of image, video, website link, and other conventional content. So our suggestion is to prepare attractive content with videos and photos to advertise through sponsored content. You will get a better result using this method.

2- Sponsorship message

The most targeted type of advertising on LinkedIn is the Sponsored InMail. This type of advertising focuses on targeting the audience. But how is this targeting done? LinkedIn can classify its users based on their interests, specialties, and skills using the tools they have. It gives us a strong database, which is the best point to start advertising!

In fact, the sponsored message uses the same databases and sends advertisements related to the same users. For example, if a user is a civil engineering student and is also interested in mapping software, advertisements related to this software will be sent to him.

Sponsorship messages can be the best option for advertising specialized products due to the precise targeting of the audience. In this case, by spending the lowest cost and in the shortest possible time, a successful advertising campaign can be launched.

3- Text Ads

The simplest type of advertising on LinkedIn is using Text Ads. You have probably seen this type of advertisement on other social networks before. Simple design and low cost have made LinkedIn use text ads to introduce products and services much more than other types of LinkedIn Ads.

One of the most important tips for using text ads is to define a landing page. The landing page is the page that the audience will enter by clicking on the text ad. Therefore, this page should introduce the features of the product to the audience in an attractive way.

Although this type of LinkedIn Ads is text-based, images can also be used in them; but, you will not have enough space to write after adding images!

So try to use a unique image or use phrases that are the most searched among users and are part of your keywords.

4- Display advertising

Display ads are also one of the advertising methods that can be seen on other social networks. In this type of advertisement, you can draw users to your page by using attractive images.

The most important thing about display ads is choosing the type of image and also when to do it. Also, experience has shown that promoting products that have a limited audience through display ads is not very effective. So if you think your business is relevant to a large percentage of LinkedIn users, use display ads.

5- Dynamic Ads

The newest type of ad on LinkedIn is dynamic Ads. This type of advertisement is actually the same display advertisement that developed a lot. This evolution has made it possible to generate customized ads so that only certain users can see them. These specific people will be the targeted users.

By using dynamic ads, you can design call-to-action buttons to be more attractive to the audience. In this case, you will have better feedback; because you have both targeted the audience and presented a smart ad.

What is the best use of LinkedIn Ads?

These advertising campaigns can be used for selling goods and services, recruiting, generating leads, raising brand awareness, effective branding, prospecting techniques, etc. As you have seen, LinkedIn Ads has six different options and you can choose which one is best for your business.

Personally, I prefer to directly survey real customers and prospects through a poll to choose the best LinkedIn Ads type for my business.

The socialmediatoday website did the same thing on its LinkedIn page and got interesting results. 42% of participants said that single image ads were the best LinkedIn advertising option for their business or their clients. 32% to video ads, 15% to promoted text posts, and 12% to other forms of advertising.

Why are the results interesting? Because according to LinkedIn’s claim, video ads have the best performance and engagement rate, but in this survey, they ranked videos second.

According to LinkedIn statistics, users share video content 20 times more than other types of content. It also claims that the response and engagement rates in video ads are 2 to 3.5 times higher than in single photo ads.

Of course, these statistics or the survey results of the socialmediatoday website might not be accurate for all the 870 million LinkedIn users. In fact, I believe that every business should choose the best type of LinkedIn Ads according to the taste of its customers and prospects.

If you are a business owner, upload a similar poll every once in a while on LinkedIn and Twitter, since people change their opinion all the time!

But, how should we use LinkedIn Ads?

Now that you are familiar with the methods of advertising on LinkedIn, it is better to launch an advertising campaign. In this part of the article, we will explain how to do this step by step; so keep reading.

Step 1: Creating a company page

To start an advertising campaign, we usually need to have a claimed company page related to our business. When the audience sees the ad, they enter the page and view your content. In this case, if the company page is optimized for better visibility and the LinkedIn profile is updated correctly, more audience will be attracted to your brand. So, before starting advertising on LinkedIn, it is better to pay attention to them.

Step 2: Registration in the campaign

After creating a company page, you must enter the Campaign Manager section and register. In this section, you will see all the options related to advertising on LinkedIn.

Step 3: Choosing the target

By entering the campaign management section, you can specify the purpose of the advertisement. In this case, LinkedIn will help you get a better result.

Step 4: Select the target audience

In this section, you must specify your target audience so that your desired ads are displayed only to those users. This targeting can be based on various factors such as company name, type of industry, or brands.

Also, you can enter the audience that you have targeted from other methods such as email or website visitors in this section. Also the amount of advertisement feedback will also increase.

Step 5: Select the type of advertising on LinkedIn

After choosing the target audience, you must specify the type of advertisement. For this purpose, you can choose different advertisement types that we have reviewed in the previous section. Remember that it is better to choose the type of ad based on your goals and the type of your business. For example, choosing a sponsored message for a specific audience would be an ideal option.

Step 6: determining the amount of the budget

In the end, you need to enter your budget for advertising on LinkedIn. This budget will be different based on the target audience and the type of advertisement. Now, if you want to know about the types of costs in LinkedIn advertising, don’t miss the next subtitle.

How much do ads cost on LinkedIn?

As we have seen, to create a campaign on LinkedIn Ads we need to consider a budget. Therefore, advertising on LinkedIn will cost you more than other social networks. Don’t panic! It costs more to advertise on LinkedIn because of LinkedIn’s professional audience. In fact, even though you will pay more for it, you will attract more qualified users.

Now, you may be wondering how to determine the budget for an advertising campaign on LinkedIn?! In response, it should be mentioned that LinkedIn has considered different methods for budgeting costs, each suitable for some businesses. Therefore, we suggest that you get to know these methods and choose the option that suits you best.

You can use three methods to determine your advertising budget, which are:

1- CPC method: In this method, you have to pay for every click on your ad. Also, have a specific ceiling for the daily budget.

2- CPM method: In this method, the number of clicks is not important, but the number of visits to advertisements matters. So you can budget for every 1000 ad impressions.

3- CPS method: In the CPS method, the number of postings of an advertisement is important. This method is used for advertising in the form of sponsored messages, in which advertising messages are sent to the audience. The higher the number of submissions, the higher the budget.

I must also mention that four factors can affect your LinkedIn Ads cost:

• Target audience
• Bid
• Ad relevance score
• Objective

Some companies that have tried LinkedIn advertising (without having enough expertise on how it works) have concluded that LinkedIn advertising is expensive. Here I want to explain in more detail the costs of advertising on LinkedIn. Note that the key to success in LinkedIn advertising is optimization.

The lowest costs in LinkedIn advertising

• $10 daily fee: per campaign
• Total cost $10: per campaign
• Minimum bid is $2: per CPC or CPM.

What do these prices mean for LinkedIn ads? they mean that you cannot set your daily campaign budget below $10 and you cannot create a campaign with less than this amount. Also, the minimum cost per click (CPC) or cost per 1000 impressions (CPM) is $2.

If we compare LinkedIn advertising with other social networks or the cost of advertising on Google, it may seem expensive. But remember that it is not so important to pay less for each click or ad impression, what matters is that you have a successful campaign that has a good return on investment (ROI) and has a good profit for the cost you pay and to achieve your advertising goals.

Are LinkedIn ads worth it?

So, do LinkedIn Ads worth the money you have to pay for them? I believe they do. Why? As you know, LinkedIn is different from other social networks; one of these differences is the type of users. If you have been active on LinkedIn, you have realized that LinkedIn users do not behave the same as Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, or even Facebook users.

In fact, those who use LinkedIn are professional users in any job or skill. OK! What do you think is best for marketing?! It is the users who determine the success of an advertising campaign. Therefore, professional LinkedIn users are one of the strong points of advertising on LinkedIn.

Another difference between LinkedIn and other social networks is advertising methods. In fact, LinkedIn is designed to be easy and practical to advertise on. In addition, they have a greater effect on the audience, and one of the reasons for this is the methods of targeting the audience in LinkedIn Ads.

Let’s take a look at some of the most impressive benefits of LinkedIn Ads:

Business opportunities:

LinkedIn advertising can help you get access to experts or people who work in a common field with you and are part of your company’s decision-making process. This is a great opportunity to connect with the right target audience.

Connecting with experts and leaders in your industry:

Creating targeted advertising campaigns for people in an industry is not always easy. However, with LinkedIn Ads, this process is simplified!

Comments, Discussions, and Forums:

There are thousands of professional groups on LinkedIn where members discuss common topics of interest to their target market. As a member of these groups, you can learn about the latest innovations related to your field of activity or business and introduce yourself as an up-to-date and knowledgeable person in your field of expertise. And good Ads can really intrigue these people.

Reach a targeted audience:

LinkedIn ads can be great for reaching customers, contacting suppliers, and recruiting new talent for your company.

Advertising your product or service:

LinkedIn advertising facilitates the display of your products and services to the segment you have defined as the target market.

Profile Visit Tracking:

LinkedIn ads typically generate visits and direct calls through your profile. These actions can be tracked through LinkedIn’s integrated statistical software.

Networking and Traffic:

The biggest advantage of LinkedIn is networking. Moreover, if you share quality content or interesting Ads with your audience, you can attract quality traffic to your website or blog.

Posting a recruitment ad:

There are many sites operating in the field of recruitment and you can post an ad on these sites to attract experts. Yet you can see the profiles of people who have specific characteristics and communicate with them on LinkedIn.

With the options that LinkedIn provides you, it will be very easy to find the right candidates for your desired positions with the help of LinkedIn.

Professionals with multiple specialties:

LinkedIn Ads enable you to find professionals with different specialties in your field. You can learn from them and also use them as a reference to implement new ideas to improve your company.

Promotion of courses, seminars, and conferences:

If you are going to offer a specific course, LinkedIn Ads can be the best tool to attract people interested in participating in that course.

Many people who have participated in different courses of Google AdWords G-EDS training workshops, got acquainted with this workshop through LinkedIn G-EDS page advertisements.

Do you feel the high value of LinkedIn Ads? If you still are doubtful about whether LinkedIn Ads are worth it or not, even after seeing that they have so many benefits, I don’t know what can convince you.

Which is better Facebook or LinkedIn Ads?

Facebook and LinkedIn are both two of the most popular social networking platforms, but each of them has special features that make them superior to each other in different fields.

For example:

Atmosphere:

Facebook has a more intimate and user-friendly atmosphere for communicating with friends, family, and loved ones, while LinkedIn has a more professional environment and is more suitable for business-related activities.

Marketing:

LinkedIn is a more suitable platform for B2B communication because more than 55 million companies are active on it, but if you are, for example, an e-commerce brand that sells goods to consumers, Facebook may be a better audience for you. In fact, LinkedIn vs. Facebook in this case means B2B vs. B2C.

Number of Users:

If we want to talk about the number of users, Facebook is definitely the winner. This nostalgic platform currently has over 2.96 billion users and is still very popular after all these years.

While LinkedIn with more than 870 million users and growing continuously, it can be a more popular option depending on your needs.

Serach tool:

On the other hand, if we want to talk about lead generation, I have to say that LinkedIn has the most effective way to reach the target audience.

LinkedIn’s search tool with its various filters, especially in paid accounts and of course LinkedIn Ads, is more advanced than Facebook. This can be a very important strength of LinkedIn in determining the most suitable platform for your advertising.

Groups:

Another strength of LinkedIn compared to Facebook is its groups. Fortunately, you can find these groups in any industry on LinkedIn, and you can’t ignore the fact that these groups are full of professionals, thought leaders, and enthusiastic people.

LinkedIn groups are the best source of lead generation and prospecting and are considered a valuable strength against Facebook.

In the end, I must say that you are the one who should choose which one of these two social network platforms is best for you. This is determined according to the needs and characteristics of your business.

Conclusion

Advertising on LinkedIn may be the best decision you make for the development of your brand. LinkedIn Ads has many features and benefits that make it worth the money you pay for it. Not to mention that you have a very large source of targeted leads in a professional platform.

If I still haven’t been able to convince you to use LinkedIn Ads, I really suggest you go back and read the benefits of this service again, I’m sure you won’t hesitate to use LinkedIn Ads after that.

FAQ

How much do Ads cost on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn ad costs vary based on factors such as ad format, bid strategy, and targeting criteria. The minimum daily budget for a campaign is $10. On average, the Cost Per Click (CPC) can range between $2 to $5, but for highly competitive sectors, it might be higher. It’s essential to check LinkedIn’s ad platform for the most up-to-date pricing details.

How do Ads work on LinkedIn?

Ads on LinkedIn operate on a self-service platform. Advertisers can choose from different ad formats like Sponsored Content, Sponsored InMail, or Display Ads. Using the platform, you can target a specific audience based on factors like job title, company, skills, and geography. You’ll then set a budget, choose between CPC or CPM (cost per thousand impressions) bidding, and run your campaign. LinkedIn’s analytics tools allow you to monitor performance and optimize as needed.

Is LinkedIn advertising worth it?

LinkedIn ads can be worth the investment, especially for B2B companies, given the platform’s professional audience. The platform offers precise targeting options that allow advertisers to reach decision-makers and influencers within specific industries. However, the value derived from LinkedIn ads depends on factors like targeting precision, ad quality, and alignment with business objectives. It’s vital to monitor ROI and adjust campaigns for optimal performance.

Which Ad is best for LinkedIn?

The best ad format for LinkedIn largely depends on your campaign objectives. Sponsored Content is ideal for boosting brand awareness and driving website traffic, as it appears directly in the user’s feed. Sponsored InMail is effective for personalized outreach, typically for events or premium content offers. If your goal is brand visibility and awareness among top-level executives, Display Ads can be beneficial. Always align the ad format with your goals and target audience for best results.

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