Need to expand your business’ marketing campaign? LinkedIn ads are a great place to start, as using this social media tool offers significant benefits, particularly over other employment websites. Because LinkedIn allows for strategic targeting, with profile data delivering up to 10 times more accuracy in demographics, and interactive pages, so businesses can expect to net a profitable ROI from your investment in LinkedIn ads.

Here’s what you need to know to get started:

Develop Ads

General advertising principles apply to LinkedIn ads, too. As you develop an ad, follow these rules:

• Use effective copy, utilizing attention-grabbing words that will entice your target customer
• Include benefits so your audience can easily see the intent of the offer, discount, demo or trial
• Develop a call to action (C2A), using strong wording like “download” or “sign up”
• Always include a striking graphic

Strategize Your Campaign

It’s possible to create up to 15 ads in LinkedIn’s system. All of the ads will run initially, allowing you to split-test which ads perform. And LinkedIn offers a “pause” tool, so you can stop low-performing ads from running.

Target Audience

You can choose the demographics of your target audience by:

• Industry
• Job title
• Geographical location
• Job function
• Age
• Gender
• Group (via interest, skill or expertise)
• Company size
• Company name
• Seniority (such as owner or human resources manager)

The ability to target various demographics is one of primary advantages of using LinkedIn Ads.

Budget

The system works by allotting advertisers a daily budget, which you can set to whatever amount your marketing campaign allows. Keep in mind, however, that once you reach your daily budget, your ads will no longer run.

Bidding

There are two options for bidding for ads:

• Pay-per-click, where you pay a set amount for an ad every time a user clicks on that ad
• Pay-per-impression, where you pay a set amount for an ad every time it’s viewed

It’s to your advantage to set bids on the high end, because a real-time auction occurs every time a user logs into the system. If other competing ads outbid you, your ads won’t show. However, keep in mind that LinkedIn will discount your final bid, so that you pay the minimum bid allowable, compared to competing bids. If you’re not outbid, your ads will run, and you’ll pay a lower price.

Finding the right bid can be difficult when starting LinkedIn ads. The system will show a suggested bid, giving you an idea of competing business are spending for similar campaigns.

With LinkedIn ads part of your larger marketing strategy, you can target the right audience, at the right time, with complete control over your budget. Contact Social Strategy1 today, and find out how we can help your business develop an effective social-media marketing strategy.