Over 750 million active users log in to LinkedIn every single month, and that includes many Fortune 500 execs and loads of other successful business people. Sure, LinkedIn still doesn’t have the same audience size as Facebook or Twitter, but LinkedIn provides a space with business-focused content aimed at its educated and well-earning members.

LinkedIn’s algorithm is different from the other platforms too. It’s built to favor personal connections and connections that facilitate professional networking. Every post in the feed of a member is extremely relevant to that individual. Maybe it’s time to revamp your approach to LinkedIn advertising, or maybe you’re new to the game and you don’t know where to start. Either way, let’s get into the why’s and the how’s of advertising on LinkedIn.  

The Business End of Advertising on LinkedIn

Before you can start advertising on LinkedIn, you’ll need to have an existing business page. If you don’t have one yet, head over to LinkedIn to set one up. Once your business page is looking polished, you’re ready to move on to creating your advertising campaigns. The LinkedIn campaign manager is really straightforward, user-friendly, and loaded with data displayed on easy-to-understand graphics, and it can walk you through the setup for a new campaign in only 5 easy steps!

[Step #1] Create a new campaign.

Start by clicking the ‘Create Campaign’ button inside the LinkedIn Campaign Manager. Input the required information, like your business name, business type, title reference, etc., and choose the length of time for your campaign.

[Step #2] Define your ad objective.

Before you can set your ad objective, you’ll need to think about how your business wants to interact with your target audience to achieve your results. Do you want to push users toward your website? Or would you rather reach for maximum engagement or brand awareness? Knowing what you want people to do after they’ve interacted with your ad is critical in deciding on your ad objective.

[Step #3] Set your audience parameters.

The audience parameters that you choose will determine the size of the audience that could potentially see your ad. They include your primary ad location, secondary and/or excluded locations, education, job sector, language, etc. Pay close attention to your ad parameters as good ones are specific without needlessly limiting the audience.

[Step #4] Scheduling and budgeting.

The next step is to define your advertising schedule and set your campaign budget. Your scheduling is completely up to you but is usually decided upon before the creation of a campaign. The LinkedIn Campaign Manager has handy built-in tools that will suggest a bid range and a bid type for your campaign. Don’t shrug off the suggestions – LinkedIn’s own data shows that advertisers see a 30% jump in their ROI when they leave the bid in the range that LinkedIn suggests.

[Step #5] Create and launch.

The creatives are the heart of the ad itself. They’re what grabs and holds the attention of your target audience. The LinkedIn campaign manager will show you live previews of your ad as you go through the creative process so that you can fine-tune how your ad displays. You can also send yourself test campaigns so that you can see what different versions of your ad will look like before their launch. Once you’re happy with your campaign, submit it to LinkedIn for approval (which usually takes about a day, give or take).  

LinkedIn Advertising Best Practices

Know your audience – Like any kind of advertising, you can create a great-looking LinkedIn campaign, but if you’re showing it to the wrong people, you will fail. Make sure that you spend the time to properly define your audience size and budget in tandem with your product type and campaign objective.

Keep it short and sweet – LinkedIn may be the most professional of all the social networks, but it is still a social network. Attention spans on the platform are still going to be small. So just like advertising on other platforms, on LinkedIn, you need to have a good hook and need to get your point across in a short amount of time.

Focus on the positives – We live in a negative world, so focus on the tangible positives that your product can bring. Choosing to highlight positive statistics or reviews from new and existing customers can make the difference when trying to launch a campaign that will have a positive ROI.

Write clear CTA’s – Customers need to know what they’re supposed to do. An ad with no clear next step will not keep the attention of potential customers. Use strong verbs in your CTA and be extremely clear and concise.

Keep it personal – Brands who write in a personal way with familiar language will stand out amongst other ads. Talk to your audience directly based on their specific demographics. You’d be surprised how far adding a personalized intro can go to keeping an audience interested.

LinkedIn Ads Are Easy – Advertising on LinkedIn Isn’t

The LinkedIn ad management interface may be one of the simplest and most user-friendly that we’ve ever come across, but don’t let that fool you into thinking that developing a winning campaign on the platform is a walk in the park. Trying to be successful using a poor digital marketing strategy could do damage to a brand, in addition to them overspending on ads that fail to convert customers and get low click rates.

Don’t know where to start? As always, we have you covered at Viral Octopus. Our LinkedIn Ad Management Service Gig will get you the best possible results out of the world’s most popular B2B marketing platform. Our LinkedIn ad experts have managed hundreds of thousands of dollars in ad spend on LinkedIn so they’re highly evolved at what they do. They can get you more for the money you spend on advertising on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn ad management isn’t something you pick up overnight. It’s a skill that you develop over time. Now that you know more about advertising on LinkedIn, get out there and practice your new skills to become the best LinkedIn advertiser that the platform has ever seen.

Happy marketing!