With over 100 million members worldwide, LinkedIn provides individuals with ways to connect to their peers and promote themselves in the business world. With this comes the need to supply information such as employment history, current position, specialities, honours and achievements, group or association memberships, alma mater, etc. All of this data can be harnessed to reach a highly targeted audience with your marketing message.
LinkedIn Ads vs. Google AdWords
What makes Google AdWords so unique is that people are primed to purchase since they’re searching for that specific product, service or piece of information. With traditional display network advertising CTR (click through rate) is much lower, because the ads are simply related to what the person is reading about. They are not “primed” and do not look to ads as an answer to the question their searching for. The ads are mainly meant to entice with an offer. The same could be argued for LinkedIn Ads; they are in essence display ads, but there’s more to them, read on to find how LinkedIn ads are different.
Facebook ads are so successful because they’re highly targeted towards demographics and precise interests. One of their drawbacks is that they don’t catch people when their primed to purchase, another drawback is that they’re definitely not geared towards B2B.
When someone logs into their LinkedIn account they’re primed to be thinking of their career and their business interests. It’s a perfect time for B2B marketers to seize their attention. Another advantage that LinkedIn has over Facebook is that when people fill out their LinkedIn Profile they’re more likely to be thorough and even more likely to be telling the truth; after all, LinkedIn is a way to “sell” yourself.
How Do You Target Specific Users on LinkedIn?
LinkedIn ads offer tremendous precision when targeting your audience. Here is an overview of the kinds of granular details you can target.
- Geographic location (down to major regions e.g. GTA).
- Specific companies, by name, industry and size.
Let’s say you wanted to target high-level decision makers. LinkedIn ads make it easy by allowing you to target job categories or even specific titles.
You can also target by age and gender and to people who belong to specific LinkedIn groups (this may dilute the precision of your ads e.g. by including entry level positions and managers).
When your ad is clicked you will have the option to direct the person to your website, company profile or personal executive profiles (this could be very effective if it contained well-written recommendations from customers).
Who Are LinkedIn Ads Best Suited For?
LinkedIn Ads are often used by recruiters and companies looking to recruit employees, and as I’ve tried to stress, they are a great way for B2B companies to advertise. If you’re looking to delve into the world of B2B online advertising, don’t let LinkedIn go overlooked!
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Great post, but I believe that you need to address the b2c power of linkedin as well. I am currently launching a linkedin ad campaign for a MBA school, and we are using linkedin to target members for the purposes of recruiting to the program.
Not all b2c applications would work on linkedin, and it is definitely better for b2b (without a doubt), but I just wanted to add my 2 cents.
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That’s fair to say, but it wasn’t really the focus of the article.
I can see how it will be useful to recruit for an MBA program, but I wouldn’t go trying to sell laundry detergent through LinkedIn though!