7 Tips to run LinkedIn Ads perfectly

LinkedIn Ads can help generate leads, increase website traffic and raise brand awareness. Krunal Soni explains how to get them right.

LinkedIn is a business-oriented social network. Working professionals, companies, and employers are present here. Getting trained staff or searching for jobs is very easy through this platform. Just like social media marketing on any other platform, businesses advertise on LinkedIn too. The only difference being that LinkedIn Ads are formal and having a professional polish. Generating leads, increasing website traffic and brand awareness can be achieved. 

The various ad features like Sponsored Content, Sponsored InMail, Text Ads, Dynamic Ads, etc. help you to establish recognition in the market. The Campaign Manager will help to handle your ads. 

Planning perfectly and going forward strategically will help you make the most out of LinkedIn.

Here are some tips to get an upper hand among the competition with LinkedIn Advertising.

Smart planning

LinkedIn has recommended a process to start your marketing. As they are the developers, they keep a record and which is why their advice can be trusted.

Firstly, make your personal profile on LinkedIn. This is because people are the foundation of a company. Gathering information from these individuals will make the complete data of the company. People always wonder with whom will they have to work. So, it would be better if they know about their co-workers before applying for a job. 

Then create your company profile. These company pages are public and visible to everyone. 

Defining your audience and business goals must be the next task. When you know these things, planning and execution become simple. After this, optimize your company profile by inserting keywords, get links to your company page, and share relevant content across LinkedIn and other networks.

Add your employees to the company page. Get more followers by adding a Follow button to the business profile. Use visual content to engage the audience. Boost your best content to reach a wider population. Set up Ad campaigns for better brand awareness. 

Make use of analytics to track your progress. Check the lags and make improvisions where necessary. 

Sponsored Content

Use sponsored content to reach relevant professionals that are in the same niche. 

Keep the headline text under 150 characters to catch the attention. Use larger images (1200x627 pixels) instead of thumbnails. These images tend to get more clicks. Add a button or write a Call to Action, so that your audience can understand how to react to your post. 

Also Read: LinkedIn Pages updates to help keep employees engaged

Use targeting to reach a more specific audience. Choose a location and two other demographics that are the most likely to be affected by your ads. 

Create content after analyzing the market trends. Offer key takeaways and important insights instead of carrying out plain promotions. Include testimonials and success stories to build up trust. 

Try new tools such as:

• Lead Gen Forms - forms with which essential data about professionals can be collected to widen the qualified audience
• Audience Expansion - discover people similar to your target audience
• LinkedIn Audience Network - engage the audience outside of LinkedIn

Keep testing different versions of the ad to see which works better. Halt the type of ads that gets the least interaction by the end of the week and replace it with a new idea. 

Sponsored InMail

Through this feature, you can send personalized messages to active LinkedIn members. 

For this, keep the message under 500 characters. Be direct and customize your message according to the receiver. Add relevant hyperlinks to the body to get clicks. Use a friendly tone. Insert common calls to action like try, free, today, click, apply to let the person know what to do next. 

The LinkedIn Insight Tag will allow you to know the number of conversions from the Sponsored InMail campaigns. Great capability to measure the success rate is possessed by the Campaign manager. Use it efficiently by deciding the threshold for key metrics.

Follow-up for the sponsored content through this InMail service. 

Text Ads

The right-hand side of LinkedIn desktop feed shows the Text Ads. You can use the square, horizontal or long text links to feature your textual promotions.

Choose attention-seeking headlines like “Attention Digital Marketers” or “Are you a graphics designer?”. Add calls to action like Try Now or Register to guide the viewers. Link these buttons to a relevant landing page. 

Make these landing destination mobile-friendly. Because a majority of LinkedIn users check their feeds on their mobile phones. 

Adding an image will get better results. Use an image with a human. These images get more attention than logos or inanimate objects.

Video Ads

Videos are interactive as well as compelling ads to keep the viewers hooked. 

Based on your campaign goals, fabricate the video content. There are 3 main types of objectives for video ads:

• Awareness - Brand Awareness
• Consideration - website visits, engagement, views
• Conversions - lead generation, website conversions, job applications

Download the results of the video ads and study them. By doing this you will know the rate of success of the video campaign. Use storytelling to get your message across. Make a visually compelling and brief video. 

Also Read: LinkedIn Campaign Manager gets new updates

For conversions, you can show product demos, clips for the upcoming webinar, or preview for an event. 

Show the important details in the first 10 seconds. Craft your ad so that it is effective even when the sound is turned off as a majority will watch with the volume down. Adding subtitles can also be a good idea.

Video length must be based on the objective. Use videos under 30 seconds for brand recognition. You can also try 5-15 second looped clips like GIFs. Videos exceeding 60 seconds can be made to create an emotional connection with the audience. 

Carousel Ads

Interactive picture stories can be told with Carousel Ads. 

Some objectives you can achieve with the carousel ads:

• Tell the audience your brand story
• Position yourself as a thought leader
• Share customer stories of success

You can showcase multiple products or different features of a single product. You can highlight resources and other services provided by the enterprise. 

Use high-class graphics and eye-catchy images. Write a clear message with calls to action on each carousel card. Start by using 3-5 cards and increase them if it works effectively. You can test the placement of the cards and choose the one that is most fruitful.

Dynamic Ads

There are four members in the Dynamic Ads Family:

• Follower ads - to expand the audience
• Spotlight ads - to share insights and valuable content
• Job ads - to get the best applicants for vacancies
• Content ads - to get sales leads

Describe the main message in the headline. You can use pre-set templates for these ads. Just change the name and profile image for each person keeping the message the same. But with the name and profile image, the ad will look personalized without any extra efforts of writing a customized message every time. 

This article will help you to plan your LinkedIn campaigns and put it into action to get the most benefits with lesser resources. Make use of all the Ad styles and see which one works the best. Explore the results and improvise.

Share with us how these tips helped you in LinkedIn marketing for your company. 

This article has been authored by Krunal Soni, founder and CEO, Thrillax Private Limited.