Best Practices for LinkedIn Ads: 5 Key Tips From Our Expert
September 17, 2024
In the hyper-competitive B2B landscape, LinkedIn stands out as a vital platform for businesses. However, the cost of LinkedIn ads often raises eyebrows, necessitating a strategic approach to ensure that every dollar spent translates into tangible results. Drawing from her extensive experience managing LinkedIn ad campaigns for SaaS & tech clients at Aimers, Victoria Mikhalchuk is sharing 5 key strategic practices. These will elevate your advertising efforts and help you effectively tap into LinkedIn’s vast potential – without draining your budget.
LinkedIn is a great tool for businesses to find new clients, partners, and promote products and services. And if you are in the B2B game, LinkedIn is where it’s at. The platform’s adoption and engagement rates are growing – according to the 2024 study by Socialinsider, engagement on LinkedIn is up 44% year-on-year, and brands have increased their posting frequency by 10%.
However, LinkedIn ads are usually pricier than ads on other platforms, like Facebook. To effectively use LinkedIn’s paid capabilities, you need to carefully approach the issue of setting up and optimizing advertising campaigns – otherwise you risk spending your budget unwisely.
Based off my experience of working with campaigns for SaaS & tech clients at Aimers, here are the 5 strategic best practices for LinkedIn ads to help you succeed:
1. Experiment With Targeting and Test Different Audiences To Find Your Ideal Customers
LinkedIn can give you access to a wide B2B audience globally. But if you don’t set your targeting right, you’ll pay a hefty price tag that LinkedIn ads come with – without reaching your potential clients! So precise targeting is key for LinkedIn.
LinkedIn offers a variety of options for identifying your ideal audience: from standard targeting parameters (such as job titles/function/seniorities/skills, etc.) to uploading your own contact/company lists and creating remarketing audiences. I advise trying different targeting options and running as many audience tests as you can. Don’t be afraid to experiment, as testing is another key aspect to LinkedIn ads done right. Try different combinations of parameters when creating an audience. Moreover, be sure to exclude irrelevant segments to avoid paying for ads to users outside your target audience. Save your audience and analyze its reach and characteristics. This will help you make adjustments to targeting even before launching a campaign.
2. Use Lead Forms – And Make Sure Your Lead Magnet Gives True Value
LinkedIn offers various ad formats, including lead forms. Ads with lead forms are a great best practice for LinkedIn, since you simplify your user’s journey and can collect leads directly on the platform, without the need to drive your audience to a landing page or website. It’s important to develop a good lead magnet with a significant benefit for the client. This can be a free demo of the product, a discount, or a unique piece of content that’s not publicly available and can only be obtained by sending a lead form. I see lead form ads as extremely useful, as they allow you to collect audience lists for further use in remarketing or email newsletters.
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Get Started3. Make Sure Your Ad Copy Reflects Pain Points of Your Potential Clients
Create ad copy that focuses on the pain points of your potential customers and how you can solve these problems. Move away from clichés and attract your audience with original and easy-to-read text that stands out. Test both long and short copy options. When it comes to ad creatives, it’s the same as with targeting. Don’t be afraid to experiment and identify what really attracts your target audience.
4. Create a Variety of Ads Within One Campaign to Test Copy, Creatives, Landing Pages, or CTAs
Be sure to create several ad variations within one campaign to test different copy, creatives, landing pages, or CTAs. Here’s a pro tip from me when conducting such tests: select the “Rotate ads evenly” option in the Ad rotation settings. This way, the test will be more relevant and transparent.
5. Track the Effectiveness of Your Campaigns With LinkedIn Insight Tag or 3rd Party Tools
Constantly monitor the effectiveness of your campaigns. LinkedIn offers many report options for analyzing campaign effectiveness, based on which you can easily understand what edits need to be made to your advertising campaigns. To track conversions, install LinkedIn Insight Tag on your site, set up goals, and evaluate results within LinkedIn. You can also evaluate campaign effectiveness in third-party analytics services. These are great, since they can offer advanced options – but in this case, you need to use UTM tags in ads.
In conclusion, to leverage the powerful capabilities of LinkedIn as an ad platform, you have to pay attention to your targeting and ad creatives, test as much as possible, and continuously monitor the effectiveness of your campaigns. With these 5 best practices for LinkedIn, you will be well-equipped to navigate the complex landscape of B2B advertising. My final advice would be to improve your knowledge on LinkedIn ads regularly, and make sure your marketing toolbox stays up-to-date.
Takeaways
- Use precise targeting for your LinkedIn ad campaigns and test a variety of audiences. This way, you’ll successfully reach your customers.
- Utilize lead form ads – these are great for boosting lead generation.
- Address the customer’s pain points in your copy and outline solutions. This will create a connection between your ad and the target audience.
- Test multiple ad variations to evaluate the effectiveness of your copy, visuals, CTAs, or landing pages.
- Monitor campaign performance through tools like LinkedIn Insight Tag or third-party analytics. Regular analysis will allow you to refine your LinkedIn ads to perfection!
Ready to elevate your LinkedIn ad campaigns? Drop a line to our team here! We’ll get back to you asap with a free audit of your ad accounts and possible avenues for optimization!
Victoria Mikhalchuk is a highly skilled PPC Manager known for delivering excellent results with her expertise and strategic approach to managing campaigns.