LinkedIn's New Advertising Platform: What You Need to Know
If Facebook rules the world, it’s probably not a bad thing to follow in their footsteps. And recently, that’s exactly what LinkedIn has done. Moving away from their old and outdated self-serve ads platform, they’ve now introduced an Objective-based self-serve ads platform…just like Facebook.
So, each ad buy now starts with a similar “what do you want to do?” (read: objective) feature. Whether your advertising goal is Awareness, Consideration (i.e., Website Visits or Engagement), or Conversions – you’ll now get started off on the right foot from the get-go.
If you’re a Facebook ads pro, this all might be old news for you. However, LinkedIn does offer some unique differences and challenges. Below, I’ll review some of my favorite (and least favorite!) things that you MUST know if you’re going to use this platform.
1. Targeting
Since LinkedIn is actually based on and built on employment information, it goes without saying that LinkedIn is probably even better than Facebook for targeting businesses. So, what do they offer? With LinkedIn ads, you can target company name, industry, or size; you can also target a person’s job function, their seniority/rank, their skills, or their exact title. Unfortunately, Facebook has taken away a lot of their job-specific qualifiers, as they continue to undergo scrutiny for violation of privacy policies. A win for LinkedIn!
2 . Member Groups
If you’ve wanted to target people in Member Groups on Facebook but have been unsuccessful (yeah, you can’t…unless you do a complicated work-around), you can on LinkedIn! If someone is part of a professional group on this platform, you can easily serve ads to them – it’s one of the direct targeting options in the LinkedIn ad software!
3. Spotlight Ads
If you’ve already tried LinkedIn’s Direct Sponsored Content/Sponsored Content (what you think of as a regular “ad” on Facebook or a boosted post), and are ready to try something new, Spotlight Ads might be your next step. What’s great about them is that they call out the specific member in the ad with a short message. It may seem intrusive, but it’s a great way to get a quick message across that has a strong CTA (i.e., Register Now, and then the member is taken to your site to follow up on that action).
4. Images vs. Videos!
Now, for a quick change in tone. One of the updates I don’t love in the new LinkedIn ad experience is how some campaigns have to be set up. For instance, you can’t have an image and a video in the same ad grouping. That means you have to split up your budget with specific spend amounts for each one, and you can’t house them in the same Campaign Group. I would prefer if LinkedIn would let you run Ad A (Image) vs. Ad B (Video), but it will look more like Campaign Group A with Image vs. Campaign Group B with Video. Picky…but something Facebook has a leg up on. (Hopefully this will change soon!)
5. Budgeting
If you’re running an image or a video ad, you have the option in your buying to “maximize” for clicks. However, BEWARE! Maximizing for clicks with an automated bid is not BUYING on clicks. LinkedIn will spend your money very quickly, as it’s still charging you by the impression. So, make sure to actually BID ON clicks by selecting “Maximum CPC Bid” and entering a bid amount. That is, if you want to save money and only pay on the click!
If the changes on LinkedIn (or any of the other digital advertising platforms) have been a bit too much for you to keep up with, have no fear! I’d love to help you
manage your digital marketing strategy,
no matter which platform you choose (and I’d love to help you with that recommendation, too!).
Just send me a message, and we’ll get the conversation started!
