It’s no secret that all of us are guilty of being addicted to social media, right? We spend hours and hours of our time just mindlessly scrolling through these channels.
But what does this mean for marketers? The boom of social media channels post the pandemic has left no choice for brands but to increase their focus on social media marketing.
However, in this rat race to be present everywhere & advertise on every possible channel, brands have forgotten one fundamental thing; before you double down on your social media strategy, ask yourself:
‘What do you want from social media anyway’
Do you want to increase brand awareness? Do you want to generate leads? Or do you want to boost customer engagement?
Once you have answered this, the next thing you need to know is where your customers are.
Facebook & Google Ads have always been the #1 choice for marketers since forever. However, the success of B2B social media advertising depends heavily on the social media platform you advertise on.
Being in the SaaS industry the one platform that comes to my mind when I hear B2B is LinkedIn. LinkedIn has started gaining popularity quite recently and it's safe to say that it has become a gold mine for marketers in the B2B space. So much so that Linkedin ad revenue recently exceeded $1 billion in 2021, growing by 37% while organic session engagement grew by a record 22%.
Spurred by the pandemic, the platform doesn’t look to slow down any time soon.
Who should advertise on LinkedIn?
When we talk about LinkedIn for business, it’s not a channel that will work for everyone. If you are a D2C brand looking to increase the sales for your beauty products then LinkedIn Ads is not the channel for you.
On the contrary, if your product or service is of any interest to business owners or working professionals or it can be of any value to them, LinkedIn is the place for you.
The majority of people who are active on Linkedin are there to find better jobs, network with people in the same industry, & to learn from their peers.
However, an important thing to keep in mind is that the audience on LinkedIn is not there to “buy” your products or services. Therefore, you should not try to sell your solution through your LinkedIn marketing activities but your focus should be on providing genuine value.
The power of LinkedIn Ads
As discussed, LinkedIn’s audience consists of business owners or working professionals. These could be CEOs, CMOs, CFOs and basically anyone and everyone who matches the target audience of your product. It could be a HR professional situated in California or a CEO based in India.
LinkedIn provides tremendous opportunities for targeting the very professionals who need to hear about your product or service.
This makes LinkedIn the perfect channel for advertising for B2B companies due to the kind of targeting & the quality of leads that you gain through a LinkedIn campaign vs a Facebook, Twitter or Google campaign.
Types of LinkedIn Ads
LinkedIn typically allows you to choose from 4 different kinds ad types which are:
1. Sponsored Content
Sponsored content is similar to the organic posts that you see on your feed. This ad format allows you to reach your audience in the LinkedIn news feed. For this kind of ad format, case studies are the best way to drive interest & generate leads wherein you can have a strong CTA to either download the case study or to request a demo.
Sponsored content ad types allows you to choose from single image ads, carousel ads, video ads & event ads.
2. Sponsored Messaging
You must have received certain messages in your inbox which come with a sponsored tag & have a CTA button. These are called sponsored ads which allows you to reach the relevant people in their inboxes and they can be extremely successfuly because users have no distraction in terms of other content when they are checking out what you have to offer.
My advice: Keep it short & crisp
3. Text & Dynamic Ads
Text & Dynamic ads show up in the right hand sidebar that stays visible while users are browsing the platform.
Standard text ads will have a single image in the form of a brand logo, short advertising copy and a clickable CTA. They are simple to create, and while their visibility may be lower than that of LinkedIn’s other advertising options, they can drive results at an accessible price point.
4. Lead-gen forms
Lead-gen formals allows you to collect even more quality leads from your ads on LinkedIn with seamless pre-filled forms. With a few clicks, a LinkedIn user can submit a form with their information, all without typing it up. This makes the process frictionless and means you’ll get more leads with less effort.
Another way of driving leads can be through conversational ads, wherein you can keep your prospects engaged by setting up an interactive journey which are personalized to their actions. They are a great way to turn your conversation into conversions by providing value to your prospects.
How much do LinkedIn ads cost?
Like all PPC platforms, LinkedIn ad costs vary significantly based on a number of factors. However, LinkedIn is considered to be one of the most expensive ad platforms based on the level of targeting & the quality of lead that it provides.
The costs depend upon the type of ad you’re running, the competition out there in terms of the brands competing for the same target audience & how does the market look like.
You can control the amount you want to spend in three ways:
- Total budget: Fill in the total budget that you are willing to spend & let LinkedIn do its job. You need to spend a minimum of $10 for this campaign type too.
- Daily budget: This choice is suitable when you want a campaign that’s always running. You need to spend a minimum of $10 for this campaign type too.
- Setting bids: You can set bids that put caps on how much you’re willing to pay for specific action such as clicks, impressions, etc. You can bid a minimum of $2 for each click.
If you are new to LinkedIn ads, just know that every business has a unique formula for success. What’s working for someone else might not work for you. It takes a lot of testing to learn what works for you. LinkedIn recommends testing with at least $100/day or $5,000 total (generally over a month). This is because your campaigns have to reach enough people to generate data, so you can evaluate your ad performance & take corrective action.
A quick advice: Try different ad formats & keep switching up the kind of content you are promoting before you finally figure out what works for you and what doesn’t . Experimentation is the key here.
Is it really worth it?
In conclusion, while LinkedIn ads may be more expensive than Facebook or Google ads, they are worth the money.
Whether you’re looking to generate leads in a predetermined target market, want to explore a completely new business market or generate awareness for your brand, LinkedIn ads might be the way to go.
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