LinkedIn isn’t just for finding jobs, building connections or sharing business news. The professional networking platform is also a savvy business tool for advertising, offering several easy to use features that help businesses reach their ideal customers and achieve their business goals through detailed targeting strategies.

Why Advertise on LinkedIn?

Audience-wise, LinkedIn is pretty impressive. According to LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, the website has two times the buying power of the average web audience. Out of its 630 million users, 180 million are senior level influencers, 63 million are decision makers and 10 million are C-level executives. These users are highly motivated to maintain a professional profile and regularly update it with job details and other high-quality demographic data. For businesses looking to connect with and advertise to prospects within the industry, LinkedIn is a goldmine of opportunities. 

Similar to Facebook, LinkedIn ads are managed within the site’s Campaign Manager. Through Campaign Manager, businesses can use a variety of tools to create effective campaigns and target specific audiences. Using the Insight Tag (LikedIn’s version of the Facebook Pixel), businesses can target audiences based on a variety of demographics found within a user’s profile: 

• Location
  • • Job Experience
    • Job function
    • Job seniority
    • Job title
    • Member skills
    • Years of experience
• Education
  • • Degrees
    • Fields of study
    • Member schools
• Demographics
  • • Age
    • Gender
• Company 
  • • Company connections
    • Company followers
    • Company industry
    • Company name
    • Company size
• Interests
  • • Member interests
    • Member groups

LinkedIn offers step-by-step instructions on how to add the LinkedIn Insights Tag to your business’ website. Once on the website, businesses can follow LinkedIn’s targeting guide which walks them through how to set up ads and explains how LinkedIn targeting works. Businesses have several ad options to choose from including multi-platform sponsored ads, one-on-one direct message ads, quick and easy text ads and dynamic ads that are customized to each target audience member.

The pricing and budgets for using LinkedIn Advertising vary but is designed to support all budgets and business goals. Ads are sold by auction which pits businesses against others trying to reach the same audience. However, businesses can choose their pricing, set their budgets and place their bids in order to give them the most cost control.

Targeting Tools

To help businesses get the most out of LinkedIn advertising, the site also offers additional targeting tools including Audience Expansion and Lookalike audiences. These tools allow businesses to deliver advertising content to LinkedIn members who are similar to their target audience’s interests and demographics in order to increase the scale and reach of their advertising campaign. 

When using profile-based demographic targeting, Audience Expansion can help businesses reach those with similar attributes as their target audience and discover new potential prospects. Lookalike audience is best used by businesses who already have a consistently high-performing audience. This tool allows businesses to find more people who look like their target audience and will likely respond the same way. 

Ready to grow your business with LinkedIn Advertising? Visit www.denimmarketing.com today to learn how the Denim Marketing team can help!