At Rostrum, one of the most important things we think we can offer our team is the opportunity to learn. We’re a curious bunch, and we all like to take time to upskill, both to improve our own knowledge and to better serve our clients’ needs. As part of that, we host regular lunch ‘n’ learn sessions, where we invite various experts in to talk to the team about industry topics and trends. We also get to expense a Deliveroo lunch, so what’s not to love?
Most recently, our very own Sophie Mellish, Head of Corporate and Social Media, told us everything we need to know about running a successful paid LinkedIn campaign. Here’s what we learnt:
Why use it?
Paid campaigns are now big business for LinkedIn, with a recent quarterly earnings report showing that sponsored posts count for more than a third of the site’s revenue. And it’s no surprise we’re such big fans of the platform – it’s the only social networking site exclusively targeting professionals across a vast range of industries. The ads also let you target specific audiences from generic job titles right down to particular people at designated companies. Whatever the campaign, paid LinkedIn is a good way to ensure you’re reaching your target audience.
You can also measure success in a very tangible way – something which can be challenging in B2B marketing! Metrics such as impressions (the number of people who see your ad) and click through rates (the percentage of users who see your ad and click on it) can help you track the types of sponsored content that is performing well. The platform also allows you to prioritise your best-performing content. For example, if you start your campaign with multiple adverts, after an initial test and learn period, you’re able to ‘turn off’ certain ads in order to direct your budget into the ones driving the highest conversion rates. Adding in a lead generation option is fantastic for physical leads, too, and monitoring the performance of certain words or phrases in sponsored content can be a great way to inform any editorial content you draft – giving you a strong sense of what themes your target audience engages with.
Choosing the right ad
But how do you know which type of sponsored content is best suited to your campaign? LinkedIn currently offers four ad options, all of which target users differently. Your decision should be determined by the overall objectives of your campaign so having a clear idea of whether you want to generate brand awareness, gain followers, improve engagement or bring in leads is vital.
This appears in the middle of a user’s feed as images, videos, or carousels (slideshows) and is perfect for raising awareness for a campaign or a piece of research. However, the impersonal nature of sponsored content means that engagement rates can be lower than other paid alternatives.
These ads are very similar to sponsored content, except they appear on the right-hand side of LinkedIn and can only be formatted using images. Text ads are less likely to generate leads because they’re hidden in a less visible area of the site, but the good news is that you only pay for the ads generating leads, so if the goal is lead gen on a smaller budget, these could be something to consider
Dynamic ads are very similar to text ads, appearing on the right-hand side of a person’s feed, but they also feature personalised content from a user’s LinkedIn profile. This includes things like their name or company, which means they are better at driving engagement than the previous two options
Here, ads are sent directly to the inbox of the professionals you’re trying to target. One in two users open sponsored InMail, according to LinkedIn, so it’s worth looking into these if you have a specific list of contacts you’re trying to connect with
It’s also possible use a combination of two, three or even all four of these solutions to elevate your campaign. However, whichever option you go for, and however much budget you plan to put behind it, the first step should always be ensuring you have a clear goal and objectives at the outset, against which you can measure success.
If you need help with sponsored LinkedIn, or want to chat with one of our social experts, get in touch with us on enquiries@rostrum.agency
