LinkedIn helps millions of advertisers reach their B2B and B2C audience. A top five leader in the social media advertising market, LinkedIn ads offer distinct advantages with their narrow audience targeting ability that creates increased ROI for advertisers.
Beyond providing a step-by-step guide, this article dives deeper into each stage of your ad development to remove the guesswork and allow you to take full advantage of LinkedIn ads for your next campaign.
Step-By-Step Instructions to Start Your Campaign
Before You Begin
Before launching your ad campaign, you’ll need to meet a few prerequisites. Firstly, you must have a LinkedIn Page. Next, you’ll need to set up a Campaign Manager account.
Follow these steps if you need to set up a LinkedIn Page and Campaign Manager account before proceeding with your ad campaign:
- Create your LinkedIn Page. Whether running a LinkedIn ad campaign is a foregone conclusion or you’re just weighing your options, creating a free LinkedIn page still benefits your business.
Besides being a requirement to run Sponsored Content and Messaging, a LinkedIn page helps establish and legitimize your brand. LinkedIn ads also undergo a bidding process known as an advertising auction. Having a well-established page with high-quality content that drives clicks, likes, comments, and shares improves your relevance score, and in turn, boosts your auction bids.
- Create a Campaign Manager account. Campaign Manager serves as LinkedIn’s advertising platform. It gives you complete control over your campaigns by allowing you to select your own customized goals and define the audience you want to reach.
Remember to associate your LinkedIn page with your new Campaign Manager account before moving forward!
- Determine your objective. Before starting a campaign, consider the action you want customers to take upon seeing your ad. By selecting an objective, you allow LinkedIn to streamline your ad campaign to meet your needs.
- Familiarize yourself with ad formats. LinkedIn provides users with multiple ad formats: Sponsored Content, Sponsored Messaging, or Text Ads. Users can also employ a dynamic strategy that utilizes multiple ad types but identifying the best format for your messaging will drive the best results.
Step 1: Campaign Set Up
Sign in to Campaign Manager
Once logged in, select “Create” and then “Campaign” to reach the campaign creation page.
Step 2: Select a Campaign Group
LinkedIn recommends first-time users select the default “New Campaign Group”.
Step 3: Select Your Objective
As discussed, your objective establishes the action you want your audience to take when they see your ad. Establishing your objective allows LinkedIn to show ad formats, features, and bid types that bolster your campaign.
Step 4: Compile Your Target Audience
LinkedIn boasts over 850 million users across 200 countries. That user base establishes it as the largest professional networking platform in existence. Because of that, LinkedIn ad campaigns stand apart from other social media advertisements by offering powerful targeting capabilities.
You can target professionals based on industry type, job title, company name, and even professional interests. LinkedIn also offers a Matched Audiences feature that allows you to bring your own data to your campaign.
Step 5: Select Your Ad Format
Once you establish your audience, you’ll be prompted to select your ad format. LinkedIn offers several formats to meet user needs.
Before moving forward, let’s dig a little deeper into the types of Ad Formats LinkedIn supports.
Sponsored Content
Sponsored Content appears in the LinkedIn feed across desktop, mobile, and tablet. It comes in three varieties: Single-Image Ads, Carousel Ads, and Video Ads.
This format captures user attention by reaching millions of users where they spend their time on LinkedIn — in their feed. These ads prove versatile, helping marketers achieve multiple objectives simultaneously, such as driving brand awareness and leads.
Sponsored Messaging
Sponsored Messaging offers personalized, targeted messages designed to drive more conversion than emails. Messages reach users directly in their LinkedIn messenger as either Message Ads or Conversion Ads.
Text Ads
Text Ads are your PPC or CPM ads that display for desktop users. Formatted with a simple headline, description, and small image, these ads resemble the types of online advertisements many users are accustomed to.
Step 6: Select Ad Placement
Along with your ad format, LinkedIn allows you to customize your ad’s placement. You can choose to have your ads show on LinkedIn, or expand your reach with their trusted 3rd party advertisers.
Step 7: Select Your Budget and Schedule
Work toward your goal confidently and effectively by selecting the budget, bidding strategy, and schedule that suits your needs. A strong initial budget will help you control costs and validate your marketing strategy over time.
Step 8: Set Up Your Ad(s)
The requirements for this step vary based on your selected ad format. Some formats necessitate that you upload creatives. This could be an image, text, or URL.
Before You Launch Your Campaign
Be sure to review your ads before making them live. Once you pass this step, LinkedIn will require you to add a payment method, which raises the stakes, so you’ll want to make sure your copy has undergone a thorough review. After your campaign is submitted, it will undergo an internal review process before LinkedIn makes it live. If you’re happy with your ads, submit the ads and watch them go live!
Make the Most of Your Social Media Advertisements
With your ads live on LinkedIn, you might be wondering how to make them work best for your business. Reach out to us for help optimizing your ads to ensure the best possible return on investment from your marketing campaign.
