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Social media marketing is complex and every social media network is different. But everyone working on Digital Marketing agrees that LinkedIn is an essential platform for anyone who works in the B2B market. Despite LinkedIn advertising is incredibly underestimated in the advertising world, the American social network has grown exponentially over the last few years and now boasts 760 million+ users, with more than 260 million monthly active users.
The network that started out as a place for business professionals to upload their CVs online and look for jobs has grown into a fully fledged social media platform. On its surface, LinkedIn may seem similar to Facebook in the setup of its advertising platform and opportunities. But it offers a number of unique advantages over other networks that are important to explore. Here are three more reasons to investigate LinkedIn when you’re next looking to advertise and why LinkedIn is a good choice for a B2B platform that wants to advert and communicate directly in front of professionals.
LinkedIn members are motivated to maintain their professional profiles and keep their job details current. In this framework, it’s easy to understand how the great thing about LinkedIn is the amount of job and skills information people provide about themselves and the company they work for. LinkedIn allows advertisers to tap into that information to place adverts in front of the right people. A B2B marketer could be knocking at an open door to a goldmine of demographic information that is constantly updated. Recently Jhon Linoln, CEO of Ignite Visibility, said that “LinkedIn reports that research from several sources found that: 80% of B2B marketing leads from social media come through LinkedIn; 92% of B2B marketers use the platform over all others; 46% of social media traffic to your company site comes from LinkedIn”.
But a recent article on MarketingLand identifies the following, who should stay away from advertising on the channel: B2C companies, B2Bs with smaller deal sizes (<$10K), Broad targets, E-commerce, Ad agencies, Commodities.
Most social media advertising tends to focus on generating awareness and leads and for everyone is already advertising on social media, will likely be familiar with the most commonly advertising types. LinkedIn offers marketers the opportunity to leverage sponsored posts and sidebar ads in order to generate exposure, clicks, and conversions. Despite this social network allowing a huge range of options, we could simplify that there are 3 main types of advert you can run on LinkedIn; text ads, sponsored content and sponsored inmail. All of them suit different B2B objectives and each has its own niche.
Text ads – These are great for driving a targeted audience to a landing page and generating leads. LinkedIn text ads appear in the right rail and top banner on desktop. They include a short headline, blurb, and a small square image.
Sponsored content – This type of advert is great for building brand awareness and can also be used for lead generation as well. This ad format delivers targeted messages to LinkedIn-member inboxes. According to LinkedIn, these ads are more successful at driving conversions than emails.
Sponsored In-Mail – This ad format delivers targeted messages to LinkedIn-member inboxes. According to LinkedIn, these ads are more successful at driving conversions than emails.
One of the biggest benefits that LinkedIn offers for B2B companies is the possibility to generate high-quality leads. In the B2B industry, reaching the right decision makers is even more important than in B2C. They are less in quantity, and the time for making a decision significantly longer. But what happens once your leads actually enter your database? The key to success here is the network’s Lead Accelerator feature. It allows you to track your most high-value prospects and offer more targeted ads directed specifically towards them. Then a straightforward benefit of LinkedIn advertising: use it the right way, and you can increase your conversion rates. Some of the advantages discussed above already hint at this benefit; lead ads, for instance, remove some of the steps your audience needs to take to become a customer.