LinkedIn Advertising – Is It Necessary?
Before we talk about marketing your brand, and in particular, advertising on LinkedIn, let’s start from the beginning. A business that has no marketing activity, even the slightest, may quickly lose its right to exist.
Remember the Yellow Pages? Gone are the days when advertisements were primarily printed.
In our day and age, and especially since Coronavirus, we are concerned with the digital, online realm – AKA, Google, Facebook, Instagram, and other social networks. So, when it comes to the question of whether advertising is necessary, there is no question at all – modern wisdom dictates that advertising is a must have for all businesses.
So, what about LinkedIn? The platform was created in 2002 with the aim of fostering professional and business connections between its users. With over 630 million users globally, over a million of which are in Israel, users are connected to professional networks based on factors such as profession, location, and their existing connections. We are able to reach the most relevant, key people for you and your brand thanks to LinkedIn’s advanced segmentation capabilities and classification of profiles by industry, role, and geographical location. In light of this, LinkedIn advertising companies exist and thrive solely through LinkedIn advertising management.
Who is LinkedIn advertising suitable for? If you’re a B2B advertising agency or a B2B marketer advertising to other businesses, LinkedIn marketing is for you. The ability to directly reach out to decision makers in organizations (identified as our target audience) is priceless. Let us clarify the differences between marketing and advertising on LinkedIn. “LinkedIn marketing” means maintaining the profile (personal or business) by frequently uploading posts, sharing content and articles, and maintaining the business’ organic digital presence. Why is that so important? Simple – so that any visitor to your profile can take one glance and understand who you are and what you do. Ideally, we want to position you as relevant and an expert in your industry. To achieve this coveted impression, it is also important to make sure that the content we upload and share will reflect that. LinkedIn marketing is completely free – the only cost is time and energy.
Now on to LinkedIn advertising, marketing’s older brother, who is a little more experienced and a whole lot smarter. What can we actually achieve with it? Thanks to data, quite a lot. We are able to access and benefit from user-generated content (UGC), user data collected by LinkedIn, and sponsored promotional campaign data. What does that mean? If, for example, our goal is to contact all the business development executives of the food-tech industry living in the US, we can reach them. Considering that advertisers can work on budgets large and small, it is simply a matter of setting clear goals and expectations.
Is LinkedIn Advertising Necessary?
The answer? Not always. Before embarking on a sponsored campaign promotion on LinkedIn, it is important to fully understand what we are trying to achieve and how much of the budget is available to achieve said goals. Advertising allows us to promote B2B businesses by exposing our content to key people in industries that are relevant to us, with the main goal being to gather leads on LinkedIn and create new business opportunities. The LinkedIn advertising system is built on an auction model whereby each ad targeting a specific audience will actually compete with the other ads targeting the same audiences. To outsmart the competition, we either need a larger advertising budget or super relevant and accurate content tailored to the target audience as part of our LinkedIn ads management.
When Is It Necessary?
First of all, if you are a B2B marketer, advertising on LinkedIn is a necessity. Why? Your desired audience is not only there, they are also there for the purpose of business. So, from the get-go they are already warmed up and willing to absorb your content.
If your business belongs to the high-tech industry, sponsored advertising will also be necessary. Almost all industry professionals are plugged into LinkedIn with the aim of consuming professional content and discovering business opportunities. The business potential is already there, waiting to be actualized through sponsored LinkedIn advertising.
Sponsored advertising on LinkedIn is even more necessary in the case that your product or service is niche and targeted to a specific industry. Sponsored campaigns will help us expose decision-makers in those target organizations to our content and / or product or service in ways that we wouldn’t be able to do organically, and certainly not on a massive scale as a sponsored campaign would.
Another case in which sponsored adverts will be necessary is when we want to reach out to hundreds or thousands of relevant decision makers at once. LinkedIn’s segmentation capabilities allow us to locate key players who pertain to our business goals and selectively expose our content. Organic content, on the other hand, is broadcasted aimlessly and does not allow control over who sees it and who doesn’t.
In conclusion, sponsored advertising on LinkedIn is essential for companies that market B2B products and services and want to generate high quality leads. It is important to remember that sponsored LinkedIn campaigns and promotion do not count towards the maintenance of your professional profile, reputation management, or network maintenance. This is why the right combination of both LinkedIn marketing and LinkedIn advertising is, without a doubt, the winning recipe.
Frequently Asked Questions about LinkedIn Advertising
- How can LinkedIn advertising be used to target specific geographic regions or languages?
LinkedIn advertising can be used to target specific geographic regions or languages by setting location and language parameters in the campaign targeting settings. Businesses can choose to target specific countries, regions, or even metropolitan areas, as well as select multiple languages for their ads to appear in. - Can LinkedIn advertising be used for retargeting campaigns?
Yes, LinkedIn advertising can be used for retargeting campaigns by targeting users who have interacted with your website or LinkedIn company page in the past. This can be done through LinkedIn’s Matched Audiences feature, which allows you to upload a list of email addresses or retarget users based on their website engagement data. - What are some tips for optimizing LinkedIn ad bidding strategies?
Some tips for optimizing LinkedIn ad bidding strategies include setting bid caps, targeting specific audience segments, using automated bidding options, monitoring performance regularly, and adjusting bids based on performance data. To learn more about this, please contact our team and an expert will be happy to assist.