Advertising on LinkedIn: What Small Businesses Need to Know

With more than 830 million members and more than 55 million company pages, LinkedIn has become a hub of networking and engagement for job-seekers, career professionals and businesses alike. Likewise, its advertising platform has become a valuable tool for connecting with prospective applicants, corporate decision-makers and other professionals active on the social network.

If you’re unfamiliar with LinkedIn advertising, here’s what you need to know—and where to turn when you’re ready to create your first campaign.

How Does LinkedIn Advertising Work?

The centerpiece of LinkedIn’s advertising products is its in-feed sponsored ads, which are sponsored posts that appear while scrolling through your newsfeed. Embedded among organic content from the individuals and businesses each user follows, these ads can be targeted based on unique data points that distinguish LinkedIn’s targeting capabilities from its social media rivals.

These data points can include age, demographics, location, job title, current employer, past employer, professional certifications, companies the user follows, and related interests, among other criteria. While this specialized targeting can come at a higher cost than comparable ads on other social networks, this cost is justified by the increased relevance and value of the ads to your niche audience.

What Types of Businesses Should Advertise on LinkedIn?

Because LinkedIn’s targeting capabilities are built around professional data points, including employer, job history, and other criteria, the platform is most valuable for B2B brands looking to sell products or services to other businesses. Effective examples of B2B advertising on LinkedIn may include ads promoting office supply or equipment products, as well as specialized business software.

Even if your business doesn’t fit under the B2B umbrella, though, LinkedIn ads can be very useful in targeting job advertisements to qualified individuals. These ads can bolster your recruitment efforts and increase job applicant pools for your open roles—a particularly valuable option given the current challenges faced by recruiters.

What Kind of Impact Do LinkedIn Ads Offer Businesses?

When LinkedIn’s targeting capabilities align with your company’s advertising goals, a well-designed campaign can deliver strong campaign performance surpassing the ROI of similar ads on alternative social media platforms. Here’s a snapshot of the value of LinkedIn ads, based on our internal advertising data:

• LinkedIn is the #1 platform for B2B lead generation;
• LinkedIn ads can deliver a 2-3x lift in brand attributes for your business;
• Consumers demonstrate a 33 percent higher purchase intent when exposed to LinkedIn ads;
• Conversion rates are 2x higher for LinkedIn ads than other social media ads;
• Recruiting ads generate 3-5x more qualified candidates through paid promotion than through organic job postings;
• Forty percent of B2B marketers consider LinkedIn the most effective channel for driving quality leads.

How Does LinkedIn’s Ad Rates Compare to Other Social Platforms?

As mentioned above, the cost for running a single LinkedIn ad campaign tends to run higher than comparable campaigns on other social platforms. This is due to the highly specialized targeting available through the platform: since businesses can target ads to specific roles at select companies, narrowing ad delivery down to a highly refined audience, the value of this ad to your business—and the resulting bid price for ad inventory—tends to be higher.

Interested in learning more and creating your first LinkedIn campaign? Cox Media’s experts are here to help. From bid strategy to creative best practices, we’ll help you plan and launch LinkedIn ads that align with your business goals and deliver a strong return on your investment.

Contact us today to get started.