Social media and social media campaigns have rapidly become the inescapable mode of digital campaigning. Among all the platforms in the field, LinkedIn has continued to be the most exclusive by being purely a professional networking site.

Running campaigns on LinkedIn are often very different from other platforms and likely have a very different cost structure. Let us explore that in detail.

Types of campaigns

There are many forms of campaigns that can be run on LinkedIn, which can be distinguished from one another on their target, their mode, their cost structure, etc. The most common and available forms of campaigns always present are as follows:

Sponsored Content

This form of campaign is the most well-known and closely resembles the campaigns on other platforms. Here the Content appears in the users’ feed while scrolling along with updates from their network. These campaigns are self-adjusted by the application and website to suit users in phones, tablets, laptops, and even desktops. These are various forms of these available, and their reach and impact are affected by the cost of the campaign, amongst other things. The three most common forms of this are the Single image Ads, the Carousel Ads, and the Video Ads. As you may have guessed, the costing of these three is very different, and the Content that you need to provide also greatly varies.

Sponsored messages

This form of campaign works towards generating visits to the person, prole or page, or conversations, focusing on the latter. Here the target audience is approached through a well-defined laid out message that shares information with them while inviting them to connect or converse with the profile that shares the same. As is the case with the other form of the campaign, the campaign’s details and reach are affected by the budget. The two forms of this campaign – Message Ads and Conversation Ads, as mentioned, serve different purposes and thus are aligned differently.

Text Ads

These advertisements appear on the screen while on the LinkedIn desktop version (on any device). They appear in the form of a headline, a line or so of text, and one small image. These advertisements often work on a similar principle as other such ads on other sites. These campaigns are Pay per Click (PPC) or Cost per Impression (CPM) in format and are priced and arranged accordingly. Given their short and small nature, these do not require a high amount of input from the user who chooses them.

Setting up and budget.

The campaign at LinkedIn can be set up from the first time to the nth time in the same part of the site, which is their Campaign Manager platform. There is a simple process that needs to be followed to set up the campaign.

• Choose the bid amount that you wish to spend on your campaign along with a bid type.
• Remember that your ad is competing with others having the same audience; therefore, a bidding process occurs.
• Once you finalize your bid, submit it to LinkedIn. If you are not proficient in this, you should let the AI system available there to do it for you.
• The choices you make are either setting a total budget only or a total and daily budget.
• Your bid type depends on the kind of campaigns we mentioned above.
• Remember, your bid needs to be well budgeted and competitive in order not to lose out.
• Once your bid is submitted, if you win, your ads will play as you planned, or you will be informed to make a better bid.

Ad Copy Details

Apart from the bidding, the details you provide are very important for them to decide how successful your campaign will be. Your ads need to be attractive to the people viewing them, or they won’t get clicked and explored, making the entire process nearly worthless for you.

The two most important details in your ad are the headline and the description, given you have the ideal image/ video already chosen.

The right headline

Your ad headline is the one item that will surely catch the eye of your target audience, even if for just a second. This means that this is that part of the ad that you cannot afford to get wrong. Here are a few quick tips for creating a good headline:

• Use Title Case lettering always
• Make an unambiguous and clear offer directly
• Make sure you use strong action words to come across as direct and straightforward
• Entice by asking a question that makes them stop and think so that your ad has more time to impact them
• Highlight the best information such as a discount or offer
• Use language and words tuned for your audience specifically
• Have an ad that is well connected with what it leads to and where it is present. Let it not look out of place or misleading in the slightest
• Do not use company or brand name in the headline itself
• Remember not to have a negativity-based headline when it comes to LinkedIn
• Do not have a headline that can be seen as anti any person or entity
• Remember to highlight and shine your unique selling point in your headline

The correct description 

Once your headline and video/ image have managed to catch the person’s attention, the description does the work of finally convincing them to act on what you want from them. This means your description has to be on point. A few things to always remember when making a description are:

• Use the sentence case when writing it
• Make sure to provide all the needed details and not leave the person guessing
• Do not make mentions of unqualified or impossible claims
• Have a strong call to action
• Appeal to the professional in the person as it is on LinkedIn
• Form a connection with the person’s need and not just demand

Case Study

This case study is all about the performance of ABN AMRO since utilizing LinkedIn to promote it.

The bank showed its strong knowledge of numerous industries with a policy focused on research and optimization.

In order to demonstrate its awareness of industries by exchanging related material, ABN AMRO’S corporate banking division created its ‘Vision on Industries’ campaign. The 0.78 percent click-through rate pointed to an inventive and responsive way to replicate the program’s goals at a price that was part of market requirements.

Building trust through a customized approach

The precision targeting of LinkedIn was much more than a medium for supplying Content for ABN AMRO. It provided a highly targeted approach in the ‘Vision on Industries’ initiative, with five individual content pieces for each industry.

 “Part of the reason this campaign did so well was the well-defined target audiences we were reaching out to – and LinkedIn’s ability to deliver the right content to the right people,” explains Guido Smit, Dialogue Manager at ABN AMRO.  With a dedication to respond to any statements within 10 minutes, the webcare team from ABN AMRO had tracked the LinkedIn feed carefully.  “There’s real value in a bank committing to responding this way,” says Guido. “We’ve seen in the past that a quick response really helps to turn around sentiment and perceptions.”

As a part of the content campaign, a commitment to fast response often characterized the methodology of ABN AMRO for testing and learning. For each one of its 55 posts, the bank checked a variety of various variations of titles and imagery. This raised the click-through rates and decreased cost per click by more than 20%.

The methodology focused on tests often promoted a more innovative attitude towards sponsored Content, building on previous campaigns’ expertise and use insightful pictures to catch attention in the LinkedIn feed.

 “We don’t believe that B2B marketing has to be boring,” says Guido. “It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to reach a business person or a consumer – it’s still human-to-human communication. Our testing quickly proved that a sense of humour and original visuals were most effective at driving engagement.”

Rapid learning moves the needle on engagement.

As a part of the content campaign, a commitment to fast response often characterized the methodology of ABN AMRO for testing and learning. For each one of its 55 posts, the bank checked a variety of various variations of titles and imagery. This raised the click-through rates and decreased cost per click by more than 20%. The methodology focused on tests often promoted a more innovative attitude towards sponsored Content, building on previous campaigns’ expertise and use insightful pictures to catch attention in the LinkedIn feed. “We don’t believe that B2B marketing has to be boring,” says Guido. “It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to reach a business person or a consumer – it’s still human-to-human communication. Our testing quickly proved that a sense of humor and original visuals were most effective at driving engagement.”

The challenges

• To establish ABN AMRO as the lead source of industry expertise
• To drive and boost visits to the brand’s insights website
• Brand image strengthening for ABN AMRO’s corporate banking

Solutions

• Track and multiple direct techniques to the headlines and pictures with Direct Sponsored Content
• Accuracy aimed at policymakers in financial sectors
• Sponsored Content to help the ‘Vision on Industries’ initiative, primarily designed for Eleven industries
• Five posts per sector with a combination of consumer narratives, data-oriented analysis, and creative thinking

Results

• The click-through rate of 0.78% was almost twice that of the industry
• With far more than 40,000 visitors experiencing economic and sector-specific data through their Insights platform, ABN AMRO had overcome all campaign objectives.
• Costs per click were less than half the market benchmarks.

Right from traffic quality to improved cost-per-click rates, appropriate user-specific Content, and a competent, knowledgeable content environment with a highly responsive dialogue and new ideas, LinkedIn is your one-stop solution for optimized ad campaigns.

About the author

An enthusiastic Human Being with a zeal to express as much she can in words... and Blogs gave her a medium to express and share her knowledge. Has written for eminent blogs and fields like the social media, internet marketing, technology, lifestyle (tattoos, body art, fashion, etc.), politics, and the list is still increasing.