New to LinkedIn ads? It’s time to double down in 2019.
LinkedIn is growing all the time. Over 30 million companies are now registered on the social media platform, while 41% of millionaires are on there. It’s where business link up with each other and clients connect with employees.
As with all social media platforms, however, making yourself heard above the noise can be tricky. Ads help, but reaching your target audience and making sales requires a bit of finesse.
In this article, we take a look at how to use LinkedIn ads so that the sales build up. But first…
The Different Types of LinkedIn Ads
In 2019, there are more LinkedIn ad types than ever. Here is the updated list:
Sponsored Content
Sponsored content promotes content that you’ve already created to your targeted audience. It increases awareness of your brand and can help you to build a bigger following.
LinkedIn Text Ads
Text ads drive traffic to your website or LinkedIn business page. They’re easy to use but they only run on desktop.
Sponsored InMail
Sponsored InMail is a personalised message that you deliver to your targeted audiences LinkedIn inboxes. They work because they help to establish trust. After all, we trust people more when they’re talking specifically at us.
Moreover, they help to encourage more conversations.
Video Ads
Video ads were introduced to LinkedIn in 2018, and they’re already a super popular way of increasing awareness of a brand and reaching more people.
Plus, with a video you get to show people how hip you are.
Display Ads
A display ad can be an image, a video or text, and it’s a way of boosting your visibility in a highly cluttered environment. If you want to be seen by more people, display ads are well worth considering.
Dynamic Ads
Dynamic ads let you target audiences at the right time with the right message. For example, if a business is looking for your service, you can target them with your ad. It’s a great way to build leads and get more responses.
Now that you know what types of ads are open to you let’s take a look at how to use LinkedIn ads to boost your sales.
Humanize Your Brand
Especially if you’re creating video ads, you should seek to humanise your brand so that you make a stronger connection with people on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn might be a social network for professionals, but people still love to be entertained. Remember that catching the eye of businesses is difficult, and also that business owners absolutely love it when something different catches their eye. It helps to break up the monotony of their day, that’s for sure.
Aim to push emotional buttons by adding humour, a sense of fun, and empathy to your ads.
VistaVu made their ad fun when they tapped into the ‘deadly sins’ of oilfield service companies.
When you use humour, though, make sure the context is right, and make sure you understand your niche.
Exploit Lead Generation Forms
Lead generation forms are available for both InMail and sponsored content. They’re there ideal to skyrocket your leads because they make it so easy for your prospects to fill things in. Instead of them being redirected elsewhere, they can fill your form in there and then. Bingo.
When creating your lead generation forms, don’t add too many fields. Make this easy for them.
Clearly highlight the value they’ll be getting from signing up, too.
Use Images
Posts with images attract far more engagement than posts without them. If your text ad has no images, you will ultimately lose out.
The thing with images is that they should stand out, but they should also be relevant. They also need to be of a high quality, too. If you’re worried that you can’t afford to keep adding top notch images to your sites, check out these 20 free sites for awesome photos.
Use Variations Of The Same Ad
LinkedIn allows you to chop and change the exact content your audience sees, so it’s a good idea to experiment to see what works best.
This is especially true of sponsored content. In fact, your campaign manager allows you to tweak things so that audiences only see your best performing content.
Things you should test daily include your image, your call to action and your ad’s copy. Change things around regularly. It could be that a small change to your call to action sees your sales go through the roof.
Indeed, research has shown that changing your image can boost sales by 3x.
Get Your Bid Type Right
This is crucial because your bid type is what can reduce or boost sales. Make sure that you bid correctly so as to stay within your budget and meet your goals.
Here are the 2 bid types to pick from:
Cost per Thousand Impressions
With this one, you pay for every 1,000 ad impressions. The good thing is that it’s up to you to cap how much you’ll pay for 1,000 impressions.
If you’re looking to increase brand awareness, cost per thousand impressions is a good idea. But if you want to boost sales, it’s much better to go with …
Cost per Click
Cost per click means you only pay each time someone clicks on your ad. It’s up to you how much you want to pay for each click. Of course, the more you pay, the higher your chances are of increasing conversions and landing those all-important sales.
Be Strategic with Your Sponsored InMail Campaigns
We mentioned sponsored InMail earlier, and it’s one of the best ad types for boosting sales, simply because it’s so personal. You’re right there in a prospects inbox, and you’re addressing them directly.
However, you need to get this right if you want to increase sales. To that end, you need to fine-tune your targeting using your audience data and LinkedIn’s demographic data. You need to be conversational and engaging with your copy, and you need to make your intentions clear with a call to action that lets them know exactly what it is you want them to do.
Words and phrases you should use in your call to action include ‘confirm’, ‘join’, ‘reserve’, ‘Get Started Now’, and ‘register.’
Make sure your sponsored InMail campaigns are optimised for mobile, too (make sure all your ads are optimised for mobile!).
Conclusion
LinkedIn is a great way for businesses to build leads and generate more sales. Use these tips to refine your ads so that you’re no longer throwing money away. Make 2019 your LinkedIn Year and you should see your business grow and grow.
