So you have in place a strategy for LinkedIn, and you’ve even begun investing in ads. Well done! However, you are not starting to see results?
We’ve all been there. Here are some helpful tips to help you better understand what might be happening behind your LinkedIn ad.
What is conversion?
Ideally, this is a question to ask yourself before you deep dive and invest in LinkedIn advertising. Basically, ask yourself what you hope to do through your LinkedIn ads.
Most of your answers will likely be that you want to “convert” your ads.
This brings us to the next question.
What do you mean by “converting” your ad?
Remember that conversion can look different to many people.
- For some, this could mean a direct purchase from your website.
- For another, this could mean when someone submits a resume to a job posting.
- Or for another company, conversion can also mean a direct visit from the customer to their brick-and-mortar store.
So having clarity on this before setting up your LinkedIn ads is crucial.
Now that you have your definition of conversion, let’s look at ad targeting.
Who are you targeting, and is that target group aligned to your company’s buyer persona? If it is not, then chances are that you will not be reaching the people you want to see.
LinkedIn Ads already has in place several options for targeting professional audiences:
– If you have a buyer persona, use it to add targeting parameters such as job title, job seniority, professional skills, or company data.
– If you have a contact list, use Matched Audiences to deliver your ads to the right people.
– To re-engage prospects who already interacted with your brand or ads, create retargeting audiences.
– To reach more people similar to your target audience, use LinkedIn’s Audience Expansion tool.
We start here. Get these basics in place, and from there on, here are five helpful tips to help you get the most out of LinkedIn Ads.
Identify the best CTA for your ads
Basically, ask yourself this. What is it that you want your ad to do?
Do you want to sell a product?
Announce a new product or service launch?
Request for resumes for a job application?
You must identify this call to action before setting up your ad. This would enable the ad to be curated that way and for those writing copy and working on the design to keep the ad’s primary intention.
Create an offer that aligns with your audience
Now that we’ve done our homework before setting up the ad and know who our audience is, spend some time comprehending what would be most attractive to this audience. Find an offer that would attract them and also align with them.
Prove yourself
While these tips don’t necessarily build one on top of the other, we’ve created an offer to align with our audience while presenting them with a call to action that they resonate with. However, what proof can you give them to “convert”? This is keeping in mind what you as a company identify as converting. If it’s a job vacancy, can you share a few employee testimonials from the company on why it’s a great place to work? If you are promoting a product or service, can you get customer reviews? If you are encouraging customers to visit a brick-and-mortar store, are they up for something unique, different, or that would attract them to make the decision? These would be highly tailored and specific so remember to treat these individuals.
Write copy that sells
Keeping in mind your definition of “conversion”, call to action and the audience you are targeting, try to write solution-driven wherever possible.
For example, are you aware that your customer has a challenge or pain point? How can you come up with a solution that will help address this challenge?
What’s more, depending on the CTA you are trying to push, see where you can add a sense of urgency to your ad. This can be an “Offer ends soon” or “Registrations close on Friday 25th”.
Another quick note on the copy is to keep it short. You have your CTA in place, you know who your audience is, and you are aware of what your competition is when the ad is out there. The less text, the better it is. Focus on putting together an artwork that attracts and makes them want to click through to learn more.
Ad or not, let’s keep things professional
Remember the social network you are posting on, even if you are a company that identifies as a “fun” brand. If, as a company, you have an open policy on the use of emojis, GIFs and other fun tools that make copy attractive. At the same time, this cannot be replicated entirely on LinkedIn. Instead, you can see how you could strategically place these tools to attract eyeballs.
One CTA at all times
We discussed this at the beginning, and we will close our tips with a similar point. Try to, at all times, keep your call to action similar. This means that you want to try and push for uniformity across the LinkedIn ads and in the overall copy (at least to a large extent as possible during the time the ad is running).
There you have it. A few tips on us to help you see better results from your LinkedIn ads. Did we miss out on anything? Is there something else that you want to add? Let us know!
