LinkedIn Ads (and the wider paid social space) can feel like the Wild West for the uninitiated. However, behind your conversion tracking, campaign groups and host of campaign objectives, you have arguably the most powerful B2B marketing ad platform out there. But where to begin? 

Well, if you’re a novice when it comes to the wonderful world of LinkedIn paid ads, look no further than these 4 helpful tips. And, if you’re looking for further support, reach out to Missive whose digital experts can help create social campaigns with impact.   

1) Set Clear Objectives  

The first thing you’ll come across when creating your campaign is the option to “select your objective”. LinkedIn kindly categorises each objective under one of three buckets – Awareness, Consideration and Conversion.  

Depending on your selection, LinkedIn will optimise the campaign to generate that desired outcome. For example, the “Brand Awareness” objective under Awareness will optimise the campaign to generate impressions, while “Website Visits” and “Video Views” under the Consideration bucket will optimise the campaign to generate web hits and video views respectively. 

So be sure to select the objective that best fits your goal. Do you want as many eyes as possible on a piece of content, or are you pushing people to a specific landing page? Perhaps you’re utilising a lead gen form to capture leads? Pick wisely, or potentially risk wasting ad spend. 

2) Take your Time when Crafting Your Audience 

For B2B marketing, LinkedIn’s audience targeting capabilities are unmatched. Where platforms like Meta and X are limited by interest-based, keywords and milestones, LinkedIn offers robust and granular targeting options that allow marketers to hone in on the exact individuals they’re after. 

Are you interested in HR decision-makers working in Financial Services? How about the Chief Operating Officers at your 20 biggest target accounts? LinkedIn ads have you covered. 

For those just getting started, we recommend you avoid going too granular and begin by casting out as wide a net as possible. Once the campaign is live, you can monitor the demographics and impact and exclude and reduce the audience if you find your budget is being spent on groups that don’t fully represent your key target personas. 

As a general rule of thumb, a healthy audience size is around 50,000, though we appreciate that B2B businesses may be targeting a far more niche audience. 

3) Create Compelling Ad Copy and Thumb-Stopping Visuals 

Choosing the right LinkedIn ad type, ad copy and visuals are the difference between a high-performing campaign and a dud. You may have the most strategically sound campaign set up, but if you’re not engaging or hooking your audience in, that time you spent setting up is wasted.  

Does your content offer a solution to a critical customer pain point? Are you sharing insights that will be invaluable to your audience? These are a couple of questions to ask when deciding what content you’re promoting.  

As for ad copy, be as concise as possible. Make the call to action very clear. If you can share your message in a short, punchy way, you create less friction for your audience. 

And for the visual, make it ‘thumb-stopping’. How can you stop users from doom-scrolling through their feed? You only have a few seconds to stop the scroll and engage, so make them count! 

4) Don’t Neglect Your Campaign Once it’s Live 

Your campaign is set up. Your ads are perfected. It’s time to go live. But that doesn’t mean you’re finished! The monitoring and optimisation phases are just as important as the set-up and execution. 

As the weeks and months pass, you should constantly be checking in on your campaign performance. How quickly is the budget being spent? What are my performance metrics like? Am I hitting the right audience? 

The data you receive back from your campaign will fuel its ongoing performance. So don’t rest on your laurels – optimise, optimise, optimise! 

LinkedIn Ads offer a powerful way to reach decision-makers and professionals in your target markets. By defining clear objectives, targeting the right audience, creating compelling content, setting appropriate budgets, and consistently optimising your campaigns, you can achieve impressive results on this effective B2B platform. 

If you're looking to maximise the impact of LinkedIn Ads within your wider marketing and communications strategy, Missive can help.