The “new normal” world we’re moving into post-pandemic is going to be like unchartered territory for many advertisers. For one, some social media platforms were actually declining in user figures before lockdown forced most of humanity indoors and onto their devices in the name of boredom slaying. Today, social media is seeing a huge surge of adoption, and experts agree that social media advertising is going to be a critical component of the post-pandemic B2B and B2C marketing mix. So, if you’re considering LinkedIn as your preferred social media advertising channel, here’s how to go about it:
6 Steps to LinkedIn advertising success
Step 1: Campaign manager account
Before running amazing ads on LinkedIn, you’ll need to set up a Campaign Manager account. With this, you’ll be able to setup campaign goals, your campaign budgets, and gives you a dashboard to control your advertising at all times. It also awards access to dynamic visual reporting on your search and filter settings, and a highly-detailed breakdown of the actions that have been taken on your ad.
Step 2: Decide on your objectives
Once your manager account is created, you’ll need to create a campaign. Here LinkedIn lets you choose between three different objectives to work towards Awareness, consideration, and conversion. The first is used to garner brand awareness in the target audience, while the second and third objectives push for website visits and conversions. The objectives you set will affect the setup of your entire campaign, so pick carefully.
Step 3: Build your target audience
Got target audience personas in place? These can greatly help with step 3, which is all about the people that are going to see your ad. LinkedIn lets you carefully define the ideal audience member, with over 20 attributes you can set, including job title, skills, company size, company name, member interests, and others. LinkedIn recommends that audiences be set at 15,000 for Sponsored InMail, and at least 50,000 for other campaigns.
Step 4: Choose your advert format
This is where you begin dabbling with the actual content that your potential customers will see. LinkedIn offers advertisers these options: single image, video, carousel image, message, text, and dynamic. The type of advert you develop will influence the way your target audience members engage with the advert, so it’s worth considering the path your creative content will take before deciding on an ad format.
Step 5: Set a budget and schedule
Like most good things in life, LinkedIn advertising costs money. Luckily, LinkedIn (like most other digital advertising providers) offers advertisers three options: cost-per-send (CPS – only charged when InMail is successfully sent), cost-per-click (CPC – charged only when the ad is engaged with), and cost-per-impression (CPM – charged for every view of the ad). Again, your objectives will determine the right budget settings.
Step 6: Measure the ad performance
Once your LinkedIn ad has a budget, and you’ve scheduled a date and time for it to go live, the easy part is over. Next, advertisers should carefully monitor campaign performance, being ready and able to jump in and make tweaks or answer audience members’ questions regarding the campaign and its message. The fantastic thing is that it is feasible for you to take a breather in a campaign, or even abandon it, at any time.
Get in touch with the Digital School of Marketing
Ready to rock and roll as a qualified social media marketing professional? Take a look at the accredited National Certificate of Advertising and Advanced Digital Marketing from DSM! Want more information on any of our popular digital marketing qualifications? Contact us today and we’ll take you through the whole process
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