How to Plan a Paid LinkedIn Campaign

The best part? LinkedIn lets you target specific decision makers. Here’s a list of key insights to help you choose the right paid strategy: 

Build your campaign on KPI goals

There are three types of campaign objectives to consider: awareness (reach and impressions); consideration (website visits, video views, and other forms of engagement); and conversion (clicks and leads). Decide which one is most relevant to your business need, then identify your metrics based on that campaign objective.

Pick a type of ad to run

There are lots of options to choose from! Sponsored content can range from a single image to a carousel of 10 or a video. Because the content appears natively in the news feed of your target audience, make sure it doesn’t look like an ad—the content should be helpful and relevant. If you choose to do a video, add subtitles since 85% of users will play it without sound and keep the length under 30 seconds. LinkedIn also offers a Lead Gen Form which is served with the content and auto-filled using the user’s profile. You could also send a Direct Message (formerly known as sponsored InMail) but that can come across as spammy if not done well. 

Target professionals based on their business profiles

Find specific audiences based on geographic location or other attributes such as company (connections, industry, size, name, followers, category or growth rate), job experience (function, seniority, title, skills), education (degrees, study fields and member schools), demographics (age and gender), interests and traits. Remember, the more narrow the targeting, the higher the cost per click (CPC) and cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM) tend to be. Start with a broader reach, then continue to refine based on performance.

Customize audience segments

You can upload a company or contact list or retarget people who visited a page on your website, viewed your video ad, opened or submitted your Lead Gen Form, engaged with your LinkedIn Page or RSVP’d for your LinkedIn Event. If you plan to set up a retargeting campaign from website visits, you will need to install the LinkedIn Insight Tag to your website first.

Create your ad copy

Know what you are trying to do. Are you raising awareness for your brand? Do you want to encourage a specific action? Focus on grabbing attention in the first 140 characters because the rest of your message will be hidden by a “see more” button. Use simple copy, include a strong CTA, play with spacing and make the content relevant (why should they care now). Limit the post copy to only include one clickable item, which should be the action you’re looking for your audience to perform.  

Plan on a bigger budget

Because you can target niche audiences, it’s more expensive. LinkedIn recommends budgeting $100/day for your first campaign. The minimum CPC or CPM bid is $2, but on average, you can expect to pay $5-7 (sometimes more) depending on your goals and targeting. Your budget should depend on your goals, creative assets, and the size of your audience.