How To Effectively Use Linkedin Ads For Lead Generation

There’s no doubt Linkedin is a very powerful social network, especially since it’s the largest professional network with over 400 million users. It is not just a network to facilitate the recruitment process or the job hunting process. It is among the most powerful platforms for marketing and for doing business.

Although it’s such a powerful platform, many business owners are not using it to its full potential and are yet to explore how to advertise on Linkedin effectively.

Linkedin ads is a self-serving advertising platform that allows you to reach a targeted audience of your choice. All you need is a credit card and a Linkedin account.

There are 2 types of Linkedin ads.

• Text and image ads
• Sponsored Content

Text ads appear on the right hand side of the news feed and contain three elements:

A headline, a description and an image.

Text ads allow you to choose the audience you want to reach and allow you to set your own budget without any long term commitment. You can run advertising on Linkedin for as long as you want and invest as little or as much as you want. Text ads also allow you to pay per click or per impression.

To get started, simply go to https://www.linkedin.com/ad or click on “business services” then click on “advertise”.

Next, click on “text and image ads”, then click on “create an ad”.

Then, click on your ad account, and click on “select” next to “text ads”.

Next, name your Linkedin campaign. No one will see the name, only you. For example, if you’re setting up a Linkedin campaign to promote an event, you can name the Linkedin campaign the name of your event and specify it’s a “text ad”. Remember, you can create up to 100 ad variations when you advertise on Linkedin to see which combination of text, headline and image is most effective.

You then have 2 options. You can either redirect people who click on your ad, to your Linkedin page if you have one, or to your website. Then type in your headline and description and upload a photo. You can also choose between 4 layouts: square, tall, horizontal, and long.

After, click on “next” to choose your Linkedin ad targeting. Linkedin ad targeting options include geographic location, age, gender, job title and many more.

Once you have decided on your target market, decide on the budget and whether you want to be charged per click or impressions. There is no right or wrong choice. It’s best to choose what gets you the best results at the lowest cost. You might want to run a text ad and pay per click and the same text ad and pay per impression to see what works best for you.

Then, click on launch campaign.

Sponsored updates on the other hand, appear in the Linkedin feed. These ads allow you to get your posts to more people and attract new followers. Plus, they appear on desktop computers, tablets, and mobile devices.

To set up a sponsored update ad you will need to create a Linkedin company page or a Linkedin showcase page. Then, go to https://www.linkedin.com/ad or click on “business services” then click on “advertise”.

Then, click on “Sponsored content”.

After following the prompts, insert the link of your company page, select your currency, and click on “save”.

Next, name your campaign and add “sponsored update ad” to differentiate between your text ad campaign and sponsored update campaign.

You can select a post already published that you wish to advertise on Linkedin, or you can create a new post by clicking on “create new sponsored content”.

Then, decide on the Linkedin ad targeting options you will use, and click on next. Then decide on your budget and click on next. Add your payment details and click on review order. Linkedin will then either approve your ad if it follows their advertising guidelines or disapprove it.

The key when launching paid advertising campaigns is to closely monitor daily what is performing best and test different ad variations. When you spot ads that perform well, you can increase your budget for those and cancel ads that don’t perform as well. In addition, test different images, headlines, calls to action and descriptions to be able to put together a winning ad.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post on how to advertise on Linkedin effectively, for traffic and lead generation, remember to like this video, share it, and leave a comment below. To receive more social media tips, make sure you subscribe to our Youtube channel.

About the Author

Corinna Essa

Corinna Essa is known internationally as the go-to person when it comes to social media marketing.

Corinna owns a social media marketing company helping businesses around the world leverage the power of social media without doing any of the legwork. Her company has been featured in many media outlets including Sky Business news, Working Women magazine, Ymagazine, Tasmanian Times, Channel 7 and 101fm.

Corinna is also the author of 2 bestselling books “Money On Demand – The 16 Fastest Ways to Becoming a Millionaire Online” and “Reach: The SECRETS to converting your social media audience into your network marketing downline fast”