LinkedIn is currently the most popular social networking tool for professionals and at its latest count there were over 100 million users.  This is great news if you look at it as a marketing tool, as by maintaining a presence on the website you can increase your customer base and generate leads that are specific to a chosen demographic.  LinkedIn is so much more than just a bunch of resumes so read on to find out how you can advertise effectively.

What are LinkedIn Ads?

LinkedIn ads work in a similar way to Google Adwords in that they analyse the performance of your advertising campaigns and calculate a score which is used on PPC (pay per click) ads.  Unlike Google Adwords however, LinkedIn only considers two factors: your bid and the all-time CTR (click through rate).  The trick to a successful ad campaign lies with these two factors so as long as you bid in line with the recommended amounts set by LinkedIn and keep your CTR up your campaign is set to be successful.

How to Create an Effective LinkedIn Ad Campaign

If you’re all set to go there are a few extra things that you can do to ensure that your campaign is successful:

• Focus your campaigns so that they target a specific audience

Like most advertising campaigns, they always work best when you specifically target a set audience.  LinkedIn enables you to set your campaign filters to target people of a specific age, gender and geography as well as by the job that they do or the industry that they are in.  The advertisements will work best if you target a specific group of people so for example if you are targeting both medium and big businesses you should create two separate campaigns for each of these.

• Keep your offers simple

There are numerous things that can discourage a potential customer from clicking on your ad, and a confusing offer is one of these.  Your best bet is to create one offer per advertisement and specifically aim this offer at a set demographic.  Although it is possible to run multiple offers at once, and it is easier to set up, it is a lot harder to optimise your offers and could reduce the amount of people who click on your ad.

• Spend your money strategically

The great thing about LinkedIn ads is that you can track how successful they are.  You are able to set a specific daily budget which basically translates into the maximum amount you are happy to spend in one day on advertising.  If you find you aren’t receiving as many clicks as you would like, you may find that your daily budget is too low.  Likewise you may also find that you have a competitor who is trying to advertise to the same demographic as you – in this case you will find that whoever is willing to spend the most money will be the one whose ad is shown.  The best thing to do here is to monitor your campaigns and to adjust them accordingly so that you spend only as much as you need to to make your campaign effective.

LinkedIn is a really great advertising tool if you want to target specific people in a specific industry.  Just remember that what works for you will not necessarily be what works for someone else, it’s all a process of trial and error, but when done correctly LinkedIn advertising can be very effective.