Over the past few months, I’ve seen a shift in what clients and potential clients as for when it comes to paid social. My team and I have been asked a lot more about the benefits and possibilities on both LinkedIn ads and Twitter ads.

In this post, I’ll explore LinkedIn advertising and tackle Twitter advertising in a future post.

A Strategy for the World’s Largest Professional Network

It’s not a surprise to see ad budgets embrace LinkedIn. Although it is still more expensive than many other platforms it has gotten more affordable. Additionally, there are a variety of ad types that perform pretty well. Couple the ad variety and performance with the 722 million members on the world’s most trusted social media platform and you have to think about adding it to your mix.

When my team and I think about paid ads and how to include new platforms into a larger strategy that is forward-focused, we think about exposure and user expectations on each platforms. By doing this we can put an ad sequencing plan together that builds on messages people have seen before.

A good baseline is that for cold professional leads it will take people 3-5 exposures before they’ll act. The bigger and more involved the ask the more this number increases. While this is an argument for sequencing ads and it’s also a recipe for what our ads should do/say.

Two LinkedIn Ad Types Worth Trying

InMail & Conversation Ads – Sending sponsored InMail messages to potential leads is a cost-effective and personal approach to LinkedIn ads. This is also cheaper than the cost-per-click ad types because you page per message sent. 

There are two types of InMail ads, Message ads and Conversation ads. We recommend the Conversation ads as they will provide a more personalized approach with additional opportunities to convert as a user converses with the ad.

These ads provide good results because they are the most personal ads on the LinkedIn platform. They’re also the ones that people see the least as LinkedIn caps the number of ads a user gets each month.

LinkedIn Dynamic Ads – These provide a personalized experience by including options from the viewer’s LinkedIn profile, such as their photo, company name, or job title. They are small in size but have some of the best engagement rates on the platform.

Alone, these are not compelling. But when used as part of an ad sequence they can be. My team often uses this to increase followers. This allows us not just to grow our post reach, but also to create a remarketing audience who already knows who we are and has seen our messages.

Launching Your Next LinkedIn Ad Campaign

I love talking with organizations and brands about how they can expand their reach in a meaningful way on platforms like LinkedIn. While I don’t believe there is one thing that always equals success, I do believe there is an approach that can increase the likelihood of success. In other words, I don’t believe there’s an exact ad mix to achieve success. I believe that approaching paid efforts in a way that acknowledges the need for multiple exposures is key for success.

When we think about ads as a collective we break down the message, we think about what the user/customer/donor might want or need at each step. The questions people ask when introduced to a new brand are often different than the ones they ask when they are “ready” to take an action. Sequencing ads, especially on LinkedIn means using the built-in targeting and remarketing audience lists to share the right message with the right person at the right time.

LinkedIn is likely just one part of your marketing, but it can be a crucial part of your marketing success when done right.