As a channel specializing in business-to-business (B2B) communication, LinkedIn offers strong opportunities for lead generation. Through LinkedIn Ads, not only can you target decision makers directly, you can also make use of gated content to do so. This all happens within the user’s content feed, without asking them to click out to an external website.
If you’re looking for potential leads, LinkedIn presents a solid avenue for collecting contact information from members of your target audience. You will, however, need to produce content — such as reports, white papers, or e-books — to incentivize new prospects. If you regularly host events, consider giving LinkedIn’s recently introduced Event Ads a spin; they’re great for webinars and similar professional gatherings.
While it can be costly, LinkedIn offers tactical audience-targeting capabilities and provides a platform for generating awareness across specific accounts, companies, or industries. As your team starts running campaigns, we recommend these five best practices for more effective lead generation.
1. Use Multiple Ads & Content
- When running LinkedIn campaigns, ensure that the audience you’re serving is exposed to relevant content by using multiple creatives. It’s a great way to increase overall impression share. And if you’re following a cost-per-click (CPC) bidding strategy, you can implement this tactic at no additional cost.
- LinkedIn users scroll through content quickly, making it challenging for your ads to stand out and cut through the clutter. Using bold, direct creatives can short-circuit this constant scroll behavior and help your marketing message connect with relevant users.
2. Refine Your Audience
- When building out your target audience, don’t just go with your gut. A/B testing can help your team determine the audience most receptive to your content. The LinkedIn Campaign Manager allows you to comb through Job Titles, Seniority, and other user categories. So try out different combinations, test, and refine.
- Anecdotally, some of our most successful audience targeting was the result of using direct job titles and uploading customer match audiences based on historical engagements with our clients’ brands.
3. Keep Your Forms Short
- Long forms create an obstacle that can discourage your audience from clicking the Submit button. Use only the basic form fields to avoid chasing users away from your gated content.
- At the time of publication, personal email addresses are commonly used as primary contact information for LinkedIn member accounts. Consider adding a custom “Work Email” short answer field to your forms. Business email addresses can yield better response rates when reaching out to new leads.
4. React Quickly To Contact Submissions
- Warm leads can grow cold quickly. The faster you can follow up, the more likely you are to close a sale.
- Direct each sales development representative (SDR) on your team to respond quickly to form submissions. This will ensure that you’re making the most of your new lead generation funnel.
5. Analyze Leads & Optimize
- Once your campaign begins generating leads, review the overall quality of leads and refine your approach.
- Negating specific job titles may help you avoid displaying content to audiences that fall outside of your target or aren’t providing optimal results.
- Conversely, some job titles may perform better than others. Consider breaking out top performing job titles into a separate campaign and adjust your bids accordingly.
How we can help
While these general best practices may help your LinkedIn Ads drive higher quality leads, each business has its own unique needs.
Working across multiple verticals from B2B to ecommerce, BrainDo tailors its paid media strategies to match the specific objectives of its clients. Whether its help with LinkedIn Ads that you seek or complete media mix planning, our paid media experts can provide the specialized support you need to help grow your business.
Would you like to learn more about how BrainDo can enhance your marketing strategies? Contact us at info@brain.do, and we will get back to you promptly.
