Page 198 - Social Media Marketing for Dummies

» Dynamic ads: This ad format allows you to engage prospects with ads that
are automatically personalized to them based on everything they’ve published
on LinkedIn. They can include their profile data such as their photo, company
name, job title, and more. It allows you to have automated campaigns on a
huge scale that appears as if they’ve been personalized for each user individu-
ally. Depending on what content you’re using for the ads, these can be effective
for building brand awareness, driving traffic, and converting prospects.

In a similar fashion to Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn helps you identify the right
ad formats based on your objective. Objectives are categorized as Awareness
(Brand Awareness), Consideration (Website Visits, Engagement, Video Views),
and Conversions (Lead Generation, Website Conversions, and Job Applicants).

LinkedIn does a good job of helping you segment your ad targets, so knowing who
you’re targeting is important. In addition to the kind of segmentation you have
probably gotten used to expecting on most social media platforms, LinkedIn offers
some unique filters that are more professional oriented. Some of these include:

» Industry: There is a large list of worldwide industries to choose from. The
LinkedIn report shows that the top five industries represented are Higher Ed
at 18.7 percent, Information Technology and Services at 13.9 percent,
Financial Services at 11.6 percent, Retail at 10.9 percent, and Computer
Software at 8.9 percent.
» Seniority: This segment pertains to job seniority, with 2 million members
identifying themselves as holding C-suite jobs. (A C-suite job refers to a job
with a C in the title, such as CEO, CFO, or COO.)

» Job titles: While a little similar to seniority, this filter lets you narrow your
audience by specific job titles such as Director, Engineer, Manager, and Sales
(to name just a few).
» Geography: The entire world is represented. The United States is the largest
group, with more than 27 percent of LinkedIn members residing there.

» Job function: The top five job functions reported are Sales, Management,
Business Development, Information Technology, and Marketing.
» Gender: LinkedIn skews — 57 percent male and 43 percent female.

Carefully go over the details of ad spending. The ad itself is not unlike the one you
might create for Google. If you decide to try advertising on LinkedIn, look at
several ads and see what’s possible. As with any other ad platforms, the costs can
mount, so you need to set goals and limits.

182 PART 3 Reaching Your Audience via Mainstream Social Platforms