Advertising Options

LinkedIn ads are terrific tools if you are trying to connect with and impress business professionals. In addition to building your personal network, LinkedIn advertising tools allow you to target a very specific market segment. You can reach business owners, department heads or solo entrepreneurs with a few clicks and as little as $10/day.

Like other social media platforms, LinkedIn offers both text ads and sponsored posts. Both types of ads can be used to drive traffic to your company page on LinkedIn, a page on your website, an event registration page or any external URL. Which type is best for you? Well there are advantages to both of these types of advertisements depending on your objective. .

The Text Ad

Text ads appear in the sidebar of multiple pages including the Homepage, Profile page, Inbox, Company page and Search results page.The benefit is that your ad will “follow” prospects as they navigate through the LinkedIn site.

The ads are somewhat limited because they only appear on the desktop version of the program. If however, your objective is to reach a decision maker at their desk, the LinkedIn text ad is an ideal choice.

Text ads are limited to 25 characters for the headline and 75 more for the description. The featured image included with the advertisement can be no more than 50 x 50 so you need to think carefully about your message. A thought provoking, attention grabbing headline is an absolute must.

These ads are displayed differently as you move through LinkedIn. Sometimes they are horizontal, on other pages they display vertically and on others they are simply a text link at the top of the page.

As  you create your text ad, look at all the previews to be sure you ad is compelling in each format. 

 
LinkedIn Text Ad Examples

Sponsored Post

There is one disadvantage of a sponsored post. It will only appear in the news feed on the home page. So if you don’t grab someone’s attention in the feed you don’t have the ability to follow them throughout the site. Since this is usually the first stop for most people, you will have an opportunity to get in front of your target briefly on each visit.

On the other hand, the sponsored post has some definite advantages over the text ad. First a sponsored post will display on both desktop and mobile versions. If your target is a sales person or other professional who spends a good deal of their working day away from their desk, the sponsored post is a better way to reach them on the go.

These ads are more likely to be read because the content feels more informational and less like a sales pitch to your audience. If you choose the right content to boost you may even capture additional (free) organic traffic as it is shared and re-shared because it looks natural in the timeline.

You have more freedom with the design as you choose a full size image, longer description (some cropping may occur with a read more link) and a hyperlink to your advertising destination.

As you create your advertisement you can choose to sponsor an existing post or create something new. Using existing content allows you to launch an ad in just a few minutes, so I always recommend this strategy.

To get started, review the performance of different posts on the timeline of your company page. Find a post which has already done well and use this as the foundation of your ad. You already know the content has been interesting to a segment of your community, the ad will allow you to expose a wider audience to the message.

LinkedIn Ads  – How to get started

Ready to work on your LinkedIn ads?  Grab a copy of our free guide.

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