PPCChat | LinkedIn Ads | 15th October 2019

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Hosted by @wilcoxaj, this week’s PPCChat session had discussed the favorite new LinkedIn feature, LinkedIn Ads targeting facet, Changeover in LinkedIn Ads performance over the last quarter or year and more.

 

Q1: When do you use #LinkedInAds and why?

 

We use LI for our B2B clients all the time. Great for mid-funnel engagement of quality prospects. @Mel66

I find LinkedIn Ads to be best for B2B clients with big ticket products/services. @MaverickAdverts

When to use LI Ads – High LTV – B2B – When Sales and Marketing are aligned i.e. you’re not ONLY incentivized by lead volume but QUALITY TOO! @markpgus

Assuming this means “in what situations” and not “what time of day” … I like #LinkedInAds for clients who are trying to qualify traffic with professional criteria (job titles/functions, industry, company size). And have healthy budgets to invest! @akaEmmaLouise

When the audience for the ad is the kind of person who interacts 1) in the feed or 2) via LinkedIn messaging. @ferkungamaboobo

Using in-house for B2B SaaS. @HayleyDeee

I love #LinkedInAds for lead generation for high-LTV (mostly B2B) companies. Also white-collar hiring campaigns and higher ed. The targeting is ideal for these, and they are valuable enough to afford higher CPCs. @wilcoxaj

I’ve never run a LinkedIn Ad campaign. @d_scott

B2B and Higher Ed because of big ticket and long consideration cycles. @SEMFlem

I haven’t used them in a while, so I’m interested in hearing what others are doing on the platform lately…@NeptuneMoon

It’s rare for us to do them, but when we have a client selling big ticket B2B it’s usually the first port of call (after ensuring they got their sales process in place via #hubspot ) @jimbanks

Exclusively on B2B efforts (most often, financial services) @JonKagan

B2B, mostly for SaaS, education verticals. @bufoting

 

Q2: @LinkedInmktg is going on a tear with product releases. What’s your favorite new #LinkedInAds feature?

 

I like the new objective-based campaigns. Carousel ads are great and get huge CTR. Audience Intelligence is awesome too. @Mel66

Not sure how “new” it is, but carousal ads are great for featuring the benefits of a product/service in the education phase. @MaverickAdverts

Not actually sure how new, but it’s newly discovered by me: I LOVE the campaign duplication feature! @akaEmmaLouise

I’m absolutely in love with the new Audience Intelligence within the targeting where you can see the segment breakdown of what your audience consists of. SO much insight there that we didn’t have before. @wilcoxaj

The one where they convince me that the sketchy “business proposal” unsolicited inmails, aren’t an elaborate phishing scheme. @JonKagan

 

Q3: Of the 23 ways to target on #LinkedInAds, what’s the one targeting facet you couldn’t live without?

 

So this isn’t specific to LinkedIn, but honestly I would have to place Geo targeting at the top of the list. LinkedIn-specific, though, I’d say either 1) company size 2) job function or 3) education (depending on the client). @akaEmmaLouise

Company size. No one else has it. Seniority a close second. Skills a close third. @Mel66

SENIORITY! I love the seniority filter. Not only do I use it for ensuring we’re getting only the right level of person, I also break out campaigns by it to get a read on which level in the organization does my copy/offer speak to.@wilcoxaj

Targeting by Job Experience is a MUST unless you’re importing an email list. @MaverickAdverts

Lower the average CPC – they tend to add up, especially when you’re experimenting messaging with a new client. @MaverickAdverts

Honestly let’s just talk about how the targeting is actually legit. I feel much more confident in the audiences provided in LI than any other platform (including exact match search) Skill: that i told LI i’m good at. Job title: that is up to date. Etc. @markpgus

Company size really important to us. Skills, job titles also come in useful but from that, we really need to home in on the medium sized companies @HayleyDeee

Title and “years in the game” (fancy way of saying level/seniority) @JonKagan

 

Q4: If you could wave a magic wand and #LinkedInAds could do anything, what would it be? And why?

 

BULK ANYTHING!!! Creation, editing, bid/budget adjustments, view targeting for multiple campaigns at once… all would be game changers! @akaEmmaLouise

Lower CPCs. Hands down. It’s honestly a barrier to more clients using LI because the CPCs kill the CPA. @Mel66

Lower the average CPC – they tend to add up, especially when you’re experimenting messaging with a new client. @MaverickAdverts

I’d love to do a cross over with Bing (that actually had real substance of it), or GA integration. @JonKagan

I’ve got a few wishes for #LinkedInAds – hourly reporting, device targeting, change from UTC timezone. But getting creative, I’d have to say I wish we had the ability to target keywords in titles (not just the full job title). @wilcoxaj

Get rid of the ridiculous floors and let competition raise CPMs accordingly… Let everyone win initially instead of making us either live or die by LI Ads. @markpgus

Day parting! @HayleyDeee

Like everyone else is saying…. Departing. You’d think an ad platform would look at their data… see when people are there… and realize that advertisers probably want to control when they show ads… but nah they got us fam…@markpgus

Integrate more targeting parameters with @MSFTAdvertising  Good starting point with what’s there but would love to see groups, titles, etc. @timothyjjensen

 

Q5: What have you noticed changing in your #LinkedInAds performance over the last quarter or year? Positive or negative.

 

More features allow more flexibility, so positive. Naturally, more competition can change things. @MaverickAdverts

My LinkedIn ads performance has DEFINITELY improved over the last year, but idk how much of that is the result of the platform changing vs. the fact that I’ve learned and gotten better at using it. @akaEmmaLouise

Neither, which is disappointing, really hoped the microsoft connection would help them do more. @JonKagan

I’ve seen costs rise slightly/steadily, but we always see costs rise after Q1. Will be interested to compare January’s performance to see if it’s just seasonality or competition as the masses move from FB as cost rise there. @wilcoxaj

 

Q6: How has your #LinkedInAds approach changed in the last quarter or year?

 

My approach hasn’t changed much. Despite all the new features like objectives and automated bidding, I’m still finding the most success with CPC bidding. We’re using LeadGen Forms a lot more, though – 60% of our clients now. @wilcoxaj

I have seen people start to slow down and become more methodical with how they spend. It’s really interesting to see how users are more concerned with performance now than they are the rest of the year. @Codyhowel4

They’re the same. I rely on the fundamentals that transcend any specific platform. The rest is keeping up with trends and such. @MaverickAdverts

Again, depends on the client, but I’ve started concentrating LI efforts on mid-funnel audiences. Too expensive for awareness, and other channels are more efficient for regular retargeting. LI is killing it with ABM and matched audiences though. @akaEmmaLouise

 

Q7: What has surprised you most on #LinkedInAds? Take this any direction you want.

 

That sometimes less precise targeting performs the best despite all the incredible granularity you have access to @timothyjjensen

I’m a broken record today but I’m surprised at the features they’ve *chosen* to adopt from other (unnamed) social platforms while ignoring some of the most basic convenience features. @akaEmmaLouise

Targeting groups doesn’t always work well. It’s been 50/50 for me. Thought it would be more like 90/10. @MaverickAdverts

And…that you still can’t truly customize columns in the UI (beyond a few pre-defined options). Seriously peoplez @LinkedInMktg @MaverickAdverts

I’m still surprised when a bottom-of-the-funnel works well to cold traffic. Had a travel company last month that was getting signups for less than most are getting content asset downloads! @wilcoxaj

Lack of support. There’s a ‘chat support’ pop up which is not visible all the time, which often makes it longer to solve issues. @bufoting

 

Q8: Where do you see #LinkedInAds going over the next several years and how do you plan on using it?

 

I would like to see LinkedIn and Microsoft Ads really get integrated. Stop slow rolling it already and power them both up by integrating them more fully! @NeptuneMoon

The competition (and saturation) will increase. Otherwise, I don’t see it changing that much. @MaverickAdverts

I think LinkedIn will become more and more involved in the ABM sector. Idk if a partnership is in their future, or developing more capabilities natively. @akaEmmaLouise

True integration with MS Ads. Options are pretty limited rn. If we can get better prices and better reporting, the sky’s the limit. @Mel66

Touched on in a previous response, but I think a big area to watch is further integration with Microsoft Advertising both for search and MSAN @timothyjjensen

LinkedIn PPC prices have stayed relatively steady for the last few years since organic use has been crazy on LI, opening up additional ad inventory. Facebook prices keep climbing, so I expect LI CPCs to rise faster as FB advertisers move to LI in droves. @wilcoxaj

 

Q9: Bonus! Did you guys see the announcement this am about Company Pages? Admins will now be able to push messages to employees, which should help get sharing/engagement up for Company Pages!

 

That’s HUGE! Seems like the opposite of what Facebook is doing, as far as limiting organic brand reach. @MaverickAdverts

Cont’d… Individuals carry so much more weight than companies in the newsfeed, so now this is a way for companies to leverage employees’ shares. @wilcoxaj

 

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