Rome wasn’t built in a day. But it would have taken a whole lot longer than it did if the architects behind this legendary ancient city couldn’t figure out what they were going to build with.
Brand-building, much like Rome-building, takes time. It is a methodical and progressive pursuit. But brands aren’t making progress in this essential area until they select their channels and tools, and get to work.
Top Tools for Brand-Building on LinkedIn
Our new pocket guide will help you understand the LinkedIn tools and capabilities that can be most helpful toward supporting your efforts on the platform. Here’s a quick overview.
Sponsored Content: Single Image Ad, Carousel Ads, and Video Ads
Publishing organic content from your company’s LinkedIn Page can help you reach and engage with people who follow your Page. Publishing Sponsored Content enables you to expand the reach of your content to new targeted audiences, while growing your Page following in the process.
Each of these Sponsored Content options can serve a different purpose. Single Image Ads help you drive traffic to a specific destination with powerful visuals and corresponding copy. Video Ads put your brand into motion on the feeds of members. With Carousel Ads, you can tell a story through an interactive series of image cards.
Use Sponsored Content When: You want to build brand awareness with broader relevant audiences, and drive traffic to ebooks, whitepapers, case studies, helpful how-to content, and more.
- Pro Tip: 80% of Sponsored Content engagement comes from mobile devices, so make sure that whatever destination you’re linking to (be it your website, or a landing page, or otherwise) is responsive and mobile-friendly to ensure a quality user experience!
Sponsored Messaging: Message Ads and Conversation Ads
Sponsored Messaging offers a more direct and interactive form of engagement with prospects and customers. Advertisers have two options within this category:
- With Message Ads, you can deliver personalized messages directly to your audience, sparking an immediate action or dialogue.
- With Conversation Ads, you can provide an interactive experience in the InMail inbox, with members able to choose from multiple pre-set paths based on their responses.
Use Sponsored Messaging When: You want to boost conversions with targeted product or service promotions, promote content you want your audience to see, or personalize invitations to webinars or virtual events.
- Pro Tip: Use Message Ads for single-CTA campaigns, and Conversation Ads for multi-CTA campaigns.
LinkedIn Text Ads
If you’re interested in running a simple and straightforward pay-per-click campaign on LinkedIn, Text Ads are your go-to choice. They’re self-service, and you can closely control your budget while only paying for your desired results (i.e., clicks or impressions).
Text Ads appear alongside a member’s feed, engaging them as they scroll through LinkedIn with a business-ready mindset.
Use LinkedIn Text Ads When: You want to target a premium professional audience to drive downloads, subscriptions, or sign-ups in a cost-efficient manner.
- Pro Tip: Use conversion tracking to understand who’s taking action on your ads and tailor your messaging to the demographics most drawn to them (or tweak your messaging if you’re not resonating with the right people).
Personalized Targeting with Dynamic Ads
Every marketer knows how important message relevancy is for success in content and campaigns. Dynamic Ads take relevance to the next level by automatically incorporating members’ profile data into the creative. Three different options are available within this offering:
- Follower Ads invite members to follow your LinkedIn Page or Showcase Page, displaying their profile image next to your brand logo to illustrate why it’s a perfect match.
- Spotlight Ads are similar in makeup, but they drive to different CTAs such as event registrations, newsletter subscriptions, landing pages, and more.
- Content Ads help you generate leads with direct download links. (Note that this option is currently only available through a LinkedIn rep.)
Use Dynamic Ads When: You’ve got a very specific promotional objective and you really want to break through with your audience through powerfully personalized ads.
- Pro Tip: Refer to Dynamic Ad specifications to be sure your ads are formatted properly.
Matched Audiences Targeting
LinkedIn equips you with an unparalleled range of built-in ad targeting capabilities, but you can make them even more powerful by taking advantage of Matched Audiences. These three tools enable you to combine LinkedIn’s trusted professional data with your own data:
- Website Retargeting allows you to retarget and nurture visitors to your website while they’re on LinkedIn.
- Account Targeting enhances ABM programs by providing far greater insight around the layouts and nuances of your listed accounts.
- Contact Targeting allows you to engage with your existing list of contacts through LinkedIn, via integrations with the Marketo, Oracle Eloqua, or LiveRamp platforms.
When to Use Matched Audiences: When you want to take your first-party data to the next level, cultivating highly qualified audiences on LinkedIn.
- Pro Tip: To use Website Targeting, you’ll want to install the (free!) Insight Tag on your website. This code snippet also enables conversion tracking.
Let the Real Work Begin: Build Your Brand on LinkedIn
When it comes to brand-building, marketers should be channeling their time and energy into understanding their audience, developing awesome creative, and optimizing their results … not figuring out which tool to use. We hope this guidance makes it easier for you to nail down the right paid solutions and get to business.
For more information on LinkedIn brand-building tools, download our pocket guide.