When Autodesk rolled out a new campaign for their Autodesk BIM 360 software, they used LinkedIn Sponsored Content with eCPM to get content to the right audience.

Connecting audiences to content

Adam Higgins is the digital marketing manager for Autodesk BIM 360 software, a cloud-based construction management platform that empowers customers to improve the predictability and performance of projects throughout their entire lifecycle. He works with Blake Menezes, global social media marketing and communications manager at Autodesk, to reach key decision-makers in the construction industry and demonstrate how construction technology can improve their professional lives.

The BIM 360 wants their campaigns to have real value for their customers and of course, make a positive financial impact. That means reaching the right people, with the right content, at the right time. As the team prepared to roll out a new campaign, they felt confident in their content. They just needed to optimize who they were targeting and when, so they’d be more likely to engage effectively.

The company had previously used LinkedIn’s self-service capabilities for running ad campaigns but discovered LinkedIn’s auto-optimization for conversion feature (eCPM) for sponsored content.

“We already knew we wanted to use sponsored content,” said Higgins. “We got excited once we realized we could actually do conversion tracking on that content. That excitement only grew when our LinkedIn rep showed us even more capabilities: Conversion rate optimization, retargeting, and robust demographic pixel data.”

Segment, track, optimize, repeat

Being able to track leads – and view informative insights behind clicks – was critical to the Autodesk team, and they wanted to take full advantage.

At the start of the BIM 360 campaign, the team separated their audience into six different segments. Using LinkedIn’s Sponsored Content with eCPM, they would analyze each segment’s daily conversion rate, adjusting budgets based on performance – giving more to the groups that were performing well and putting a cap on performance that needed to be adjusted.

“By structuring our ads properly,” said Higgins, “and separating segments to see how they were performing in relation to each other, we had access to more actionable optimizations throughout the campaign.”

Better Performance Data Drives Better Results

With better performance data fueling optimization, the BIM 360 team saw their cost per lead (CPL) drop week-over-week, surpassing the team’s target goal and eventually coming in 81 percent lower than previous efforts. In addition, the reduction in cost per result was an engagement rate 4.9 times the LinkedIn average.

In addition to cost efficiencies, Autodesk experienced a 70 percent higher conversion rate from ungated assets, which was a powerful and surprising discovery. BIM 360 even earned the top spot on LinkedIn’s list of Top Trending Content in the U.S. Tech Industry for an entire week.

Autodesk is anxious to help more customers through future campaigns, so they’re planning on expanding their investment in LinkedIn. “We’re looking to use the majority of our social media budget on LinkedIn spend,” said Higgins. “As we shift our focus from quantity to quality, LinkedIn delivers the high-quality, high-intent results we need, for a fraction of the price it did before thanks to features like eCPM.”  

“LinkedIn has helpful new features,” added Menezes. “It’s a clear sign to all of us at Autodesk that LinkedIn is where many of our customers spend their time.”