< Previous: Video ad tips  |  Use Matched Audiences for custom targeting: Next >

Why ad targeting on LinkedIn is different

Even if you’re an experienced digital marketer, targeting on LinkedIn is different from other platforms. You can target based on what people do professionally instead of what they do in their personal lives.

Read on to understand the key steps to effective LinkedIn ad targeting.

1. Location, location, location

First, define where you would like to reach LinkedIn members. Location is the only mandatory targeting field. Get specific with a city or metropolitan area, or go broad with a state or country. This facet can be based on the location a member has included in their profile or their IP address.

2. Build your audience

Next, it’s time to choose your audience from a wide range of targeting facets. Here is a full list of criteria to choose from:

  •  Experience: Function, Title, Seniority, Years of Experience
  •  Company: Name, Industry, Size, Followers, Connections
  •  Education: Schools, Degrees, Fields of Study
  •  Interests: Skills, Groups
  •  Identity: Location, Age, Gender

Download the tactical eBook Unleashing LinkedIn’s Targeting Capabilities for an in-depth explanation of how to use each facet effectively.

3. Avoid hyper-targeting

Limited scale will hurt your initial campaigns, so we recommend not adding more than two to three targeting facets. A good rule of thumb when starting out is to keep the target audience over 50,000 for Sponsored Content and Text Ads, and over 15,000 for Sponsored InMail. Campaign Manager will show estimated reach and a suggested range while you’re building your audience.

This helps you cast a wider net and use testing to learn which content and targeting strategies are most effective for your business. Then, you can optimize campaigns to focus on your most valuable audiences.

4. A/B test your audiences

By testing two similar campaigns with variations in targeting criteria, you can see which combinations are more effective. To perform an A/B test on targeting: create a campaign, duplicate it, and then slightly alter your targeting parameters.

Change only a few criteria at a time to isolate which part of your test impacted performance. Try testing Skills versus Job Titles, Industry versus Job Function, etc. Keep refining over time, and you will learn how to reach the people who matter most to your company.

5. Increase your reach with custom targeting options

Beneath the targeting facets, you have the option to enable Audience Expansion. If selected, LinkedIn’s algorithms will identify additional audience members similar to your targeting criteria. As you’re beginning to test and refine, this option will help you reach a broader (but still relevant) audience and generate more data to help you optimize.

Use Matched Audiences to customize LinkedIn targeting with your own business data. This set of targeting options helps you re-engage website visitors with Website Retargeting, nurture prospects with Contact Targeting, and run account-based marketing (ABM) campaigns with Account Targeting.

6. Tailor your content to your audience

When you know more about your audience, tailor your content to be relevant to each segment and test to learn what performs best.

For example, if you’re targeting C-level executives, deliver thought leadership content pieces that address the challenges they face. If you’re targeting senior individual contributors who can influence buying decisions, try more tactical content.

Get tips for Sponsored Content
Get tips for Sponsored InMail
Get tips for Text Ads

7. Gain insights with campaign demographics

Once your campaign has accumulated enough data, click the Demographics tab in Campaign Manager. You’ll see detailed information (like job title, job seniority, industry, and more) about the professionals who clicked and converted on your ads. Use these insights to inform your content, targeting, segmentation, and testing.

How to analyze campaign performance