LinkedIn-AdsAs a business owner, you likely already have a LinkedIn profile to connect with other professionals. The site is designed to help you promote yourself and find new professional connections. What many don’t know is you can create your own LinkedIn ads. Unlike Facebook, you have far more control over who sees your ads, so your ad campaign becomes more budget friendly and highly targeted. Advertising on LinkedIn is fairly simple and offers you numerous options to customize for your needs.

Why Use LinkedIn Ads

You want to advertise your business to the largest audience possible, right? Why not use Google Adsense or Facebook to reach more people? The fact is LinkedIn ads are far more targeted than other systems. On other networks, you could easily be paying hundreds and even thousands for ads that your targeted audience never sees. On LinkedIn, you can choose exactly who sees the ads based on categories such as job title, industry, company name, age, geography, gender and even LinkedIn Groups.

Another plus side is being able to set a budget any company can afford. You can set your daily bid as low as $10 or over $1000. You also have the choice of choosing Pay Per Click (CPC) or Pay Per Impressions (CPM – 1000 impressions). You can change your options at any time to better meet your needs. The only other cost is the first time $5 fee for creating a LinkedIn Ads account.

How To Get Started

Log in to your LinkedIn account and click “Premium Solutions” from your homepage. Choose “Advertise.” If you’re new, choose “Start Now” and follow the prompts to sign up. If you have an ad account, but haven’t created an ad yet, click “New Ad Campaign.” Follow the step by step process to create your ad. You’ll be able to test 15 variations to get the exact look you want.

Choose all the criteria for your target audience. Be as specific as possible for best results. Next, enter your daily budget and the bid amount for every click or 1000 impressions. Finally, enter your billing information to create the ad campaign and go live.

Look and Display

Your ads have five elements – headline, description, form, image and URL. You only have 25 characters for your headline and 75 for your description, so use your space wisely. While you don’t have to include an image, LinkedIn recommends using one to better grab attention.

LinkedIn advertising appears on a variety of pages on the site. Users may see your ad on profile pages, their home page, in their inbox, on search results pages and within groups. The exact position varies based on the type of page.

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