We’ve found great success for ourselves and clients with Sponsored Posts on LinkedIn. This feature is similar to boosting posts on Facebook, but a bit more of a science.
Much like Google’s pay-per-click ads, LinkedIn’s advertisements, which includes Sponsored Posts, operates on a bidding system. You need to craft your audiences and messages carefully so you can optimize who is seeing your most relevant content. After all, you don’t want to pay and bid for people to see your content who won’t be interested in your business.
Keep reading for a few best practices for sponsoring posts on LinkedIn.
Give Your Post Time To Gain Traction
LinkedIn recommends leaving your sponsored posts run for one to two weeks untouched; then replace your lowest performing post with a new graphic or content.
I myself was skeptical of this, as we often want to see immediate results, especially on social media. With Facebook boosted posts, you see results within the same day, which fuels the worry that your post isn’t performing well.
However, because of the bidding system on LinkedIn, your post won’t be automatically shown to your target audience. I have had several posts with little to no results in the first one to two weeks, and in the second to third week, results skyrocketed.
Patience is key when working within the LinkedIn platform.
Combine Compelling Content And Engaging Visuals
As with any social media platform, posts that have an engaging photo or video do better because 90% of the information transmitted to the brain is visual. Think about yourself, are you more likely to look at a paragraph of text or a colorful graphic?
Pair interesting content that links to a page on your website that you are trying to promote. This will help drive traffic to your website, along with building your social fan-base.
Knowing your audience and what they respond to is crucial. Do they like photos with or without people? Are they more logically or emotionally driven? A/B test your visuals and words so you can learn which content your audience responds to so you can create a robust, successful program.
Be sure to showcase your brand, even though it is a professional social platform. Your audience will appreciate the cohesiveness across your digital presence.
Create The Right Target Audience
Remember, you are bidding for people’s attention. You want to be strategic and really only target people who are in your top demographic categories. Luckily, LinkedIn allows you to create extremely specific audiences so you can be sure you’re targeting your product or service to a relevant market.
Ways You Can Narrow Your Audience:
- Job Level (i.e. CXO, Partner, Entry)
- Industry
- Company Size
- Interests
- And Many More!
It’s important to note, that you should start your budget low and grow it as you start to see success and refine your audiences. It’s always better to slowly grow then to go too big too fast.
LinkedIn sponsoring can seem overwhelming because of the bidding system and professional nature of the platform. LinkedIn has a lot of information on how to begin advertising and a responsive customer service team if you run into problems.
Now go forth and begin sponsoring!
Cheers,
Danielle
