Why LinkedIn may be Better than Facebook For Lead Gen
As a professional networking site, LinkedIn offers unique opportunities for businesses to connect with potential customers, generate leads, and build brand awareness. We know this. (We also talk about this DAILY in our Foxwell Founders Communities — one for mostly social media advertising and one for PPC’ers here.
LinkedIn Ads, though, should not be looked over as it relates to direct-response advertising. Previously, LinkedIn made more than 60% of its revenue from selling recruiter licenses, so their ads platform from an internal and advertisers’ perspective was often ignored. However, over the past few years, LinkedIn has realized the value of its audience and has made changes to its ad platform to keep up with the competition (like Meta, TikTok, and other digital advertising channels) and become a real player in some companies’ digital marketing and advertising strategy.
Specifically for lead generation ads, and even more so as it relates to B2B marketing, businesses used to capture sales-ready prospects by showing them a gated content offer, though that's not the case anymore. Instead, there's a considerable amount of research and exposure that someone needs to a brand (for B2B or B2C/DTC) in order to be willing to take the next step in a funnel towards a conversion. Instead, businesses must properly nurture those prospects to be willing to convert — whether that be to get on a meeting with the business, purchase a ticket, or something else.
So, what if your client (or business) has never run LinkedIn Ads?
…and you’re not sure if you can get the green light to start? First, it’s critical to set expectations of the platform to the decision-makers and explain why there is good data to support LinkedIn being profitable for the brand, as well as setting expectations for what it looks like to test a new advertising platform. The reasoning behind this is that LinkedIn’s audience is strictly professional, and while those same users may also be active on Facebook, Instagram, or any other social networking platform, when they are logged into LinkedIn, they’re thinking about their business, and likely even on the clock, therefore are more likely to be open to business messaging and work-related decisions. We know that SO much of marketing is consumer psychology and making the user feel good, look good, and letting them make their conversion decisions on their own. So, LinkedIn ads reach your target lead gen consumers while they want to feel good at work, look good to their boss, and have the decision of whatever service or product you’re offering as their own.
And what if decision-makers and the powers that be ask, “Why LinkedIn and not Facebook?” While Facebook's dataset is all about who someone is, LinkedIn's dataset is all about what someone that’s being targeted does for a living. LinkedIn’s professional audience and data behind what they do from 9-5 each day is something that can't be found on Facebook.
Keep in mind that while metrics on LinkedIn ads might not be as “good” as on Meta ads, the audience you’re reaching through these ads are not only more accurately targeted due to the nature of what information LinkedIn has on its users, you’re also reaching the customer at a better time and place in their day when they’re much more likely to be ready to convert. The key is always to properly prepare and nurture prospects, and to take advantage of the retargeting and segmentation options that LinkedIn offers. It’s also important to not compare metrics on LinkedIn to other advertising platforms like Facebook or Instagram, as the platform itself is too big a variable to be able to have an apples-to-apples comparison.
Join the conversation about LinkedIn ads in our Foxwell Founders Communities for advertisers — one community is focused on social media ads and the other on PPC/Google ads. Both have a LinkedIn section talking about topics just like this every day.
What content should I use on LinkedIn ads and how should it differ from Facebook or Google ads?
The first thing to note is that not all content is created equal — no matter the social media or marketing platform. While video can be effective at every stage of the funnel, it needs to be intentional and well-targeted. Also keep in mind that on every platform, best practices are always changing in terms of what type(s) are working best right now. You must always be testing multiple types of creative so that as one type begins to die out, you have more ads of different types in the funnel with learnings already being generated so that there is always a replacement ready to go when needed.
A generic 30-second brand awareness commercial that’s intended as a YouTube video ad isn't going to perform well on LinkedIn, but a video that highlights a company's core competencies or unique value proposition can capture attention and generate interest from potential customers on LinkedIn. Founder stories can also be effective at the top of the funnel, but it's important to cut right to the chase and focus on the value the company provides, rather than just telling a personal story. Graphics are also great options for creative testing on LinkedIn, as they get to the point quickly, capture attention (think bright colors), and are usually self-explanatory.
When it comes to lead generation, LinkedIn's lead gen formats are hard to beat in terms of cost per lead, as well as lead quality and in the final stages of the funnel, conversions. However, as advertisers become more experienced on the platform, they may want to focus on driving traffic to landing pages instead. While lead gen forms convert well, landing page traffic can be more valuable in the long run — depending on the specific company’s goals, strategy, and the journey the customer takes from first click as a lead to a conversion. One way to maximize the value of lead gen forms is to use thank you or confirmation pages as an opportunity to offer additional value to leads. For example, a company could provide a free guide or checklist, then offer a consultation or demo to those who express interest. Keep in mind to let potential leads know the benefit before they agree to sign up as a lead so that they have even more of an incentive to input their information.
How should I target my lead gen LinkedIn ads?
While job title targeting tends to produce higher quality leads, it can sometimes also be the most expensive option. Job function, seniority, skills, interests, other interest groups, and lookalikes can be effective alternatives.
LinkedIn's event-based retargeting offers a powerful way to nurture leads. Unlike website retargeting, which relies on cookies, event-based retargeting is based on specific actions taken by users, such as clicking on an ad or watching a video specifically on-platform, which is data that is not lost due to opt-outs or cookie losses. If you’re also running Meta ads, you know this all too well. Event-based retargeting makes it more reliable and less affected by changes to cookie policies. By creating custom audiences based on these events, businesses can target users who have already expressed interest in their products or services. It’s also worth testing and using cookie and on-platform-based retargeting as well, just know that there will be lost customer data in those funnels. Don’t forget to also utilize exclusions so that the wrong customers aren’t seeing your ads — again, just like Meta advertising here.
How should I set up LinkedIn lead gen ads?
Just like Meta, LinkedIn has the option to create landing page/website traffic ads, or lead gen form ads, which pre-populate information to make it easier for customers to submit their information. This can then be automatically passed into major CRM systems such as HubSpot, Salesforce, and Marketo, or through Zapier to any CRM. As marketers, it’s our job to make the process to convert as seamless as possible for the customer so that there are as few obstacles as possible and nothing that gets in the way of a valuable potential customer from converting into a lead.
Enrichment is another useful tool that can automatically grab additional information from sources such as Zoom Info to enrich the lead data. This can be particularly useful for companies in disruptive industries where there is latent demand in the marketplace. Experts also suggest nurturing leads through helpful, ungated content before moving them to gated content and eventually asking for their email or other information. It’s important to show the customer that the information you have to offer is relevant and helpful to them and their business before asking them to do something for you. The customer ALWAYS comes first.
LinkedIn Ads: Opportunities & Challenges
One of the main, and biggest challenges to advertisers with LinkedIn ads are the high(er than Facebook ads) cost of advertising. At the service, these ad prices can make it difficult for small and medium-sized businesses to justify the cost. However, when you add in the intangible factor of the quality of leads/potential audience and the overall CPA required for a profitable return (think lifetime value of a monthly subscription business or a higher-priced business expense), it may not be quite as steep.
For example, depending on the nature of the business and products being sold (like high-margin products), one approach that can work is to target distributors or other bigger-scale customers (think, wholesalers, large corporations, business-wide software licensing, etc.) and showcase products to them. Another approach is to use LinkedIn organically to grow a business. This involves creating a branded company profile that is all about the sales side of the business and sharing posts about products and services. By engaging with others on the platform and sharing content organically (i.e. FREE!), businesses have the opportunity for widespread reach and awareness to valid business audiences, therefore reaching a larger audience for cheaper than they would through paid advertising.
When it comes to the organic social strategy for a business LinkedIn page, test out content that you may use for ads first for free to see what resonates with your audience. Content types are a great variable to test — like videos (video lengths, video hooks, video sizes, UGC vs. animated videos vs. GIFs, etc.), images, graphics, memes, website links, and more. It doesn’t hurt to test these things, it doesn’t cost any budget, and it can give learnings to the ads team for what works best. Don’t move past humorous or light-hearted content, as advertising and branding as a whole is all about connecting to and resonating with the customer, having a brand personality, and giving the customer what they need - whether that be a software, product, or a laugh.
Always keep in mind that not all visual content will work well on LinkedIn, which is why you have to ALWAYS BE TESTING!
A huge shout out and thank you to our friend AJ Wilcox in the Foxwell Founders Membership for his input on this blog!
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