LinkedIn Advertising
Ad types
There are three main types of LinkedIn Ads.
Premium Display Ads allow you to share content with a targeted audience through display ads
Email Marketing via Sponsored InMail deliver sponsored content directly to LinkedIn user inboxes
Direct Sponsored Updates-Your updates will appear in the LinkedIn timelines of your target audience
Audience and targeting
LinkedIn targeting, not unlike the social network itself, is very good for employee and company specific targeting. You can specify who you want to see the ad based on the industry they work in, their position and seniority, where they work, how big their employer is (think of a post targeting enterprises, not SMBs), and beyond. As a result, LinkedIn is extremely effective for B2B marketing and job-related advertising.
If the audience you choose is too big or too small it might not perform well, so test audience targeting with several ads to hone in on the right one for you.
Pricing
Like Facebook, LinkedIn lets you choose whether to pay based on the cost-per-click (CPC) model, or pay by every 1,000 impressions (CPM). LinkedIn has set a minimum budget of $10/day for users of their ad platform however. There are also minimum bids for CPC text ads ($2.00/click) and CPM text ads ($2.00/1,000 impressions). Sponsored Update minimum bids will vary based on the audience you choose.
With these minimum bids, it’s important that you seriously consider your objective when building out LinkedIn ads. These ads should be very business-focused, as Facebook and Twitter provide much cheaper alternatives for content marketing. Test a few LinkedIn ads and see whether the price is worth it for your business.
How to buy
Step 1: Create a new campaign
There’s a Business Services tab on the top right of your LinkedIn homepage. Hover over it and choose advertise. If you’re a new advertiser, click Get started. If you’ve advertised before, click Manage and you’ll be taken to your Campaign Manager. Once there click Create new campaign in the upper right.
Step 2: Choose your ad type
Name your campaign hoose from among company updates (picked from existing posts and will appear on your page) and direct sponsored content (which will appear in people’s home feeds). It will provide an ad preview for you.
Step 3: Build your ad (if it’s direct sponsored content)
Step 4: Choose your target audience
Choose your target audience by industry, company size, job title, tc.
Step 5: Budgeting
Set your daily budget and your bid, which will be a choice between paying for clicks or impressions. Then save your changes.
Step 6: Launch your campaign
If you’ve never built an ad before, finish by entering your payment information. Then review your ‘order’ and launch your campaign.
-Hootsuite
Very insightful