Are LinkedIn DirectAds Worthwhile?
Are LinkedIn DirectAds Worthwhile?
Are LinkedIn DirectAds Worthwhile?
After receiving an invitation e-mail with a coupon code for $100 towards LinkedIn DirectAds, I finally had the time to give it a try. I started a LinkedIn DirectAds pay per click (PPC) advertising campaign and I wanted to write a blog post regarding this topic. The advertising options are still in beta mode, seemed somewhat pricey for social media network advertising, yet a promising outlook seemed to prevail. Of course, with a $100 credit, I figured I would give it a go.
I will first start off by saying that the LinkedIn DirectAds pay per 1,000 impressions (CPM) has a $3.00 minimum bid and the pay per click (CPC) has a $2.00 minimum. That's a little high comparing to most social media network advertising, thus, determining if it is worthwhile is important.
The sign up process and the process to create your ad, target your ad, and submit your ad for approval is clear and concise. With helpful guideline boxes along the way.
LinkedIn also provides a help section with answers to common questions, such as:
Where Will My LinkedIn DirectAds Show Up?
DirectAds advertisements will be shown to LinkedIn members on the LinkedIn.com website and the LinkedIn Audience Network. Your advertisements may show in any of the ad placements on the site, including the medium rectangle advertisement on LinkedIn profile pages and the LinkedIn home page.
CPC (cost per click) advertisements may also be shown in locations such as the text link advertisement at the top of the LinkedIn.com home page. Images and logos in the advertisement may be omitted from that particular ad placement.
How Much Should I Bid?
For each advertisement, you should bid the maximum amount that you are willing to pay for a click (CPC) or one thousand impressions (CPM). Note that you may pay less than your maximum bid, but you will not pay more. DirectAds will automatically discount the amount you pay according to competitive bids in the system.
A Suggested Bid Range is provided within the workflow when you are creating the ad. The Suggested Bid Range is an estimate of the current competing bids by other advertisers. Submitting a bid within the range is not a guarantee of impressions or clicks for your advertisement. However, the range will provide rough guidelines for bid suggestions for your selected audience.
How Can You Target Your LinkedIn DirectAds?
LinkedIn allows you to target your ads based on demographics, industry, profession, company size, gender, age, and geography. I recommend targeting your ads to the utmost scrutiny in order to get the most out of your budget, and control your costs. For example, if your business was to provide menu design to local restaurants in Michigan, it would be somewhat lessoptimal to target people in the information technology industry or in South America.
Since most business professionals network on LinkedIn, I decided it would be good for me, as an Internet marketing consultant providing services to companies, to advertise. Personally, I am targeting companies in the Greater Detroit Area with an ad regarding social media services available to optimize a company's web presence. The recommended minimum CPC bid for me was $2.93 $4.50 or so, but I initially went with a bid of $2.75 to see how the activity pans out, and optimize my campaign accordingly.
I am tracking the performancethrough Google Analytics and LinkedIn DirectAds own monitoring. I will write a follow up post once more performance information becomes available. I look forward to seeing what opportunities LinkedIn DirectAds presents for various companies.
Christopher Terterian | Internet Marketing Consultant has also began to offer LinkedIn DirectAds services to complement our increasingly growing span of online advertising services.
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