LinkedIn Ads & The Opportunities for B2B Businesses

When you think of paid social advertising, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok often steal the spotlight. But if you’re a B2B brand, LinkedIn deserves a front-row seat in your paid strategy. 

🤷🏼 Why LinkedIn? 

LinkedIn isn’t just a networking site; it’s a goldmine for B2B marketers. With over 1 billion users and growing, the platform is where decision-makers and professionals go to connect, learn, and share insights. This mixed with the ability to layer targeting criteria like job title, company size, industry, skills, and even certain companies specifically, makes it the ideal place to get in front of your target audience.

🖥️ How LinkedIn’s Unique Usage Benefits B2B Businesses

Unlike other social platforms, LinkedIn is designed for professionals who are already in a work-focused mindset. Users often spend time on the platform reading articles, engaging with industry-specific content, and consuming longer-form information. 

This readiness to consume detailed content makes LinkedIn particularly valuable for B2B businesses, which often need to communicate complex or niche information. Whether it’s a whitepaper on industry trends, or a case study showcasing your product’s impact, LinkedIn provides the space and audience for deeper engagement. This means more opportunities to educate prospects, build trust, and drive meaningful leads.

✅ Best Practices for LinkedIn Ads

1. Focus on Quality and Valuable Content

LinkedIn’s audience values, and actively looks for insightful and informative content. Make sure your ad creative aligns with this. Assets like whitepapers, case studies, or webinars that provide actionable value to your target audience work really well.

2. Leverage Sponsored Organic Content 

Sponsored Content ads (‘boosting’ organic posts) blend seamlessly into users’ feeds, making them less intrusive and more engaging. Not only do these ads allow you to share additional information about your brand or services, but they also amplify your organic content strategy. Sponsored content ads help your posts reach a larger audience than organic efforts alone, boosting visibility and engagement within the market. 

3. Test and Optimise

Just like with any paid social campaign, testing is crucial. Experiment with different ad formats, messaging, and targeting criteria; monitor performance and make data-driven optimisations..

4. Set Realistic Budgets and Prepare for Higher Costs

It’s important to note that LinkedIn’s advertising costs are generally higher than platforms like Facebook and Instagram, as well as having certain minimum daily spends per campaign. Industry-wide benchmarks often report CPCs ranging from $2 to $12, compared to Facebook’s average of £0.50. While this may seem steep, the value lies in LinkedIn’s ability to deliver highly qualified leads and higher intent traffic compared to other platforms. We recommend starting with a test budget and scaling up once you’ve identified what works.

LinkedIn advertising isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. The key to success lies in understanding your audience, crafting campaigns that resonate, and continuously optimising your approach. 

LinkedIn is a platform where professionals are already in a business mindset - meaning your target audience is already likely to be more receptive to your messaging and content (as long as it’s relevant and valuable).