It's no secret that LinkedIn ads work, especially if you're targeting a business-to-business (B2B) audience. The 2021 Content Marketing Institute Report found that 96% of B2B marketers distribute content using LinkedIn.
Four out of five B2B marketers use the platform compared to 91% who use Facebook. That puts LinkedIn ahead of YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. But LinkedIn's inherent potential for marketing and advertising isn't the only thing you'll need to make your campaign a success.
You should also master the LinkedIn ads Campaign Manager. This is an all-in-one tool that makes it easy to create, manage, and measure your LinkedIn advertising campaigns.
Below, we shed light on everything you need to know about the LinkedIn ads Campaign Manager.
What Is LinkedIn Campaign Manager?
LinkedIn Campaign Manager is a free tool that lets you manage your LinkedIn advertising campaigns in one place, using a single interface. It allows you to evaluate the performance of your LinkedIn campaigns.
Available in 23 languages and more than 200 countries, LinkedIn has become an ideal platform for running marketing campaigns. When creating a new campaign, you can select one of the seven marketing objectives:
- Brand awareness
- Website visits
- Engagement
- Video views
- Lead generation
- Conversions
- Job applicants
The LinkedIn ads Campaign Manager lets you oversee, manage, and monitor your ads for the above objectives.
Key Features of LinkedIn Campaign Manager
There are several advantages to using the LinkedIn ads Campaign Manager. These include:
- Measuring Progress: The tool allows you to track your progress and analyze your results in real-time. You can use it to view your campaign status (active or inactive), budget, and audience demographics, such as age range, occupation, industry, and country of origin.
- A/B Testing: You can also use LinkedIn Campaign Manager to create different ad variations and test them against each other. It’s a great way to find out which ads work best for your target audience. Additionally, you can use the tool to pause or stop ads that are not performing well.
- Choose Objectives: You can select the marketing objective you want your campaign to achieve. LinkedIn will then provide you with a set of guidelines and best practices to help you reach your objective.
- Ad Format: The Campaign Manager also allows you to select the ad format for your campaign. For instance, you can choose among Text Ads, Message Ads, and Sponsored Content formats, such as video ads and single-image ads.
How to Create a Campaign: A Step-by-Step Guide
Here are the steps to create a campaign using LinkedIn ads Campaign Manager.
Step 1: Sign In to Campaign Manager
Create a free LinkedIn account and sign in to Campaign Manager.
Step 2: Select Your Campaign Objective
The campaign objective is the reason why you're advertising on LinkedIn. View your options and select one.
When you choose the objective, you'll also see the bid types, features, and ad formats that support your particular objective.
Step 3: Build Your Target Audience
Your campaign should market to your target audience. LinkedIn uses your information to build an audience profile for your campaign. You can view the audience demographics, including age range, occupation, industry, and country of origin.
You can also upload a custom list based on the company name, industry type, job title, and more.
Step 4: Choose the Ad Format
The ad format on LinkedIn is either Text Ads, Message Ads, or Sponsored Content. LinkedIn recommends the ad format that is most likely to achieve your objective. You can also try different formats to see which one works best for you.
Here are your options:
- Sponsored Content (video ads, carousel, and single image)
- Message Ads (ads shown in LinkedIn messages)
- Dynamic Ads (content ads, spotlight, and follower ads)
- Text Ads (top banner and right rail ads)
Step 5: Set Your Bid and Duration
The campaign budget is the maximum amount you want to spend for this campaign. The campaign duration is the number of days for which you want your ad to run.
Your budget and duration depend on the objective of your campaign. LinkedIn provides you with recommended budgets and tips to make the most of your budget.
Step 6: Set Up Ad Creative
Campaign Manager generates previews for Text Ads and Sponsored Content. These previews display in different environments and sizes, allowing you to see how they look in action.
Step 7: Save Billing Information
Finally, you need to select a payment method and enter your details. The Campaign Manager will start a review process for the ad. Once the platform reviews the ad and approves it, your ad will be active.
How to Track Analytics in Campaign Manager
Once your ad is up and running, you can track several metrics through Campaign Manager. These include:
- Clicks: These are the number of people who click on your ad.
- Impressions: These are the number of times your ad was shown to someone.
- Click-through Rate (CTR): CTR is the percentage of people who clicked on your ad after seeing it. It's calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions.
- Conversions: These are the number of people who completed a particular action on your website, such as filling out a form, taking a quiz, downloading an ebook, and more.
- Reach: This metric shows you how many unique viewers saw and clicked on your ad. It's calculated by dividing the number of impressions by total clicks and is expressed as a percentage.
You can also set up lead generation forms to measure leads and the cost per lead. If you need to share the campaign report with your team, you can export the reports file in CSV format from the LinkedIn ads Campaign Manager.
Final Words
By now, you should know the basics of setting up LinkedIn ads through the Campaign Manager. Keep in mind the type of product you’re running an ad campaign for. This will determine how general or specific your target audience should be, which may improve your advertising results.
Your campaign strategy should take into account your particular product, audience, and goals. Also, make sure to test different ad formats to see what works best for you.
Schedule a free consultation with a Cleverly expert today if you need help getting started with LinkedIn ads.
