By Martyn Crew

 

LinkedIn Ad vs Sponsored Content Bootstrap Marketing

 

So you’ve decided to advertise on LinkedIn? Congratulations on choosing a social channel that can target ads to the exact type of professional with whom your company needs to interact. Now you have another important choice to make: sponsored content or a true ad campaign. We’ll help you break down the differences and choose the one that’s right for your goals.

 

Ad Campaign on LinkedIn

 

This is an ad campaign like you think of ad campaigns. The ad appears on the sidebar of the page and it includes an image and text of your choosing. Ad campaigns are most appropriate if you are trying to drive a sale or promote something outside of LinkedIn.

 

Here are the details:

 

  • Image: Think thumbnail. This image is a modest 50×50 pixels.
  • Headline: Choose this wisely. It’s what users are most likely to read and it’s the hyperlink they’ll need to click. You have up to 25 characters.
  • Body Copy: Use this space, up to two  lines (75 characters), to support your headline/call-to-action.
  • From Line (optional): Improve your credibility and attention by adding this optional line: “From: [Your Company].”
  • A/B Test: You can make up to 15 ad variations per campaign. Use these to test what headline, copy and image inspires the most engagement.

LinkedIn Ad Bootstrap Marketing

 

Sponsored Content on LinkedIn

 

Think of these as “Promoted” posts within LinkedIn users’ timelines. These are posts you’ve made to your company’s LinkedIn page that you can you can broadcast to a larger audience through Sponsored Content. This is the best tactic to use if you are looking to inspire interaction on LinkedIn (likes, shares, comments).

 

This type of ad is quick and simple to make, just select which company account you are promoting through this campaign and select from the automatically populated list of existing updates. If you’ve created a special post just for this campaign, put it up first, and then go back and select it for the campaign.

 

LinkedIn Sponsored Content Bootstrap Marketing

 

No matter which campaign type you choose, your company will benefit from the extremely high-level audience targeting that LinkedIn allows. Select who will see your ad using criteria like geography, title, company size and more. LinkedIn is a truly powerful tool, especially for B2B companies.

 

NOTE:  Martyn Crew is the CEO and founder of Bootstrap Marketing, a San Carlos-based digital marketing agency. Bootstrap works with industry leaders like SAP, high-growth companies like Pentaho and startups like Yeti Data to help them position their solutions with content and campaigns that help them get to market fast and stay ahead of their competition.