LinkedIn Ads

How to Generate Ecommerce Sales using Linkedin Ads

 

Many eCommerce businesses today are leveraging LinkedIn’s advertising platform for reaching customers seamlessly. LinkedIn is the only social media platform where professionals meet, connect and work together. Firms in the eCommerce realm are often on the lookout to acquire potential customers from notable portals such as LinkedIn.

 

At the time of writing, more than 645 million professionals can be found on LinkedIn. Moreover, data suggests that around 80% of overall leads in eCommerce marketing come from LinkedIn compared to other social media ecosystems. In addition to this, approximately 92% of Business-to-Business marketers usually prefer using LinkedIn over other platforms. The inescapable truth is LinkedIn ads have become a predominantly vital tool for eCommerce sales.

 

This article explores how you can set up the basic LinkedIn social ads that will put any eCommerce sale business right before the target audience’s vantage point. You’ll explore the process to set up ads and ways by which your LinkedIn advertising will improve over time.

Why opt for LinkedIn Ads for eCommerce business?

 

Since Social Media has become an essential mode of communication, different business verticals leverage the user base on social media to transform online marketing. Over millions of people worldwide stay active on social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Further, the reachability has created social media platforms the perfect place for eCommerce businesses to communicate users about products, services, and find potential customers. People are already aware of different lead generating avenues on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. A very little is known about LinkedIn Ads. By the looks of it, LinkedIn Ads is a perfect platform to enhance sales for eCommerce businesses.

 

LinkedIn Ads provides several advertising opportunities to eCommerce businesses from achieving unprecedented marketing goals. Even if you’ve no strategic plans in the place, LinkedIn Ads might get you right on the map of potential customers. Much social media marketing offers distinctive campaigns that set LinkedIn apart for its unique features unavailable on other platforms. LinkedIn sets itself apart from other social media platforms as it features only professionals with people serious of making connections and sometimes business connections.

 

A platform is a great place for generating B2B relations with a more substantial conversion rate. Let’s explore more about LinkedIn Ads and its features which are unique from other platforms.

Important LinkedIn Ad Acronyms

LinkedIn Impressions

 

Impressions in LinkedIn are the times any post or advertisement on LinkedIn gets featured on the LinkedIn users’ news feed. The more users see the post and advertisement by scrolling on their newsfeed, the position or ad will get maximum engagement. Understand that not all people will go through your post or advertisement. Many will miss out as there are several posts from millions of users on the platform. However, the report would indicate the potential reach of LinkedIn advertising.

Pay-Per-Click or PPC

 

PPC is one of the essential advertising criteria on online social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. PPC allows eCommerce businesses to make payment only when a visitor clicks on an ad on the forum. On LinkedIn, PPC is a robust and exponentially powerful sales tool. PPC on the platform allows the users to choose industries, positions, and size. Filtering the options would let your potential target audience to see ads directly.

Cost-per-Click or CPC

 

Marketers and businesses trying to entice new customers and keep existing customers are already aware of the benefits that CPC could bring for the growth of a business. If this is the first time you’ve come across CPC, you should know all about it. CPC is the maximum budget that you’ll have to pay for every click any user makes on LinkedIn. For instance, if the maximum bid you placed was $5, you’ll have to pay for the advertisement’s said price. However, anything above $5, your ad will not come into being. In LinkedIn, the more competitive are the keywords, the more it will cost to get proper ranking on LinkedIn.

Click-through-Rate or CTR

 

Click-through-Rate is the ratio of total clicks to reach a steady level of impression for LinkedIn Advertisements. If you run an eCommerce business, then having a higher CTR is better. If your Ad copy has great CTR, then it suggests that more people see the ad and click on it. You can also lower the overall cost of ads on LinkedIn by merely improving the overall CTR. Running an eCommerce business and having over 3% CTR for text ads is regarded as remarkable for industries of different verticals.

Cost per 1000 Impressions or CPM

 

To display advertisements on the professional social media platform, LinkedIn, you can set a maximum budget for 1,000 impressions. You have to pay for 1,000 times the display is showcased irrespective of several clicks that you end from receiving. The strategy is remarkable if your goal is to push towards the brand’s awareness all through the platform.

LinkedIn Ads

 

Presently, LinkedIn Ads comprise of two primary ways for advertising:

 

 

• LinkedIn Partner Solutions
• Self-Serve LinkedIn Ads

 

Both LinkedIn Partner Solutions and Self-Service Ads share a Campaign Manager at LinkedIn. Ecommerce businesses could kick start, monitor, as well as stop LinkedIn Ads at any moment they’d want. Moreover, it is easier to track impressions, clicks, conversions & amount which they spend on campaigns. There are specific campaigns which will work graciously and ones that will not. Procuring the desired result would determine if the campaign is worthy of the spend or not. 

 

Self-Service Ads on LinkedIn allows you to set the budget for the ads. Additionally, you can write and create your own Ad copy and also set up your own campaigns. On the other hand, LinkedIn Partner Solutions will allow you to partner up alongside a dedicated team on LinkedIn for creating more robust ad campaigns. The idea is to reach premium prospects by using the best marketing practice.

 

LinkedIn also puts emphasis on the low-cost self-serve ads that start from a small $10/day.

 

Ecommerce businesses can choose from eight self-serve advertisements, such as:

 

 

• Text Ads
• Sponsored Content
• Video Ads
• Sponsored InMail
• Dynamic Ads
• Display Ads
• Lead Generation Forms

 

1. An overview of LinkedIn Text Ads

 

Generally, Text Ads are uniquely quick and, simultaneously, setting them up, and managing is relatively seamless. The ads allow you to directly drive traffic to the website or company profile on LinkedIn. These ads are generally displayed on the sidebar of users’ newsfeed & LinkedIn messenger. The text ads are usually displayed in three sets under the title ‘Promoted’ or ‘Ads You May Be Interested In’. There is only one issue, they run on desktop and laptops, not on smartphones and tablets.

 

You should use LinkedIn Text Ads to grab professionals’ attention while they browse the post. Text Ads are always visible in the sidebar even when users scroll down the news feeds.

2. Sponsored Content Ads

 

The Sponsored Content on LinkedIn empowers brands to promote their posts on Company Page to the potential target audience. The native ads could be viewed on LinkedIn feed right beside content created by LinkedIn members. eCommerce businesses can use sponsored content for amplifying promotion, video content, blog, or SlideShare presentations.

 

You can incorporate PPC or CPM on Sponsored Content. One of the most essential features of Sponsored Content on LinkedIn ads is that they’re not displayed on the sidebar or top of the page. It is the native placement of Sponsored Content on the newsfeed that makes it clickable. For eCommerce businesses, sponsored content is regarded as a primary’ real estate.’

3. Video Ads

 

The video ads on LinkedIn are the Sponsored Content which is found in video format. LinkedIn usually recommends three definitive goals to showcase video ads:

 

 

• Building brand awareness amidst an audience who are professionals
• Driving qualified leads for acquiring new customers
•  Measuring the overall effectiveness of the video campaigns over time

 

Video marketing has always been quite a useful and potentially profitable tool. Almost 85% of total internet users across the United States focus on video content. More than the people in the US expect to see new and intriguing video content that they follow wholeheartedly.

4. Sponsored InMail Ads

 

In LinkedIn Sponsored InMail allows individuals and businesses to send out personalized messages to designated targets and users on the platform. The ads appear similar to regular InMail. The messages comprise a customizable subject line alongside a call-to-action and body text.

 

eCommerce businesses could avail Sponsored InMails according to cost-per-send model to target users on all devices. This ad offers quite a personalized approach for driving conversion to all LinkedIn users within 45 days. By the looks of it, this module also ensures that users aren’t overwhelmed with several ads.

5. Display Ads

 

After logging into your LinkedIn account, you’d find the right rail called Promoted. These are LinkedIn’s display ads. The display ads on LinkedIn can be at the top-most position just like banner ads. Moreover, you can use the display ads for driving membership in the LinkedIn group and promote the eCommerce business’s page of LinkedIn.

 

In this manner, your LinkedIn account will attract followers. While running display ads, the platform provides brand power for setting your parameters for people who would see these ads. Display Ads comprise target marketing that would create specific messages to appeal to a particular customer set group. LinkedIn ads empower you to control who sees and doesn’t see the ad. In this manner, you can curate hyper-targeted campaigns that are much more useful than general messaging, targeting a broader audience.

6. Dynamic Ads

 

Dynamic Ads on LinkedIn changes based on who is seeing it. These are generally hyper-targeted, and they use profiles alongside other data for delivering personalized messages. Dynamic ads can be used by eCommerce business for the following purposes:

 

 

• Grow page followers
• Driving traffic to the website
• Generating leads with the help of marketing automation and downloadable content

 

Around 88% of customers worldwide state that they are much likely to buy products and avail services from brands that offer a personalized experience. Dynamic ads on LinkedIn are nothing but personalized ads.

7. Lead Generation Forms

 

LinkedIn offers in-platform ads as lead generation forms where users have to submit information in exchange for content.

Generating businesses and conversion from LinkedIn

 

An eCommerce platform needs to evaluate and make plans before pushing LinkedIn advertisements to highlight products and services. LinkedIn has the largest database of professionals from different industry verticals. Upon breaking down, it becomes evidently clear about the actual number of professionals in the ecosystem.

 

By the looks of it, LinkedIn has 61 Million senior-level influences, 40 Million Decision-makers, 10 Million opinion leaders, 22 Million Mass affluent, 4 Million IT decision-makers, 6 Million C-level executives, and 3 Million MBA graduates. These numbers collectively give rise to data which suggests LinkedIn features over 500 Million professionals from across the globe.

 

The 40 million decision-makers are the potential customers on LinkedIn who are directly responsible for buying and business decisions. Basically, a massive audience presents an opportunity for generating new businesses from LinkedIn by employing a smart strategy.

Creating a company page for Ecommerce business

 

There are a ton of requirements which you must meet before creating a company page on LinkedIn. eCommerce businesses have to:

 

 

• Create a personal profile with the proper name of the business. The person who is curating the company page has to fill up their real first and last names.
• You’ll have to fill up the details and then gain a profile strength of All-Star or Intermediate.
• You can select if you’re an employee of the eCommerce business or the owner. Your position in the company will be listed in the ‘Experience’ section of the profile.
• Make connections with the users directly from the profile.
• Have an email address of the company and confirm it on the account.
• Make sure that you use an email domain which is unique to your company.

 

Having a LinkedIn profile suggests that you’ll most likely meet up with the requirements of making your eCommerce business visible to others. Even if you’re hearing about LinkedIn and LinkedIn Ads for the first time, you’ll be able to catch up and learn the inside & out of the platform in a week.

 

Is there a need for creating a LinkedIn eCommerce Business Page for using LinkedIn Ads?

 

LinkedIn is an expandable platform that doesn’t require eCommerce businesses to have an account to use LinkedIn ads. Nevertheless, if you want to acquire sales via freelancers or consultants, you might need to set up a company page. There are two options to choose from, but it would be in your best interest if you set up a company page on LinkedIn.

 

After setting up the company page, you could test offers, post content organically. You could also check if your posts resonate with the audience before investing money to advertise. Moreover, if you have followers on a company page, it would feature the number of followers contributing to social proof. Leveraging both organic and paid Ads services on LinkedIn will boost any eCommerce businesses’ reach and adaptation.

 

Let’s explore how you can create LinkedIn Ads for eCommerce business.

 

Now that you’ve adequately understood LinkedIn Ads holistically and how to create a company page. Let’s explore how you can get started with LinkedIn Ads!

 

LinkedIn focuses on eight steps to empower successful advertising on the platform:

 

1. LinkedIn Campaign Manager

 

You’ve to begin with www.linkedin.com/ads, and then you’ll have to click on the option “Create Ad.”

 

Then you’d have to choose the account that you’d desire to use. Then select ‘Create Campaign.’

 

2. Setting up Campaign

 

After clicking on ‘Create a campaign,’ you’ll have to set up an objective. You can also choose from consideration, awareness, and conversions.

 

3. Your campaign deserves a name

 

You need to name your ad campaign on Linkedin. You should also consider assigning the campaign to a group. Experts recommend that eCommerce businesses should include the name of a promotion or offer. Ensure that you add a short, crisp, and quick summary about the audience you’re targeting.

 

4. Choose the potential audience

 

Like Facebook advertising, a social media platform for professionals, LinkedIn also provides marketers with tons of tons to target users. eCommerce businesses will find this feature quite rewarding.

 

Remember the specific target market is, more you should be able to tailor the messaging to them. With this feature, you can drive a higher conversion rate as the ads are meant to be quite relevant to users.

 

LinkedIn ads allow targeting:

 

 

• Company name, size and industry
• Location
• School, study field, & degree
• Location
• Experience (in Years)
• Age and Gender
• Member Groups
• Company followers and connections

 

Either you can choose all the options or just a few. Nevertheless, it is essential to provide detailed information to make ads relevant to have higher ROI. Preferably, choose the audience of your choice alongside custom parameters, and audience filters.

 

5. Designate the Ad Format

 

LinkedIn provides businesses to choose from six different formats such as carousel image, single image, spotlight, text, video and follower ad.

 

6. Configure campaign date and bidding options

 

In LinkedIn, there are three ways by which you can play ads PPC, CPM, and Cost-PerSend. When it comes to choosing an ideal payment model, taking the campaign’s intent into consideration.

 

Your first campaign is not merely going to be extremely productive. However, it is crucial to test and optimize the campaigns as you learn more about them.

 

7. Optional Conversion Tracking

 

Tracking conversions would require adding conversions even before you move to the forthcoming step. Remember, the conversion can be like:

 

 

• Add products to the cart
• Download content
• Install the application
• View a page
• Lead
• Make a purchase
• Sign-up

 

The business will also be required to add an Insight Tag site-wide or an event-specific pixel directly to the URL’s landing page. So far, this would be the most go-to option for tracking potential conversions.

 

8. Add payment Details & Review

 

To complete LinkedIn Ads setup, and get started with the campaign, you’ll be required to insert the payment details. After putting forward the information, simply click on Review order, and then submit the campaign.

 

Final Words

 

Irrespective of the business’s objectives, there are different types of advertisement that LinkedIn supports. The targeting tools of LinkedIn does provide an incredible opportunity for eCommerce businesses around the world. The only thing that growing eCommerce platforms need to do is harness the platform’s raw potential to continually bring new leads and satisfy the older one to grow the business.

 

It is imperative to understand the objective of the business and target customers accordingly. Select an ad format, an audience, and just dive in.