Apr 19, 2012

The Real Place Your B2B Ad Dollars Need to Go? LinkedIn

[caption id="attachment_393" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The Real Place Your B2B Ad Dollars Need to Go? LinkedIn"]

[/caption] Don’t let the recent acquisition of photo app juggernaut Instagram for a whopping $1 billion dollars fool you into dumping more advertising dollars into Facebook ads. Sure, this is an ideal place to promote your services and maintain that ‘cool’ factor that comes with getting a million LIKES, while producing next to zero return. Facebook isn’t going anywhere, at least not for a while. But the advertising dollars spent by businesses in the B2B space will dwindle at an increasing rate for the next several years as they move from one social network to another. The bottom line is you just can’t reach a niche enough audience to promote with success. Think selling wholesale to a sporting goods store as opposed to selling a single hockey stick to a teen in Duluth, Minnesota. Enter LinkedIn. Recently the professional social networking site has begun to roll out its advertising opportunities to businesses looking to leverage the professional and business-like atmosphere that Facebook lacks. Sure, LinkedIn may be dull. Mulling through countless ‘connections’ and their glorified resumes can be, well, downright boring. But it has established itself as a niche network. A place for professionals to convene, ‘socially’, and connect. So instead of selling a single hockey stick to the kid in Duluth, you connect with the sporting goods owner who buys 500 to sell in his store. Now, that’s a connection. The opportunities on LinkedIn for B2B connections are far higher than those of Facebook because it allows business owners to focus on a specific niche. Hockey sticks (hey, it is NHL Playoff time). Sporting goods store owner. You get the picture. And LinkedIn lets you paint this in a far better light than Facebook. It puts you, your business, and your products, in front of decision makers. So where do you start? If you’re already a LinkedIn member, check your Inbox. Odds are you have a $50 promotional coupon for LinkedIn ads waiting there for you. There are 3 fairly easy steps to creating the ads.

1. Create an Ad: Write your ad in minutes using a LinkedIn account.

2. Select a Target Audience : Determine which LinkedIn members should see your ad.

3. Set Your Budget and Bid: Set a maximum amount you want to spend and how much you’re willing to pay for clicks or impressions.

If you’re familiar with Google Ad Words, or Facebook ads, it’s the same type of strategy as far as targeting is considered. Except that LinkedIn gives you access to more of a business community niche as opposed to the great unknown. We’ll post a"‘Top 5 Ways to Succeed with LinkedIn Ads" article shortly, so make sure to check back soon. Until then, good luck, and let us know below how your ads are doing. And what kind of success you’re having. For more information, visit: 1. LinkedIn Ads: Frequently Asked Questions