LinkedIn has a growing and engaged audience. Unlike other platforms where people may be participating for social or leisure purposes, people open up LinkedIn for the purposes of conducting business. That makes them more receptive to advertising. It just makes sense to use LinkedIn advertising services if you operate in the B2B space.
If you haven’t been using LinkedIn marketing services, you should be. However, to get the most out of your time and investment, don’t go it alone.
Instead, you’ll want to hire a LinkedIn ads agency to help your company create and execute an advertising strategy. To help you with that, we’ve compiled this list of 5 things to look for in an agency offering LinkedIn advertising services.
What Is a LinkedIn Agency?
A LinkedIn ads agency helps businesses create and execute effective LinkedIn marketing and advertising strategies. An agency will provide assistance with:
- Targeting
- Content creation
- Bidding strategy
- Campaign optimization
- Retargeting campaigns
If you connect with the right agency, your LinkedIn presence can be transformed into a powerful customer acquisition and engagement tool.
What Are LinkedIn Advertising Opportunities?
There is no shortage of opportunities to reach people and businesses on LinkedIn, as long as you have an effective ads strategy. 45% of LinkedIn users are decision-makers. Additionally, LinkedIn marketing and advertising lead to three times more conversions than ads on Facebook or Twitter.
5 Factors to Keep in Mind When Hiring a LinkedIn Ads Agency
What should you look for in a LinkedIn ads agency? These 5 considerations will help you identify the company you should entrust with your LinkedIn advertising services:
1. Experience in LinkedIn Marketing Services
You don’t necessarily need to work with the most popular ad agency or one that only specializes in LinkedIn ads. However, you should prioritize agencies that have a depth of LinkedIn platform experience.
The problem with agencies that only dabble in LinkedIn is that they tend to use the same strategies and approaches to marketing that they do on other platforms. This strategy rarely gets positive results because the audience and expectations on the platform are so vastly different from those on regular social media.
2. Advanced Tech Capabilities
Your competitors on LinkedIn are already using the latest technologies to get the most out of their advertising campaigns. The agency you select must be able to do the same. If it isn’t strong on marketing tech, your advertising dollars just won’t go very far.
Ask any agency you consider about the tools and technologies they are using. This toolset is something that will impact every aspect of your LinkedIn marketing efforts.
3. The Ability to Create Engaging Content
There is so much about advertising that is driven by data and technology. However, there is no substitute for the ability to write and design compelling ad creatives.
The agency you hire should have team members who are specifically dedicated to the task of creating and optimizing advertising and marketing content. If you have your own creative team, the agency should be willing to work cooperatively with those employees.
Your best approach here is to ask prospect agencies for examples of their work. Case studies are even better because they provide evidence of the effectiveness of past LinkedIn campaigns.
4. An Understanding of Your Industry
Has the agency worked with companies in your industry? It’s easy to get hyper-focused on the specifics of an agency’s LinkedIn experience and forget this type of compatibility entirely.
An advertising team that has worked in your niche will have a better understanding of industry trends, the buying process, customer personas, and the most common key performance indicators. Industry experience gives the account team a better understanding of how your specific audience uses LinkedIn.
5. A Data-Driven Approach
Source: Search Metrics
Almost every company involved in marketing or advertising will tell you it takes a data-driven approach. The use of data and its popularity as a driver behind business decisions is on the rise. Data is something that can be used in virtually every aspect of a business.
However, not all data is the same. Neither is every agency’s ability to use it to benefit your company. You must find out whether they are truly data-driven or simply using the same analytics that are available to everybody else.
To uncover this information, ask the agency about:
- Their data collection methods
- The data sources they use
- How they refine data
- GDPR and other compliance considerations
The agency should be able to provide you with this information. Additionally, they should be able to show you examples of their ability to use data to get a better return on investment from LinkedIn advertising campaigns.
Other Things You Should Know About LinkedIn Advertising Services
Now you know what to look for when hiring an agency for LinkedIn marketing services. You can also use this information to evaluate your own agency. Here are some other important questions to consider:
What Evaluation Criteria Should Be Used in Selecting an Advertising Agency?
There are other criteria to consider in addition to an agency’s LinkedIn competencies. Before you sign on with an advertising agency, you must be confident that you can form a fruitful partnership with them. Take these criteria into consideration:
- The time and resources they can commit to your account
- The level of quality and production value behind their creatives
- Whether the agency team has B2B experience
- The specific services offered
- Their typical client profile
There’s also the matter of credibility. Have they proven they can truly get the kind of results you need?
What Does It Cost to Do LinkedIn Ads?
Source: LinkedIn
LinkedIn advertising prices vary. Advertising is sold via auctions where brands that are competing to reach the same audience bid against one another. The more attractive the target audience, the higher the bid.
If you win a bid, you only pay when a billable event occurs. What counts as a billable event depends on the campaign objective. For example, if your goal is to have people view your marketing videos, you will only pay when that happens.
What’s the Best Ad Format for LinkedIn?
The best ad format for LinkedIn depends on your goals. This ideal format is something you will work with your agency to determine. Your choices include:
- Single image ads and carousels
- Sponsored messages
- Video ads
- Dynamic ads
With analytics and A/B testing, you should be able to identify the formats that help you earn the most conversions.
How Do I Give an Agency Access to My LinkedIn Company Page?
You might choose a turnkey solution for your LinkedIn advertising needs. In that case, you will want to provide the agency with access to your page.
This access will give the agency the ability to create and post ads on your behalf. To provide it, go into the admin settings on LinkedIn, and add your agency contact as an admin. You will be able to assign specific roles, such as ‘sponsored content poster.’
How Do I Set Up an Agency on LinkedIn?
The folks at LinkedIn have published the LinkedIn agency playbook. It contains all of the information needed to set your business up as an agency on LinkedIn.
Meeting Your Advertising Goals with a LinkedIn Ad Agency
You can certainly transform your organization’s LinkedIn presence by leveraging the power of ads. One of the best ways to achieve this goal is to select an agency that has a proven track record of getting results for businesses like yours.
Vet each prospective agency carefully, so you feel confident that you have made the right partnership with the right advertising pros.
To do this, take into consideration the agency’s experience on the LinkedIn platform and whether they are familiar with your industry. Then, explore the work they have done and the technologies they use to get the best possible results from their LinkedIn marketing services.
