Social Media Update Bulletin: LinkedIn’s new interest targeting options for ad campaigns

With over 590 million users and two new members joining LinkedIn every second, the platform has become the favorite of professionals worldwide. In addition to providing users with a virtual space on which to network and connect, LinkedIn also offers marketers an exciting opportunity to engage with their target audiences. In fact, a whopping 94% of B2B marketers on social media turn to LinkedIn to publish content, leading to 2 million posts, articles, and videos being published on the platform each day.

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With so much information at users’ disposal, it can be hard for marketers to cut through all the noise and ensure that their messages reach the right people. After all, if your voice isn’t being heard—how can it be effective?

Enter LinkedIn’s January 2019 update to their Campaign Manager: Interest Targeting. According to LinkedIn, “Interest targeting lets you reach members with relevant ads that match their professional interests — based on the content they share and engage with on LinkedIn.”

The following article will take a look at Interest Targeting in more detail, and explore the reasons why it can be beneficial as part of your marketing efforts.

What does Interest Targeting offer my marketing strategy?

There are a variety of reasons why marketers should take advantage of Interest Targeting. Most notably perhaps is that Interest Targeting offers a deeper level of ad targeting.

We all know the saying to “throw good money after bad,” and if your ads aren’t reaching the right people, that’s exactly what you’re doing. If your hard work isn’t seen by the people that need to see it, your campaign simple won’t be as effective as it should be, thus wasting your time and money. Since this exciting new feature offers a deeper level of ad targeting, it allows you to better personalize your ads and content so that they reach the most appropriate audiences. The more specific your targeting becomes, the greater your results will be.

Source: Design Wizard

Think of Interest Targeting as a “fine tune” of your campaign. With over “200 professional interest categories, like customer experience, artificial intelligence, graphic design, and more,” there are extensive options to calibrate your campaign so that it can be as potent as possible. Marketers can also add Interest Targeting to their account targeting so that they can “reach audiences of potential buyers who have already expressed interest in the content relevant to a business or brand.”

LinkedIn also mentions that Interest Targeting can assist schools and universities in capturing the attention of those members that might be interested in completing a certificate program. Marketers can add degrees to their filters and combine that with Interest Targeting in order to reach people who are a natural fit for higher education programs.

What results have brands seen from using interest targeting?

Interest Targeting became available to businesses the last week of January 2019. Prior to that, however, it was tested on a selection of brands that saw positive results from using the feature. London-based marketing agency Digitas was among these chosen brands, and saw a “25% increase in CTR rate.”

According to Matt Campbell, Multi Channel Marketing Specialist at SAS Institute, “We’ve used (Interest Targeting) on our Brand Awareness campaigns and we are extremely satisfied with the results so far!” There’s every reason to believe that these kinds of reactions to LinkedIn’s new offering will continue as more and more businesses incorporate it into their campaigns.

Source: Design Wizard

How does interest marketing work?

By this stage, most of us probably understand how hashtags work. Hashtags make it easier for social media users to find the content they’re interested in by grouping certain themes or topics together.

Source: Design Wizard

Interest Targeting works similarly to hashtags, but the presets are established behind-the-scenes and instead of categorizing content, it is the users themselves that are essentially categorized based on their interests.

Marketers can zero in on niche audiences by selecting categories or subcategories of interests to target within LinkedIn’s broad user base. This allows brands to tailor their ads in order to best fit their audiences. A narrower perimeter makes it easier for marketers to hit their target.

How do I implement interest targeting into my LinkedIn campaign?

To use Interest Targeting in your campaign (and we highly recommend that you do!!), go to “Interests” under “Audience Attributes” from within Campaign Manager.

You can choose from over 200 categories and subcategories of interests. To select a subcategory, simply click on the arrow next to an interest. LinkedIn also offers a helpful “Target Audience Size” feature so that marketers can gauge the number of potential audience members each category/subcategory selection will result in. This feature can be found in the sidebar while creating your campaign.

Source: Pikwizard

Linkedin’s Interest Targeting allows marketers to focus their efforts in the places where they’ll be most effective. This feature will allow brands to better connect with their audiences and will result in more successful campaigns. Interest Targeting will give marketers a direct line to the people that matter most to their business.

You can expect increased sales and a greater ROI with Interest Targeting. For further assistance with your advertising endeavors, contact Voy Media today!

Author’s Bio: Ellan Dineen is the Marketing Associate at Design Wizard. When she’s not hard at work in the Marketing Department, Ellan can be found en route to foreign lands with a book in her hand and a podcast in her ear. With a Master’s in English and Diploma in Social Media Marketing, she knows the importance of staying up-to-date with the industry’s latest trends and insights and is keen to pass these tips on to her readers.

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