LinkedIn has become one of the most powerful social media platforms for B2B marketing, providing businesses with a unique opportunity to reach a highly engaged and professional audience. With over 700 million users worldwide, LinkedIn offers a wide range of advertising options to help businesses of all sizes achieve their marketing goals.
One of the key features of LinkedIn advertising is the ability to target specific audiences, based on a range of first party LinkedIn data, and your own third party data. This means that businesses can tailor their advertising campaigns to reach the most relevant and engaged users, increasing the effectiveness and ROI of their marketing efforts.
In this blog, we will explore the various targeting options available with LinkedIn Ads, and how businesses can use them to reach the right audience with the right message. Whether you are looking to generate leads, build brand awareness, or drive website traffic, LinkedIn Ads targeting can help you achieve your marketing goals.
Audience Attributes vs Matched Audiences
With LinkedIn advertising, you have the ability to target your audience using either audience attributes or matched audiences, or a combination of both. Audience attributes refer to the information collected from LinkedIn user profiles, including job title, company, and other relevant data entered during the account creation process.
Targeting using audience attributes is often referred to as cold traffic targeting, as it involves reaching out to users who may not be familiar with your brand or product. On the other hand, matched audience targeting involves targeting users who have already interacted with your brand, such as those who have visited your website or engaged with your LinkedIn content. This is often referred to as warm traffic targeting, as these users have already shown interest in your brand or product.
By combining both targeting methods, you can create a powerful advertising campaign that reaches a wide range of users, including those who may be interested in your brand but have not yet interacted with it, as well as those who have already shown an interest. This can lead to higher conversion rates and more effective use of your advertising budget.
Audience Attribute Targeting
With LinkedIn, you are targeting a quality audience in a professional context. LinkedIn Attributes allows you to combine targeting criteria to build your ideal customer persona. You can use real, member-generated demographic data to reach the right audience. Precise and powerful targeting has never been easier!
LinkedIn Ads Audience Attribute targeting is a powerful tool that allows businesses to reach their ideal audience on the platform. The targeting is based on the information that users enter into their LinkedIn profiles during account creation, including job title, company, location, industry, education, and other relevant data.
LinkedIn offers a wide range of targeting options within Audience Attribute targeting, including job function, seniority, company size, and more. This allows businesses to tailor their campaigns to their specific goals and target audience, ensuring that their messaging resonates with the right people.
By using Audience Attribute targeting, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that reach users who match specific demographic or behavioural criteria. For example, a business that provides marketing software to B2B companies might use Audience Attribute targeting to reach users who work in marketing roles at companies in the technology industry.
Here you can see the full list of audience attributes available in Campaign Manager, classified into categories.
Company Attribute Targeting
LinkedIn’s Company Attribute Targeting allows businesses to target specific companies based on a range of attributes, including industry, size, and location. This feature helps businesses reach their ideal target audience and generate leads from high-value companies. By using Company Attribute Targeting, businesses can tailor their campaigns to reach decision-makers across an organization and increase the effectiveness of their LinkedIn Ads.
Company name:
LinkedIn Ads offers a range of powerful targeting options for B2B marketers, and one of the most effective among them is Company Name targeting. This feature allows businesses to focus their campaigns on high-value companies and connect with decision-makers across the organisation.
One of the key benefits of Company Name targeting is the ability to target specific company names. This feature is particularly useful for businesses that want to connect with users who work in one particular location or branch office, for example.
Company Name targeting works by leveraging the information that LinkedIn members enter in their profiles as their employer, using LinkedIn Pages maintained by company employees. This targeting method enables businesses to reach users who work in a specific company or a select group of companies.
With Company Name targeting, businesses can target up to 200 different companies, making it an excellent tool for highly targeted campaigns. This targeting method is especially effective for B2B marketing campaigns that require reaching decision-makers in a specific company or industry.
Company Connections:
LinkedIn’s Company Connection Targeting is a powerful tool that allows businesses to reach the first-degree connections of employees at selected companies with over 500 employees. By using this targeting method, businesses can expand their reach and connect with a highly engaged audience that is more likely to be receptive to their message.
Company Connection Targeting is based on the first-degree connections of employees at selected companies, making it a highly effective method for reaching decision-makers across an organization. This targeting option is especially useful for B2B marketers looking to generate leads or build brand awareness within a specific industry.
One of the key benefits of Company Connection Targeting is that it allows businesses to target their messaging to users who are already familiar with their brand through their connections at the selected companies. This can lead to higher engagement rates and more effective use of advertising budgets.
Company Followers
LinkedIn’s Company Follower Targeting is a highly effective tool that allows businesses to reach their own LinkedIn Page followers with their advertising campaigns. To use this targeting method, your Ads account must be linked with your LinkedIn Page, ensuring that you can effectively reach and engage with your target audience.
Company Follower Targeting enables businesses to connect with their most engaged followers, building brand loyalty and generating new leads. By reaching out to your own followers, you can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with your audience and drive conversions.
One of the key benefits of Company Follower Targeting is that it enables businesses to target users who are already familiar with their brand and have shown an interest in their offerings. This can lead to higher engagement rates and more effective use of advertising budgets.
To utilize Company Follower Targeting, businesses must link their Ads account with their LinkedIn Page. Once this is done, businesses can leverage the full power of this targeting method to reach their own followers and build brand awareness.
Company industry:
LinkedIn Ads offers a wide range of targeting options for businesses to reach their ideal audience on the platform. One of the most powerful targeting methods is Company Industry Targeting, which enables businesses to narrow down their target audience to members who work in a specific industry.
With hundreds of industries to choose from, ranging from agriculture to education, finance, manufacturing, and more, businesses can target their campaigns with greater efficiency. This targeting method is particularly useful if your offer is broadly applicable across an entire industry, such as a software solution geared towards the financial sector.
Company Industry Targeting works by identifying the primary industry of the company where the member is employed. By using this targeting method, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions.
By leveraging this targeting method, businesses can narrow down their target audience to members who work in a particular sector and create highly effective campaigns that generate new leads and increase brand awareness.
Company size:
LinkedIn Ads provides businesses with a range of powerful targeting options to help them reach their ideal audience. One of the most effective methods is Company Size Targeting, which enables businesses to target members based on the size of the organization where they work.
Company Size Targeting brackets range from 1 to 10 employees, 11 to 50, and beyond. Additionally, there is an option to target self-employed people. This targeting method also enables businesses to look at the first-degree connections of the employees in these companies, as well as those who follow the companies and their job titles.
By targeting based on comprehensive lists of standardized job titles, businesses can hone in on the specific individuals who are most likely to be interested in their offerings. With Company Size Targeting, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions.
Company Size is determined by the number of employees listed on the organization’s LinkedIn Page. This means that businesses can easily target members based on the size of their company where they work. This targeting method is particularly effective for B2B marketing campaigns that require reaching decision-makers within a specific company size range.
By leveraging this targeting method, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates and greater ROI.
Company Category
LinkedIn Ads provides businesses with a range of targeting options to help them reach their ideal audience, and one of the most powerful targeting methods is Company Category Targeting. This method enables businesses to target a curated list of companies from prestigious publications and thought leaders such as Forbes, Fortune, and LinkedIn News Editors.
Using Company Category Targeting, businesses can easily identify the world’s largest, most innovative, or fastest-growing companies. This method is particularly effective for B2B marketing campaigns that require reaching decision-makers in specific industries or sectors.
The curated list provided by Company Category Targeting is updated regularly to ensure that it reflects the latest trends and developments in the industry. This enables businesses to stay ahead of the curve and target companies that are at the forefront of innovation and growth.
Overall, Company Category Targeting is a highly effective tool for businesses looking to reach a specific audience on the platform. By leveraging this targeting method, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions. This method is particularly useful for businesses that want to reach decision-makers within a specific industry or sector, making it an essential tool for B2B marketers looking to grow their businesses.
Company Growth Rate
LinkedIn Ads provides businesses with a range of powerful targeting options to help them reach their ideal audience, and one of the most innovative methods is Company Growth Rate Targeting. This method enables businesses to target companies based on their year-over-year growth rate, which can be determined by factors such as employee growth or inferred data from other similar companies within the same location and industry.
By using Company Growth Rate Targeting, businesses can identify and target companies that are experiencing rapid growth, making them more likely to be receptive to new ideas, products or services. This can be particularly effective for B2B marketing campaigns aimed at companies in specific industries or geographic locations.
This targeting method can help businesses to stay ahead of the competition and ensure that their advertising campaigns are reaching the right audience at the right time. By targeting companies with high growth rates, businesses can create highly effective campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions.
Overall, Company Growth Rate Targeting is a valuable tool for businesses looking to expand their reach and connect with a highly engaged audience. By leveraging this targeting method, businesses can identify and target companies that are experiencing rapid growth, making it an essential tool for B2B marketers looking to grow their businesses. With LinkedIn Ads Company Growth Rate Targeting, businesses can stay ahead of the curve and reach the right audience at the right time.
Company Revenue
LinkedIn Ads offers a range of powerful targeting options for businesses to help them reach their ideal audience, and one of the most effective methods is Company Revenue Targeting. This method enables businesses to target companies based on their estimated annual revenue, making it easier to identify and reach high-value prospects.
With Company Revenue Targeting, businesses can identify and target companies that are most likely to be receptive to their message. By targeting companies with a certain revenue range, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions.
This targeting method is particularly effective for B2B marketing campaigns that require reaching decision-makers within specific industries or sectors. It enables businesses to identify companies that are in a certain revenue bracket and target their advertising to those companies that have the most potential for growth.
By using Company Revenue Targeting, businesses can stay ahead of the curve and ensure that their advertising campaigns are reaching the right audience at the right time. This method enables businesses to create highly effective campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates and greater ROI.
In conclusion, Company Revenue Targeting is a highly effective tool for businesses looking to expand their reach and connect with a highly engaged audience. By leveraging this targeting method, businesses can identify and target companies that are most likely to be receptive to their message, making it an essential tool for B2B marketers looking to grow their businesses on LinkedIn Ads.
Jobs Experience Targeting:
Jobs Experience Targeting is a powerful LinkedIn Ads targeting method that enables businesses to reach users based on their job experience. This method is particularly useful for B2B marketing campaigns aimed at decision-makers within a specific industry or sector. With Jobs Experience Targeting, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions.
Job Functions
LinkedIn Ads provides businesses with a range of powerful targeting options to help them reach their ideal audience, and one of the most effective methods is Job Function Targeting. With this method, businesses can focus on reaching users based on what they do in their job, whether it’s in education, healthcare, human resources, entrepreneurship or any other field.
Job Function Targeting is based on standardised groupings of the job titles entered by LinkedIn members. This enables businesses to create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions. For example, if a business wants to reach healthcare professionals such as doctors, nurses, and dentists, they can filter by the “Healthcare Services” job function.
This targeting method is particularly effective for B2B marketing campaigns that require reaching decision-makers within specific industries or sectors. By targeting users based on their job function, businesses can ensure that their advertising campaigns are reaching the right audience at the right time.
Overall, Job Function Targeting is a valuable tool for businesses looking to expand their reach and connect with a highly engaged audience on LinkedIn Ads. By leveraging this targeting method, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates and greater ROI.
Job seniority:
One of the most effective methods of targeting on LinkedIn is Job Seniority Targeting. With this method, businesses can target users based on their job titles and the level of influence they have within their organization.
Job Seniority Targeting enables businesses to reach LinkedIn members’ current roles and influence in their organization. This targeting method is particularly useful for B2B marketing campaigns aimed at decision-makers within a specific industry or sector. It enables businesses to create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions.
Job Seniority is determined by a member’s job title, ranging from entry-level or individual contributor roles to CXO or partner positions. By targeting individual contributors, businesses can reach those who increasingly have a large say in buying decisions.
This targeting method is also useful for targeting those with influence over a buying decision, such as senior executives or decision-makers. By targeting users based on their job seniority, businesses can ensure that their advertising campaigns are reaching the right audience at the right time.
Overall, Job Seniority Targeting is a valuable tool for businesses looking to expand their reach and connect with a highly engaged audience on LinkedIn Ads. By leveraging this targeting method, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates and greater ROI.
Job Title
LinkedIn Ads provides businesses with a range of powerful targeting options to help them reach their ideal audience, and one of the most effective methods is Job Title Targeting. With this method, businesses can target users based on the standardised job titles that are organised by LinkedIn’s algorithms.
Job Titles are based on a member’s LinkedIn profile and are organised into standardised titles that businesses can use for their campaign targeting. This targeting method enables businesses to narrow their audience by a specific set of skills or job titles, making their campaigns more targeted and effective.
For example, if a business wants to target software engineers and petroleum drilling engineers differently, they can use Job Title Targeting to create separate campaigns for each group. Alternatively, they may want to exclude a specific type of engineer from their campaign, which is also possible with this targeting method.
Overall, Job Title Targeting is a valuable tool for businesses looking to expand their reach and connect with a highly engaged audience on LinkedIn Ads. By leveraging this targeting method, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates and greater ROI.
Member Skills
LinkedIn Ads provides businesses with a range of powerful targeting options to help them reach their ideal audience, and one of the most innovative methods is Skills Targeting. With this method, businesses can target users based on keywords found within their profiles and skills.
Skills are highly relevant keywords found within a member’s profile and skills section that indicate their expertise in a particular area. This includes skills explicitly added by members in their skills section, as well as keywords and phrases mentioned throughout their profile and summary. By using Skills Targeting, businesses can identify and reach professionals with a specialized expertise when traditional job title targeting may not be as effective.
Skills Targeting is particularly useful for B2B marketing campaigns aimed at decision-makers within specific industries or sectors. By targeting users based on their skills, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions.
Overall, Skills Targeting is a valuable tool for businesses looking to expand their reach and connect with a highly engaged audience on LinkedIn Ads. By leveraging this targeting method, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates and greater ROI.
Years of Experience
LinkedIn Ads provides businesses with a range of powerful targeting options to help them reach their ideal audience, and one of the most effective methods is Years of Experience Targeting. With this method, businesses can target users based on the number of years of professional experience they’ve accumulated over their career.
Years of Experience Targeting is particularly useful in the modern age where people’s CVs can comprise of gaps, as it allows businesses to reach their target audience based on the number of years of professional experience they have. LinkedIn calculates the Years of Experience by adding together the duration of each individual job experience a member has listed, excluding any gaps in experience and also not double counting overlapping positions.
This targeting method is particularly useful for B2B marketing campaigns aimed at decision-makers within a specific industry or sector. By targeting users based on their years of experience, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions.
Overall, Years of Experience Targeting is a valuable tool for businesses looking to expand their reach and connect with a highly engaged audience on LinkedIn Ads. By leveraging this targeting method, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates and greater ROI.
Education Targeting:
Education Targeting is a powerful LinkedIn Ads targeting option that allows businesses to target users based on their education level, fields of study, and schools attended. By using this targeting method, businesses can reach highly educated professionals in specific industries or sectors. Education Targeting is particularly useful for B2B marketing campaigns aimed at decision-makers with advanced degrees or specialized training.
Fields of Study:
LinkedIn Ads provides businesses with a range of powerful targeting options to help them reach their ideal audience, and one of the most effective methods is Fields of Study Targeting. With this method, businesses can target users based on the major or area of study within their degree, which is standardised from member-entered degrees.
Fields of Study is particularly useful as a proxy for skills or expertise in a given field, especially for recent graduates. For example, those with a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) may have a major in either Accounting or International Business. By using Fields of Study Targeting, businesses can identify and reach highly educated professionals with specialized training in a particular area.
This targeting method is particularly useful for B2B marketing campaigns aimed at decision-makers with advanced degrees or specialized training in specific industries or sectors. By targeting users based on their fields of study, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions.
Overall, Fields of Study Targeting is a valuable tool for businesses looking to expand their reach and connect with a highly engaged audience on LinkedIn Ads. By leveraging this targeting method, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates and greater ROI.
Member Schools:
LinkedIn Ads provides businesses with a range of powerful targeting options to help them reach their ideal audience, and one of the most effective methods is Member Schools Targeting. With this method, businesses can target users based on the school, college, university, or other learning institution where they completed a certification.
Member Schools Targeting is particularly useful for businesses looking to connect with professionals who have completed courses or certifications from specific learning institutions. For example, a business may want to target all former Harvard students to offer them a related product or service. It is important to add all subsidiary schools, such as Harvard University, Harvard Business School, and Harvard Law, as they have separate pages.
This targeting method is particularly useful for B2B marketing campaigns aimed at decision-makers with advanced degrees or specialized training from specific learning institutions. By targeting users based on their Member Schools, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions.
Overall, Member Schools Targeting is a valuable tool for businesses looking to expand their reach and connect with a highly engaged audience on LinkedIn Ads. By leveraging this targeting method, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates and greater ROI.
Degrees
LinkedIn Ads provides businesses with a range of powerful targeting options to help them reach their ideal audience, and one of the most effective methods is Degrees Targeting. With this method, businesses can target users based on the recognized certifications granted by a university, college, or other learning institution that they have completed.
Degrees Targeting is particularly useful for businesses that offer education-based products or services, as it allows them to reach highly educated professionals who may be interested in further developing their studies. For example, if a business is advertising an advanced degree program, they can exclude those who already have a master’s degree using this targeting option.
This targeting method is particularly useful for B2B marketing campaigns aimed at decision-makers with advanced degrees or specialized training. By targeting users based on their Degrees, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions.
Overall, Degrees Targeting is a valuable tool for businesses looking to expand their reach and connect with a highly engaged audience on LinkedIn Ads. By leveraging this targeting method, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates and greater ROI.
Interest targeting:
Interest Targeting on LinkedIn Ads allows businesses to target users based on their professional interests, hobbies, and passions. By leveraging this targeting option, businesses can reach users who have shown an interest in specific topics or industries, and create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience. Interest Targeting is particularly effective for B2C marketing campaigns, as it allows businesses to reach users based on their personal interests and hobbies.
Member Groups:
LinkedIn Ads provides businesses with a range of powerful targeting options to help them reach their ideal audience, and one of the most effective methods is Member Groups Targeting. With this method, businesses can target users based on the LinkedIn Groups they belong to.
Member Groups Targeting is particularly useful for businesses that want to reach highly engaged professionals who are active in specific groups related to their industry or interests. LinkedIn Groups are places where members who share interests or professional associations can gather, discover new information, and ask questions.
By targeting users based on their Member Groups, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions. For example, if a business wants to reach Finance professionals, they can identify relevant groups such as the Finance Club or Banking Careers and target users who belong to these groups.
Overall, Member Groups Targeting is a valuable tool for businesses looking to expand their reach and connect with a highly engaged audience on LinkedIn Ads. By leveraging this targeting method, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates and greater ROI.
Member Interests:
LinkedIn Ads provides businesses with a range of powerful targeting options to help them reach their ideal audience, and one of the most effective methods is Member Interests Targeting. With this method, businesses can target users based on the content they engage with on LinkedIn, the professional topics they search for on Bing, and inferences based on attributes on their LinkedIn profile.
Member Interests Targeting is particularly useful for businesses that want to create campaigns with awareness and consideration objectives, and it can also help reach unique sets of audiences when other targeting options are too narrow.
Interest categories are based on the actions and engagement of LinkedIn members with content on the platform, and they cover a wide range of topics and industries. By targeting users based on their interests, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions.
Overall, Member Interests Targeting is a valuable tool for businesses looking to expand their reach and connect with a highly engaged audience on LinkedIn Ads. By leveraging this targeting method, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates and greater ROI.
Member Traits
LinkedIn Ads provides businesses with a range of powerful targeting options to help them reach their ideal audience, and one of the lesser-known methods is Member Traits Targeting. With this method, businesses can target users based on their distinguishing characteristics, such as frequent traveller, job seeker, open to education, or the types of devices they use when spending time on LinkedIn.
Member Traits Targeting is particularly useful for businesses that want to create campaigns with a very specific focus, and it may not require additional targeting criteria to be applied. This method can help businesses reach a more narrow audience and create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions.
Interest categories are based on LinkedIn members’ behaviour on the platform, such as their device usage or search history, and they cover a wide range of topics and industries. By targeting users based on their traits, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions.
Overall, Member Traits Targeting is a valuable tool for businesses looking to expand their reach and connect with a highly engaged audience on LinkedIn Ads. By leveraging this targeting method, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates and greater ROI.
Locations Targeting:
LinkedIn Ads offers a range of powerful targeting options to help businesses reach their ideal audience, and one of the most effective is Location Targeting. With this method, businesses can target LinkedIn members based on where they are living or visiting, using the location specified by the member in their profile and/or their IP address for short-term visits.
Location Targeting is particularly useful for businesses that want to create campaigns with a specific geographical focus, such as targeting users in a particular city or region. By leveraging this targeting method, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions.
Location Targeting can also be used in combination with other targeting options, such as Job Title or Industry Targeting, to create even more targeted campaigns. For example, a company offering language courses for professionals could use Location Targeting to reach members in a specific city or region who work in a relevant industry or have a specific job title.
Overall, Location Targeting is a valuable tool for businesses looking to expand their reach and connect with a highly engaged audience on LinkedIn Ads. By leveraging this targeting method, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates and greater ROI.
As with other targeting options, you can also exclude irrelevant targeting such as certain continents or country.
Demographic Targeting
Member Gender
Member Gender targeting allows you to determine whether a LinkedIn member is male or female, which is inferred based on their name. However, using this targeting option may significantly reduce your potential audience size since LinkedIn doesn’t require members to disclose their gender. It’s recommended to use professional targeting options whenever possible. The determination of gender is based on member profile information.
Member Age:
LinkedIn Ads provides businesses with a range of targeting options to help them reach their ideal audience, and one of these options is Member Age Targeting. This targeting option is based on an estimation of how old a member is likely to be, which is derived from their first graduation date. However, it’s worth noting that not all LinkedIn users include a graduation year on their profile, so the use of Age Targeting may significantly reduce the potential audience size.
In addition to Age Targeting, businesses can also target users based on their estimated age range, which is determined by their profile information. There are four age range categories available on LinkedIn Ads: 18 to 24, 25 to 34, 35 to 54, and 55+. By leveraging this targeting method, businesses can create campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions, particularly when targeting age-specific products or services.
It’s also important to note that LinkedIn Ads offers inferred gender targeting, which allows businesses to reach members based on their inferred gender. This targeting method is based on a member’s name, profile photo, and other profile information. By combining Age and Gender targeting with other targeting options, such as Job Title or Company Size targeting, businesses can create highly targeted campaigns that resonate with their audience and drive conversions.
Matched Audiences Targeting:
Target people that already know your brand using this targeting option. Matched audiences options include your website visitors(cookie list), your list of contacts (emails).
LinkedIn is one of the most powerful platforms for B2B marketers to reach their ideal audience. One of the reasons for this is the platform’s unmatched targeting capabilities, which allow advertisers to get in front of the right people at the right time. One of the most effective targeting options available on LinkedIn Ads is matched audience targeting, which allows businesses to reach people who have already interacted with their brand in some way. Let’s explore the 12 matched audience targeting options available on LinkedIn Ads:
Website Retargeting
Website retargeting is a powerful tool that allows you to target people who have previously visited your website. By placing a LinkedIn Insight Tag on your website, you can track who visits your site and serve them with targeted ads on LinkedIn. This is an effective way to bring back people who have already shown an interest in your business and increase conversions
Contact Targeting
Contact targeting allows you to upload your own contact lists and target those people on LinkedIn. This is an excellent option if you have a strong database of customers or leads that you want to nurture on the platform.
Account Targeting (Company)
Account targeting, also referred to as company targeting, is a powerful tool available on LinkedIn that enables you to target specific accounts based on their company name. Unlike audience attribute targeting, which utilizes LinkedIn’s database of companies, account targeting allows you to use your own matched audience company list for precise targeting. This feature is especially useful for B2B companies looking to reach high-value accounts and decision-makers across an organization. For example, you can identify website domains that visit your website from their IP address, and then target those specific companies.
Lead Gen Forms Targeting
Lead Gen Forms targeting allows you to target people who have submitted a lead gen form on LinkedIn. This is an excellent option if you want to target people who have already shown an interest in your business and increase conversions.
Event Targeting
Event targeting allows you to target people who have engaged with your LinkedIn event. This is an excellent option if you want to target people who have already shown an interest in your business and increase attendance at future events.
Single Image Targeting
Single image retargeting is a LinkedIn Ads feature that allows you to retarget users who have interacted with your single image ad. This type of retargeting is based on the user’s interaction with the ad, such as clicking on a CTA button or simply viewing the ad.
Once a user has interacted with the ad, LinkedIn Ads will place a tracking cookie on their device to remember their activity. Advertisers can then retarget these users with follow-up ads, encouraging them to take further action, such as completing a form or making a purchase.
This type of retargeting can be a powerful tool for improving the effectiveness of your LinkedIn ad campaigns by targeting users who have already shown interest in your product or service.
Video Targeting
Video targeting allows you to target people who have watched your LinkedIn video. This is an excellent option if you want to target people who have already shown an interest in your business and increase engagement with your brand.
Want to learn Matched Audiences in-depth?
Lookalike Targeting
Lookalike targeting allows you to target people who have similar characteristics to your existing audience. This is an excellent option if you want to expand your reach and find new people who are likely to be interested in your business. You can use any of the forementioned matched audiences as a seed audience for a new Lookalike audience.
Bing Search Data:
This is used to complement Interest Targeting. This allows advertisers to use more information to find the relevant audience. As Interest Targeting will enable marketers to reach out to LinkedIn users that have shown an interest in specific topics related to the content that they share, Bing search data incorporates all of this into one handy package. You might think this is somewhat irrelevant, especially as most people use Google, but the visitors have been steadily climbing.
Audience Templates:
Conversely, if you don’t know your target market or have limited data, the option allows advertisers to find the specific market segment relating to their specific offer. Just by typing in the word “market,” you can find options from social marketers to marketing specialists, or marketing research, and so on.
Audience size:
As you start to narrow down your options, LinkedIn will provide you with an idea of the size of your audience. It’s important at this juncture not to narrow it down so far. If you do this, LinkedIn will warn you that your audience base is too narrow and won’t let you continue with the ad. It all depends on the type of contact. If you are going for Sponsored Content, it’s recommended that a minimum of 300,000 people form the basis of your audience. But if it’s Sponsored InMail, the number drops to 100,000 or fewer. And for Text Ads, it can be anywhere between 60,000 and 400,000 people.
Types of Ads for Targeting your Advertising on LinkedIn
The various targeting options of LinkedIn Ads are available using various campaign types. Certain campaign types are also more suited at varying stages of the marketing funnel.
Sponsored Content Ads
Targeted advertisements are designed to build customer relationships with the appropriate brand. As such, we need to deliver the relevant content to people within LinkedIn. Using Sponsored Content helps marketers to engage potential customers way early on in the buyer’s journey. By using Sponsored Content, we can influence the decisions of customers by dropping the right content directly into the feed of a LinkedIn user. To learn more about this campaign type, see LinkedIn Ads Sponsored Content Tips.
Sponsored InMail Ads
LinkedIn InMail is a fantastic tool that can only be used by premium members. Sponsored InMail takes it one step further, and allows marketers to deliver personalised contact directly into their inbox. Sponsored InMail gives you the opportunity to personalise your content in so many different ways. As you can target a specific audience and personalise the messages, it’s a great way to get more leads than a traditional email marketing campaign. It works like a marketing campaign, but sponsored InMail has the edge because it ensures 100% deliverability because it sends a message to the target’s inbox when they are online. In addition to this, you are able to take advantage of real-time analytics tools, as well as additional ABM (Account-Based Marketing) functions.
To learn more about this campaign type, see LinkedIn Ads InMail guide.
Text Ads
An almost traditional way of advertising, using LinkedIn Text Ads can appear in four different formats. Tall, long, square, or horizontal. These ads appear in the right column of the screen. If you’re on a tight budget, this is based on a self-service pay-per-click (PPC) advertising platform. It gives you the ability to drive traffic according to the money that you can afford. This option also allows you to place adverts on a cost per impression (CPM) basis.
Audience Expansion Targeting:
Audience Expansion increases targeting reach by showing your ads to audiences with similar attributes to your target audience. From a reporting perspective, the performance metrics such as impressions and clicks are taken as an aggregate from your target audience and expansion audience. It is also possible to exclude specific attributes from your target audience.
Summary
In summary, LinkedIn Ads targeting offers a wide range of options to reach specific audiences on the platform. These targeting options include company name, company size, job function, job seniority, education, member interests, member groups, member traits, location, gender, age, and account targeting.
With each targeting option, there are specific strategies to consider, such as focusing on high-value accounts with account targeting or using job function targeting to reach members with specific skills or expertise. By understanding and utilizing these targeting options, businesses can create highly effective LinkedIn Ads campaigns that reach the right audience and achieve their marketing objectives.
