The social media landscape grows more competitive each day. With so many businesses vying for attention it can become dispiriting when the content you’ve invested so much time in disappears into a digital void. With that in mind, could LinkedIn advertising help your law firm get better engagement, improve its profile, and generate more leads?
The reassuring answer is yes: with careful planning, you can reach your target audience – 80% of whom have buying power or can at least influence business decisions.
Keen to master the benefits of LinkedIn advertising? Then read on for proven tips and tricks you can use immediately.
LinkedIn advertising: choosing the right format
LinkedIn advertising isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Selecting the right ad placement options for your business is, therefore, extremely important.
Here’s a breakdown of the main types and their benefits.
- Text Advertisements. Nail your LinkedIn advertising with text ads – a simple format that comprises a headline, some short text, and an image. Disclaimer: they only work on desktop – not mobile.
- Sponsored Messaging. Promote your legal services by sending up to two sponsored messages a month – an underused marketing technique that could help you establish stronger rapport with prospects.
- Sponsored Content. These ads appear in your prospects’ feeds no matter what device they use. Also known as native ads they’re marked out as promoted to differentiate them from other types of content.
- Dynamic Ads. Personalise your approach with Dynamic Ads which reveal your name, photo, and a short dynamic strapline to capture your audience’s attention.
LinkedIn ads mean nothing unless accompanied by clearly defined objectives
You’ve created a LinkedIn advertising campaign for a reason. Define those reasons from the get-go to ensure you achieve your goals – whether that’s improving brand visibility or generating more leads.
Choose from one or more of the following:
- Conversion ads. Keen to fill your sales pipeline with leads or convert more sales? Then this format will help you boost website conversions, generate leads via LinkedIn forms and even find the best job applicants.
- Consideration ads. Only choose this option if prospects are familiar with your law firm. This format won’t work for cold outreach. In terms of objectives, generating more social likes, website visits, or video views are goals you should consider.
- Awareness ads. Just landed and trying to establish your brand presence? Then Awareness ads are bound to get your prospects’ attention – boosting your follower and view rates too.
Which LinkedIn advertising format is best?
Having chosen your preferred type of ad and married it with an objective it’s time to select a format. Fortunately, with LinkedIn ads, you’ll be spoilt for choice – because there are 10 options to choose from
Which LinkedIn advertising format is best? This will depend on the goals you defined earlier in your journey.
Here are three examples…
- Follower ads are perfect if your aim is to convert more brand advocates via your LinkedIn company page.
- LinkedIn carousel ads – which display cards to tell a story – work well if your aim is to grow brand awareness.
- Conversation ads let you interact with prospects who can then choose their own journey.
Text limits apply to each format. So consider the nature of your message. If you want to showcase a new service a carousel ad won’t limit your expression.
Explore the different LinkedIn advertising formats yourself to find your match too. Or, if you need advice, contact us with your questions.
What’s your budget? Using Campaign Manager to create profitable campaigns
Posting on social media is free. You could jazz up a short post about changing trends in your industry in seconds and reach hundreds if not thousands of followers. Or, if you’re feeling brave, there’s nothing stopping you from uploading a video and talking to your audience directly.LinkedIn advertising costs money though. And that’s where the platform’s in-built Campaign Manager comes in.
Campaign Manager:
- Let’s you define a budget based on what rivals are bidding to reach your target audience
- Works best if you spend circa £87.00 per day or £4,300 per month (these are big numbers for smaller firms)
Is LinkedIn advertising really worth your hard-earned money?
How much do you expect to earn per lead and how what’s your overall target revenue for the campaign? If your spending exceeds your profit then the exercise was an unfortunate failure.
Of course, this is all well and good in hindsight. But sometimes even the best-planned ad campaigns fail – much to the surprise of their orchestrators.
To mitigate the risk of failure:
- Make sure you know your demographic well
- Crunch your numbers – then crunch them again
- Review data from previous ads where applicable
But most of all be prepared to spend money. Although the minim ad spend per day on the platform sits (at this time of writing) at £8.70 this is unlikely to give your law firm much traction.
Fortunately, you can decrease or increase your allowance anytime. But LinkedIn is known for being expensive – so investing the absolute minimum is unlikely to yield great results
Finally, don’t forget to use LinkedIn’s Campaign Manager function to measure performance, identify your target audience and improve overall success.
