If you’re not using LinkedIn as part of your marketing strategy, you are missing out on an insane number of leads—LinkedIn is the top lead-generating social network for B2Bs. In addition to creating a company page, connecting with industry professionals, and publishing and promoting engaging content on LinkedIn, you should also be taking advantage of LinkedIn ads to target your ideal clients.

What’s a LinkedIn ad like?

If you’re an active LinkedIn user, you’ve likely seen LinkedIn ads in the sidebar or underneath the navigation bar, and in many ways they’re similar to the ads you’ll see on other social networks or on Google partner site: ad copy and a link, oftentimes with a logo or other small image or video. LinkedIn offers both text-and-image ads and video ads, as well as some larger ad formats, on a PPC (pay-per-click) or cost-per impression basis.

As with any digital ad, a good LinkedIn ad will have compelling copy that encourages viewers to click, upon which they are directed to a landing page where, ideally, they’ll convert to leads.

So what’s so great about LinkedIn ads?

LinkedIn has over 450 million members, and it captures information from these users on their on job titles, industries, company names, and more, all of which can be useful in targeting users who are potential clients. LinkedIn ads can be very specifically targeted by criteria that is relevant to your marketing strategy, industries, companies, company sizes, job titles, job functions, seniority, location, and more. According to the 2016 Salesforce Advertising Index Report, the audience of a LinkedIn ad has two times the buying power of the average web audience. What this means is that you can put your ads in front of the exact people who will have use for your product or service, and will have purchasing power, in a way that you can’t target them on any other platform.

Additionally, LinkedIn provides reporting on ad campaigns that includes aggregated data on who clicked on your ads by job title, industry, and seniority. This information is extremely useful in determining the effectiveness of your ads; is your target audience clicking? If not, you can use this information to make adjustments to your campaign.

What does this mean for you?

Using LinkedIn ads can generate leads like crazy. For example, if your company does plastic injection molding of components for automotive interiors, you can target your LinkedIn ad to product designers and sourcing specialists at the Big Three automotive OEMs. You’ll maximize your PPC budget by reducing clicks from users with no lead potential, since your ad won’t be reaching those users, unlike in paid search, where your ad is tied to a search term that is not necessarily completely specific to your target audience, and you’ll know that your target audience is seeing your ad, instead of trying to predict their search behavior.

LinkedIn is an essential component of any B2B marketing strategy in the digital age. If you’re interested in enhancing your LinkedIn presence, we have tons of resources on marketing with LinkedIn, including 6 Ways LinkedIn Can Work For Your B2B Marketing Strategy.

If you have more questions about how your company can use LinkedIn to generate more leads, or you’re interested in expanding your digital marketing strategy, let’s talk.