How To Use LinkedIn Campaign Manager

Written by Ravi

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Nov 3, 2021

Types of LinkedIn Ads

Before we get into how to use LinkedIn Campaign Manager, we will first briefly explain the different types of LinkedIn ads that you can use to reach your preferred audience.

Dynamic Ads

These ads will run on the right side of LinkedIn and are usually tailored to the individual members who receive them. Details such as the user’s name, job title, and photo can be reflected back to them in a dynamic ad to make the marketer’s case stronger.

However, members can find these ads a tad bit too personal sometimes, and LinkedIn allows them to hide such details from you in the future.

Text Ads

As the name suggests, text ads are perhaps the most basic type of ads of LinkedIn. They are basically a few sentences of text that can either show up along the top of a LinkedIn’s desktop feed or on the right-hand side of it.

They are great for attracting leads from a highly professional demographic if that’s what you’re mainly seeking from marketing on LinkedIn.

How to Use LinkedIn Campaign Manager

1. Setting up your LinkedIn campaign manager account

Your LinkedIn ad campaigns reside on a platform that is separate from the LinkedIn you’re used to. Simply head to the LinkedIn Campaign Manager and create an account in case you haven’t yet. While creating the account, make sure to associate it with your LinkedIn company page if you have one.

Once you’re done creating the account, you will be led to a member dashboard, where you will be prompted to enter your billing information. Note that you can’t go any further without entering your billing information. Don’t worry, though; you’ll only be charged once your campaign is up and running.

2. Creating your LinkedIn Ad Campaign

You will notice a button that says Create Campaign in your campaign manager. Click on it, and you will be redirected to a new page where you’d set up your campaign.

First off, pick a campaign group for your campaign and a name. Campaign groups, as the name suggests, help you to organise your different campaigns. You can obviously leave it in the default group or create a new one.

Then, you get to pick a name for your campaign, which will only be visible to you, obviously. Still, if you have a few people working on the marketing campaign, we recommend that you pick an informative name and not something random.

3. Choose your ad campaign objective

The objective of your LinkedIn ad campaign is basically what you expect people to do when they view your ads. According to the people over at LinkedIn, choosing an objective for your campaign helps them to properly customise the creation process of your campaign and to ensure that you get the best ROI possible.

LinkedIn currently offers three main themes for your ad campaign goals, which are: Awareness, Consideration, and Conversions.

4. How to Use LinkedIn Campaign Manager: Picking your LinkedIn Ad audience

This is perhaps the most important step in our journey to answer the question of how to use LinkedIn campaign manager. It basically determines who sees your ads, and of course, if you pick the wrong people, your whole campaign will be a waste.

LinkedIn gives you the option to target people according to a few different criteria, such as:

Locations
Demographics (member age and gender)
Education (fields of study, member schools, degrees)
Job Experience (title, function, seniority, years of experience, skills)
Interests and Traits (member groups, interests, traits)
Company Name, Industry, Size, Connections, and Followers
Etc.

The more specific your targeting criteria is, the higher the chances are of you getting the most out of your target audience (a positive ROI).

5. Choosing your LinkedIn Ad format

Next up, you get to choose the format of your ad. We have already explained the different types of LinkedIn ads above.

When going through the different ad types, you will notice the Forecasted Results box changing. This feature basically puts into consideration your different campaign parameters, such as targeting, start/end dates, budget, and more and generates helpful numbers.

Keep close attention to this box since it will provide you with almost accurate numbers for your ad campaign.

6. Choosing your LinkedIn Ad placement

Yet another important step in our how to use LinkedIn Campaign Manager guide, choosing the placement of your ad is crucial. This option basically allows you to display your ad(s) on the LinkedIn Audience Network, a fancy word for a network of third-party sites and platforms with strong ties to LinkedIn.

This is a great option because it allows your campaign to gain more reach and exposure than what it’d get if you solely run it on LinkedIn. However, it doesn’t support all ad formats.

7. Set your ad schedule and budget

When it comes to the schedule of your ad, simply choose a date for it to start and have it run continuously or end on a specific date.

Then we have the budget, a key factor for many out there. We recommend that you set a daily budget that works best for your needs and capabilities. Avoid investing too much into a single campaign. Instead, carefully test the waters of every campaign you start and see how it goes. If it seems to be working well, then put more money into it.

In other words, when it comes to determining how much an ad campaign will cost you, experimentation is key. Never invest a large sum of money in a campaign just because you think it will work. Test it thoroughly by editing the format of the ads, changing the targeting parameters, and more.

8. How to Use LinkedIn Campaign Manager: Bidding

When it comes to bidding, LinkedIn offers you three options:

Maximum cost-per-click (CPC) Bid: This refers to you being charged every time a user clicks on your ad. When choosing your maximum CPC bid, LinkedIn will suggest a range depending on your budget and the competition. The more competition there is, the higher you will have to bid.
Maximum cost-per-mille (CPM) Bid: LinkedIn will charge you a certain amount of money once every 1000 views of your ad. You cannot choose this option if you are relying on the LinkedIn Audience Network option.
Automated Bid: As the name suggests, automated bidding is basically you giving LinkedIn the green light to determine whatever funds are needed for your campaign ads to reach its objectives (clicks, impressions, conversions).

9. Conversion Tracking

Last but not least in our how to use LinkedIn Campaign manager guide is setting up your conversion tracking. This step is essential because it allows you to closely keep track and measure the actions LinkedIn users take after clicking on an ad of yours.

We insist that you do this simply because it is an optional feature, and some brands just gloss over it without realising its true value and potential in your LinkedIn marketing journey.

The LinkedIn campaign manager reports a variety of different metrics for every ad campaign you run on the platform. These metrics include the number of clicks, impressions, click-through rate, conversions, cost-per-conversion, and more.

You can use these metrics to measure how well your campaign is performing and your overall ROI (return on investment). Improving the latter should be one of your main objectives.

Talk with a LinkedIn expert

LinkedIn can be a great advertising platform to generate high-quality leads and close big deals, but only if you run LinkedIn ads the right way. Contact us today, and we’ll help you with that.

How to Use LinkedIn Campaign Manager – FAQ

Can I change my targeting parameters once my LinkedIn ad campaign is up and running?

Yes, you can tune your targeting options using the LinkedIn campaign manager while your ad campaign is live. As a matter of fact, we recommend that you do it on a consistent basis until you find your sweet spot. So, in case you do not see the right results, make sure to edit your targeting parameters and closely observe the performance of your ad campaign.

CPC or CPM, which is better to use?

CPC stands for cost-per-click, a model where you’d be charged up to your maximum CPC bid every time a user clicks on your ad. CPM, on the other hand, refers to cost-per-mile or, rather, the cost per 1,000 impressions. In the case of CPM, LinkedIn will charge you your maximum bid every time your ad is seen 1,000 times on the platform.

If your main goal of advertising on LinkedIn is to generate leads and potentially conversions on your landing page, then go with CPC. This is because your goal revolves around people clicking on your ad, and as a result, your marketing budget will only be spent on leads.

If you’re just looking for brand awareness, however, then go with CPM. It is the perfect bidding model for quickly gaining brand recognition, and of course, potential leads.