Learn how to get the most out of LinkedIn in this advanced session that explores smart ways to organize, manage, track, and optimize your campaigns to achieve maximum results. Expert advertiser and consultant AJ Wilcox shares strategies and tactics for leveraging the LinkedIn platform like a pro. Join AJ and our own in-house demand generation authority Cassandra Clark as they reveal proven techniques for how to: - Structure campaigns for ease of scale, organization, and reporting - Drive leads using LinkedIn’s advanced targeting and accurate, first-party data - Create sophisticated targeting models around key audiences - Bid strategically and budget effectively to accomplish your goals - Launch creative and campaigns at scale - Set up ad tracking for proper attribution

1. AJ Wilcox
Founder B2Linked.com
LinkedIn Advertising Consultants
@wilcoxaj
Cassandra Clark
Marketing Manager
LinkedIn
@Cassandra3
Advanced Strategies for Leveraging
LinkedIn Like a Pro

2. Agenda
• Campaign Structure
• Targeting
• Strategic Bidding and Budgets
• Launching Campaigns at Scale
• A/B Testing
• Tracking and Attribution
#LinkedInMktg

3. Ideal Campaign Structure for Easy
Management, Scale, and Reporting

4. • Search Campaigns = Keywords
• Social Campaigns = Audiences
• Stop naming your campaigns:
– Whitepaper
– 2014 blitz
– etc
Thoughtfully consider nomenclature conventions
#LinkedInMktg
@wilcoxaj

5. • Having many campaigns in an account can be hard to keep organized
• Account sorts alphabetically by default, so name similar campaigns with
similar beginnings
e.g., SC | MKTG CMO
– SC (keeps Sponsored Content and Text Ad campaigns together)
– MKTG (keeps similar Job Functions together)
Good naming structure = easy campaign management
#LinkedInMktg
@wilcoxaj

6. Scale enabled when campaigns descriptively named
• Simple to audit audiences or content
SC | MKTG CMO Groups
SC | MKTG CMO JF
SC | MKTG CMO Skills
SC | MKTG CMO Titles
SC | MKTG Dir Groups
SC | MKTG Dir Skills
SC | MKTG Dir Titles
#LinkedInMktg
@wilcoxaj

7. Can easily filter in
Campaign Manager
or Excel:
• Description of
audience
• Type of targeting
• Type of content
Quickly interpret results with descriptive naming
#LinkedInMktg
@wilcoxaj

8. Creating Sophisticated Targeting
Models Around Key Audiences

9. Market to who matters:
Reach the right professional audiences
Rich demographic data
Job Function, Seniority, Company Name,
Geo, Industry
Interest-based targeting
Group Membership, Skills,
Companies Followed
Persona targeting
Job Searchers, Opinion Leaders,
Mass Affluent, Business Travelers
Your own audience data
Target Account Lists
#LinkedInMktg
@cassandra3

10. How we deliver relevancy to our target audience
Total addressable audience
Any member in the
marketing, media, or
communication job function
Geo
Title
Company size
Account-based
Skills
Company
Industry
Targeting within addressable audience
#LinkedInMktg

11. Align content and targeting strategies
Seniority = entry, manager, senior Seniority = director, VP, CXO, owner, partner
#LinkedInMktg
@cassandra3

12. Use targeting for deeper personalization in the feed
#LinkedInMktg

13. Target by title and skills to differentiate between
brand and demand generation marketer
Job Title = Demand Generation Manager,
Digital Marketing, Acquisition Marketing,
SEO Marketing, Search Engine Marketing,
Marketing Automation Manager, etc
Job Title = Brand Manager, Brand
Marketing Manager, Global Marketing
Manager, Director Brand Marketing, etc
#LinkedInMktg

14. Targeting tips: best practices
1 Balance scale and relevancy
2 Align content and targeting strategy
3 Don’t be afraid to experiment
4 Try Audience Expansion
#LinkedInMktg
@cassandra3

15. Strategic Bidding and Budgeting

16. Bids are a powerful lever for scale and performance
• Bid up to gain access to huge scale
• Bid down to tighten efficiency
#LinkedInMktg
@wilcoxaj

17. Budgets are a blunt instrument
• Artificial spend control
• Use daily campaign budget efficiently to ensure your are not spending above
necessary CPL.
#LinkedInMktg
@wilcoxaj

18. Bid vs. budget strategy
• Recommendations from AJ:
• Bid aggressively at launch with high budget caps
• Lower bids daily until the campaigns naturally spend just above your
comfortable daily budget
• Set budget cap to keep spend precise
• Find the balance between efficiency and scale
#LinkedInMktg
@wilcoxaj

19. Launching Creative at Scale

20. Create a minimum of two ads in every campaign
• Biggest mistake: Single Sponsored
Content shared by multiple campaigns
• Lose both ad- and audience-level
attribution
• Audiences respond differently
• Differences in CTR, CPC, and CPL
should provide learnings

21. Keep track of your ads
• Create spreadsheet with all descriptive columns
• Then create ads in Excel (use =LEN() formula for character counts)
• 128, 38, 155 for SC
• 25, 75 for TA
#LinkedInMktg
@wilcoxaj

22. Keep track of your ads cont’d…
If you keep this sheet of all ads published, you’ll have:
1. Quick copy/paste for simple ad creation in bulk
2. Complete reference/record of each ad published
3. Easy way to dynamically affix tracking parameters for killer tracking
#LinkedInMktg
@wilcoxaj

23. A/B Testing

24. Use Direct Sponsored Content to test campaigns
• Direct Sponsored content allows you to post multiple versions of creative without
posting to your company page. Also called a dark post.
• For creative tests, upload all creative in one campaign and the system will optimize
delivery for higher performing creative
• For audience tests, create separate campaigns
#LinkedInMktg
@cassandra3

25. Build a testing plan to iterate on your campaigns
• Goal: Increase CTR and conversion rate by X%
• Week 1: Headline
– Stat vs. no stat
• Week 2: Image
– Person vs. object background
• Week 3: Call to Action
– Download eBook vs. Download Guide
#LinkedInMktg
@cassandra3

26. A/B testing examples: headline test
vs.
+37% CTR
+162% impressions
#LinkedInMktg
@Cassandra3

27. +95% increase in CTR
+50% impressions
vs.
A/B testing examples: CTA test
#LinkedInMktg

28. vs.
+160% CTR
+289% CVR
A/B testing examples: image test
#LinkedInMktg

29. Ad Tracking and B2B Attribution

30. Three Buckets of B2B Metrics
#LinkedInMktg
@Cassandra3
Engagement Metrics
•CTR
•Opens
•Shares
Lead Generation
Metrics
•Lead volume
•Cost per lead
•Conversion rate
Post Conversion
Metrics
•Integrating
marketing data with
sales data

31. Track marketing campaigns through the sales funnel
Landing page
conversion
Marketing
qualified lead
Opportunities
created
Closed won
opportunities/#
new customers
Closed
dollars/revenue
#LinkedInMktg
@Cassandra3

32. Three methods to track conversions from campaigns
• Website (Google Analytics UTM parameters)
• Marketing automation (Eloqua or Marketo)
• CRM (Microsoft Dynamics or Salesforce)
#LinkedInMktg
@Cassandra3

33. First steps to B2B attribution
1. Ensure tracking scripts are all landing pages.
2. Adding tracking parameters to your URLs.
• Campaign URL will look something like this:
https://www.marketing.linkedin.com/?utm_source=linkedin&utm_mediu
m=sponsoredcontent&utm_content=20160728&utm_campaign=LMS_2
01607_SMB_IntlCampaign_CA_Online&elqCampaignId=1234
3. Marketing and sales data intergration

34. Google Analytics Campaign Drilldown

35. B2B attribution
• Challenges:
– All leads not created equal
– Delayed sales cycle
– Offline conversion events
• Unique ad-level tracking code
– Passed into CRM and/or marketing automation platform
#LinkedInMktg
@wilcoxaj

36. How to use attribution data
• Sales dispositions leads in CRM
- Marketing exports data from CRM, and marries to ad performance data
• Must be cohort-basis and not trending
#LinkedInMktg
@wilcoxaj

37. Why attribute LinkedIn spend?
• A campaign might appear to have high CPC or CPLs
- Higher close rates, lead quality, and deal sizes than any other channel
- Not attributing? You’re missing the insights
Questions about attribution? Let’s geek out!
#LinkedInMktg
@wilcoxaj

38. Q&A
@LinkedInMktg @cassandra3 @WilcoxAJ #LinkedInMktg