4 Common LinkedIn Advertising Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

March 25, 2022

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‍4 Common LinkedIn Advertising Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

There’s no denying that LinkedIn is one of the best platforms to advertise for B2B. It has incredible targeting tools and is used by millions of professionals every day! However, there are many costly mistakes that can seriously hinder the performance of a campaign.In this post, we share 6 common LinkedIn advertising mistakes and how to avoid them.

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Broad Targeting

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The goal of targeting and segmenting is to make the reader think, “this was written for me.” Don’t be afraid to be specific. In some cases, it typically means narrowing down targeting based on job title, industry, years of experience, company, and many others. Some audiences that have worked in our experience are a combination of the targeting options listed above, or lookalike audiences based on company page visitors in a specific time period. You can even test out re-engagement and retargeting audiences on LinkedIn using on-platform engagement or pixel data.

Once you have created an ad group, be sure to review the audience targeting settings within that specific ad group as well as across all of your campaigns. The good news is that LinkedIn Ads allows for a lot of flexibility in terms of audience targeting; however, this also means there are plenty of opportunities for error if not managed correctly.

When brainstorming ads, you want to create an ad that speaks directly to a person’s hopes and dreams—and how your product or service can help them achieve those dreams—and not just vaguely say something like “we provide business solutions” (because everyone does).

If you're just starting out, a great way to find ad resources and inspiration is to check out the ad section of a competitor's company LinkedIn page.

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Bad User Experience

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Bad user experience and bad brand perception are two of the biggest problems, as they lead to low user retention and poor conversions. A great user experience starts with a specific ad to your audience and ends with a great landing page.

Excellent copywriting presents a solution to your prospective customer's problem. An excellent landing page delivers on the promise and provides a path forward for the buyer. If you’re not delivering on your promise or providing value (not just by asking for their email address), then you’ll see low conversion rates.

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Being Too "Sales-y"

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The first thing you want to do is take a look at your ad. Does it feel like a sales pitch? If so, you should re-write it to seem more sincere and helpful. Remember, LinkedIn ads are not just about selling—they’re also about educating and engaging with potential clients. Your goal is to humanize your content while staying on brand as much as possible. If you find yourself using too many sales-y words or images in your ad copy, keep these two things in mind:

- What problem can I fix for this audience?

- How can I connect with them on a personal level?

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Unclear Ad Messaging

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The first step in optimizing your LinkedIn Ads is to define the objective for the campaign you’re working on. What do you want people to do? Do they need to sign up for a demo, or purchase a product? Or maybe it’s just awareness—you want them to know about what you sell, but aren’t necessarily trying to get them into any kind of action...yet.

Once that’s clear, take a good look at who it is that you’re targeting with these ads. This should be an audience that has an interest in what you’re selling, and who will be immediately responsive when presented with the message(s) in your ad copy.

If you are looking for brand awareness or to generate traffic to your site, you may want to take an educational standpoint when it comes to copy. Explain your business or product by making it seem innovative (because it is!) or with empathy if you want to connect with your customer's problem to gain the opportunity of potentially fixing it.

A tip to avoid unclear messaging: use as few words as possible when explaining something.

Example:

He angrily pushed the door and it shut very loud.

The man slammed the door.

Take every opportunity you can to make your messaging simple.

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