5 Tactics to Improve B2B Lead Quality on LinkedIn

Generating high quality leads through LinkedIn for a B2B company can be a daunting task. With many targeting options, ad formats and goals strategies, creating a plan that is successful takes time and effort. With 52% of companies planning on increasing LinkedIn ad spend in 2019, it is important to understand how to effectively use that additional budget to improve qualified lead totals.

Last year, we discussed various ways that companies can find B2B success with LinkedIn ads. For today’s post, we will be drilling down further for companies that want to improve their overall lead quality utilizing the platform.

1. Create an Effective Audience List

Before coming up with an ad strategy on LinkedIn, it’s important to take a step back and understand who the specific audience that an advertiser wants to acquire is.

Unlike other objectives for social media advertising, such as engagement and website visits, trying to acquire quality leads involves choosing the correct audience that will ultimately buy the product or service. For quality leads specifically, this includes targeting key decision makers and higher level executives.

Thankfully, LinkedIn makes targeting these users easy. They offer advertisers a variety of different ways to create an audience, including:

• Job Titles & Function
• Seniority
• Company Size & Location
• Industry

2. Pick the Right Offer

Once the audience has been created, it must be determined what should be offered to acquire their information. Some offer examples may include:

• White Paper/Case Study
• More Information
• Free Demo

The specific offer that should be used needs to be based on where an advertiser wants the leads of fall in the funnel. For example, if an advertiser wants a user who is ready to buy immediately, an ad focusing on key product/service features, offering a free trial, would be the best approach.

On the other hand, if getting a steady flow of beginning-of-the-funnel leads is important, a lighter, informational piece of content, like a white paper, should be offered.

3. Utilize Sponsored Content Lead Gen Ads

There are a wide variety of ad formats that LinkedIn offers, including sponsored content, carousel, video, and text ads. For acquiring leads on LinkedIn, the best type of format is a sponsored content ad, utilizing the LinkedIn Lead Gen feature.

With Lead Gen, advertisers are able to have a form directly in the ad. This allows for potential customers to give their information without having to leave LinkedIn.

The form fields are chosen by the advertiser, and there is a wide variety of possibilities and combinations. Once the user fills out a form, LinkedIn tracks the information right in an excel document.

This document can be easily exported, or transferred directly into compatible CRM’s, such as Salesforce or, more recently, HubSpot.

4. Create High-Quality Images

Like any other social media platforms, images can go a long way in the success of any ad. There are a few tips when making an image for a LinkedIn ad, which include:

• Choose the Right Format – When creating a sponsored ad, it is important to make sure the ad is 1200 x 627 px, and is no more than 100MP. Any difference here can result in an ad not displaying correctly.
• Eye Catching – An ad should pop out and engage the desired audience. There are lots of images on a LinkedIn feed, so it is important to use one that stands out.
• Call-To-Action – The main call to action should be visible so the user knows the next steps needed from them.

Pairing a great image with a sponsored content ad will ultimately result in quality lead generation success.

5. Target Existing Users

Not all leads on LinkedIn need to be new users. Marketing towards users that are familiar with a company’s product or service is a great way to improve qualified leads.

LinkedIn offers a variety of ways to create audiences based on existing users, including:

• Remarketing Code – Target users who have been on a company’s site.
• Customer Match – Target users who are on an email list.

Once the list is created, messages and offers targeted directly towards them should be created. Getting these users to interact further with the company and creating a new dialog can help transform old leads into qualified leads.

Conclusion

When it comes to social media advertising, LinkedIn is the perfect choice to help improve a company’s qualified lead totals. While there are many goals that can be achieved on LinkedIn, acquiring quality leads is where the social media platform shines above the rest. As we continue in 2019, LinkedIn should not be ignored by any company when planning their future ad strategy.