LinkedIn is the place to reach B2B audiences online. It’s the #1 social network for lead generation and the social site where 74% of B2B buyers go to research purchasing decisions.
But if you’re marketing B2B events, just knowing that you should promote your events on LinkedIn doesn’t tell you how to do so. Here’s a quick overview of the different ad types LinkedIn offers and how to use them to sign up more of the right people for your B2B event.
Drive awareness with Sponsored Content
The first step to driving broader awareness of your event is to take advantage of Sponsored Content. This content shows up right in LinkedIn users’ feeds and can be text, photo, video, or a carousel of photos. It’s a way to broadly tease upcoming events to a wider audience.
The LinkedIn B2B events team uses Sponsored Content to promote their own events. These include both live in-person events around the country and online webinars.
“We see Sponsored Content as an awareness play,” says Cassandra Clark, a senior marketing manager of demand generation at LinkedIn. “It’s the perfect spot to tease thought leadership and programming.“
Put it in action: You can use LinkedIn’s honed targeting capability to target members by geographic area, company, titles, skills, and much more. For instance, you might target everyone who works at all the companies on your account wish list. Or you may target anyone in a particular geographic area with a certain job function.
LinkedIn’s Matched Audiences functionality even allows you to upload data you have on current customers or registrants. Using that data, you can target to the same type of people on LinkedIn. In this way, says Michelle Blondin, Marketing Manager, Demand Generation, LinkedIn, “We’re able to laser-focus our efforts on the audiences and accounts that are most likely to drive revenue.”
Drive engagement with Sponsored InMail
The second way to promote B2B events on LinkedIn is with Sponsored InMail. This is a smart alternative to email marketing campaigns that aren’t passing muster. Sponsored InMail messages are only delivered when LinkedIn members are active online, so it’s far more likely they’ll be opened and read.
“Instead of sending to someone’s email inbox from five years ago, you know you’re delivering your message to someone who’s active,” Clark says. “There’s a 0% bounce rate.”
Put it in action: Use Sponsored InMail for direct, personalised outreach to your target account list. The LinkedIn events team has seen their InMails aimed at executives result in open rates as high as 67% — even when emails targeted to the same audience had dismal open rates.
Inside tip: The LinkedIn team has also found that combining Sponsored Content with Sponsored In-Mail resulted in a 25% increase in In-Mail open rates.
Drive registrations with Dynamic Ads
The third event promotion option LinkedIn offers is Dynamic Ads. Appearing in the sidebar, your ad pairs imagery from your event, like a keynote speaker’s picture, with the user’s own profile picture.
While Sponsored Content is “an awareness play,” according to Clark, and Sponsored InMail a direct way to reach out, Dynamic Ads serve to drive personal connection. “Dynamic Ads help viewers really imagine themselves at your event, hearing or meeting your speaker,” she says.
Put it in action: This is a relatively new functionality that not many people know about yet, so if you choose to use it, you have the advantage of being an early adopter to an option the LinkedIn events team swears by.
Drive the right people to register on LinkedIn
Using any one of these LinkedIn ad types gives your B2B event a boost. But to see the most impact, you should build a strategy informed by the experts: the LinkedIn marketing team.
To learn more about exactly how to LinkedIn’s team uses these three B2B event promotion tactics, download the free ebook Promote Your B2B Event on LinkedIn: Inside Tips From the LinkedIn Team.
