LinkedIn is one of the hottest social media sites for business professionals. Companies and individuals alike have jumped on the LinkedIn train and are continually looking for ways to create more leads. Lucky for them, LinkedIn has recently revamped its site and set its eyes on easier ways for companies and individuals to advertise on the site. This has resulted in paid advertising spots in users news feeds much the same way Facebook sells advertising. However, small businesses are now beginning to wonder if it is worth their time and money to invest in LinkedIn advertising.
Below we have broken down the Pros and Cons to LinkedIn’s new advertising platform, and give you our opinion of the best decision.
The Pro’s
LinkedIn is popular and popularity matters. LinkedIn currently has over 3 million company pages and 225 million individual users and counting, with 500,000 of those new users added in just the last 12 months. This means there are literally millions of potential clients and companies small businesses can advertise to.
Cost is flexible. LinkedIn lets advertisers set the amount they wish to pay. They can either choose to pay-per-click or pay-per-1000 impressions, known as CPM (cost per 1,000).
The Pay-per-click option allows the advertiser to set the maximum amount of money they will pay per click (like $2.00) and a maximum daily budget of how much can be spent on each day. The pay-per-1000-impressions generally is a better idea for businesses who want to reach the masses for branding and are less concerned with clicks. The budget is set on how much a business is willing to pay for 1,000 impressions. Convenient and flexible ad campaigns are a plus for small business owners.
The Con’s
Major competition! There are over one million different products and services spotlighted on LinkedIn and that makes advertising quite competitive. That means small businesses could get drowned out by the major companies that advertise to the professionals that call LinkedIn home. Generally, you will only know if LinkedIn advertising is going to work for your company if you run a test campaign, but businesses should be aware of the competition they face on LinkedIn.
Some individuals react negatively to sponsored ads. There is no guarantee with LinkedIn’s advertising that it will result in leads for your business. In fact, many people find it irritating to receive ads in their news feeds on a regular basis, although most people are used to it with Facebook and all the other social networks constantly advertising to us on social media. Good judgment is necessary for advertising via LinkedIn.
LinkedIn’s smart news feed paid advertising posts are new, but if you have a small business there really isn’t a reason to not use the service. We say go for it and try it out. It could lead to many new clients and followers, and at the very least will help your company build brand recognition.
Co-written by Peter Geisheker and Alanna Monical
The Geisheker Group Marketing Firm
http://www.geisheker.com