Advice from the Social Media Consultant: The Five Steps to LinkedIn Advertising Success, PART 1

"This six-part article series provides a detailed step-by-step guide to creating successful LinkedIn ads. This article, the first installment, provides an introduction to LinkedIn advertising."

Social Media Consultant: An Introduction to Social Media

The incredible number and variety of social media and networking sites has taken the virtual and real world by storm. Staying in touch with friends, family and colleagues used to involve physical meetings, telephone calls, letters and emails. Nowadays, we just have to log in to our social media accounts in order to keep a finger on the pulse of our friend’s lives, experiences and activities! With the vast success of social media as a tool for communication, interaction and information sharing has flourished an entirely new field of marketing and advertising, says this social media consultant. This branch of marketing focuses upon the use of sites such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Digg to promote the online visibility of the modern business, regardless of size and industry. But this six-part articles series will not be looking at these particular social media sites as a means for advertising. No, this social media consultant will be looking at LinkedIn; a vastly successful platform designed to facilitate networking between business professionals from all four corners of the globe!

Social Media Consultant: What is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is a networking site with over 100 million users from all over the world. Its focus is on the promotion of interaction between professionals at all business echelons and industries. LinkedIn, as the name suggests, provides direct links between businesses and business professionals, says the social media consultant. In other words, if you have just graduated with a degree in accounting, public relations, communications, commerce, finance or any field relating to these, then establishing a profile for yourself and posting your résumé on LinkedIn will prove to be invaluable for the development of your career. So how is this all relevant to marketing and advertising? Well, say social media consultants, LinkedIn provides fantastic opportunities for the modern business:

• LinkedIn advertising has proven to be especially successful in generating leads (potential customers and clients),

• Because LinkedIn is a professional platform, say social media consultants, its users receive business messages far better and actually give them the consideration they deserve,

• LinkedIn allows web marketers to directly target users with their advertising campaigns; focusing upon demographics such as industry and/or job title.

Using this professional networking platform, businesses and business professionals can further their interests and put their career success on the fast-track. Having said this, understanding how to create effective LinkedIn ads can represent a hurdle for some people, say social media consultants. Which is why this six-part ‘how-to’ article series will provide the five most important tips for creating ads that have impact and that reap positive results!

Ask the Social Media Consultant: About LinkedIn Ads

LinkedIn ads are presented in two different locations on the site (see screenshot):

1. As a text-only ad at the top of the site (depending upon your ad’s performance), and
2. Along the sidebar together with text and a photo.

Payment for a LinkedIn ad is facilitated by Cost per Click (CPC) or Cost per 1,000 Impressions (CPM). Building a LinkedIn ad simply requires you to submit a 25-character headline, a 75-character-long description and a photo. But building a successful LinkedIn ad requires a more innovative approach, say social media consultants. In fact, there are five recommended steps to follow…

Social Media Consultant: Stay Tuned

To start reading about the five steps towards building a successful LinkedIn ad, stay tuned for the second article installment of this six-part series, courtesy of this social media consultant.