What Is LinkedIn Sponsored Content?

Social media marketing is a bigger deal than ever before when it comes to promoting your brand and your business. LinkedIn is no exception to this rule, offering a new and more professional-focused way for individuals and companies to offer their content to a broader audience. Also known as sponsored updates, LinkedIn supports the creation of in-site links to created content within the platform.

But why is LinkedIn Sponsored Content such an excellent form of social media marketing to invest in, and what can it do for your business? Check out these LinkedIn Sponsored Content best practices.

Why Invest in LinkedIn Sponsored Content?

There are many benefits to investing in LinkedIn Sponsored Content, but one of the more significant is when you’re looking to reach a more professional demographic in comparison to advertising on other forms of social media. As a platform better-designed for engagement with long-form content and thought leadership pieces, any brands looking to improve the visibility of their expertise in an industry might find LinkedIn sponsored content the ideal place to start.

In particular, this added visibility not only raises brand awareness but also provides businesses with access to a far more comprehensive network of potential clients and customers. Content marketing is increasingly important for marketing strategies, and LinkedIn makes getting great content out there far more straightforward than any other platform. Your audience wants to be better informed about what you’re offering and know you’re an expert in your industry at the same time.

Anything from reports to videos to articles can be quickly and practically sponsored to improve their reach, allowing brands to better connect with their target audience. With over 200 million members, LinkedIn is undoubtedly anything but small-scale for most industries. If you’re not already investing in marketing on this platform, then you’re likely missing out on countless opportunities to connect your products or services to your customer base.

Setting Up and Executing LinkedIn Sponsored Content

Setting up a LinkedIn Sponsored Content campaign is easy, thanks to the accessible tools the social media platform provides to allow for on-site advertising. For both direct sponsored and sponsored page content, LinkedIn provides precise specifications for the content, and a central location to plan and execute campaigns once they are ready to go live.

As with any social media advertising, executing content effectively means taking a closer look at the what and the how of your content – what you’re trying to achieve, and how you’re going to get there. If you plan to increase brand awareness outside of your immediate circle, then your advertising settings should reflect this. If you’re promoting a new service or product to past clients that may be interested in new offerings, then your content should be made with that demographic in mind. Having a clear idea of what you want before you go live can help you to achieve far better results, and improve the outcome of your advertising investment overall.

Measuring the Success of LinkedIn Campaigns

Measuring the success of online campaigns will, again, depend on what you hope to achieve. For campaigns designed to place your brand as an industry expert, the number of shares or comments on an article is an excellent way to gauge success. For content designed to create a strong call to action, the number of views on your website and the number of qualified leads generated and achieved from a campaign is an excellent measurement of success. See LinkedIn Lead Acquisition for more details.