LinkedIn advertising provides a powerful way for businesses to reach their target audiences. One of the key targeting options is the ability to target followers of specific company pages on LinkedIn.
What is LinkedIn advertising?
LinkedIn advertising refers to paid ads that businesses can run on LinkedIn to promote their products, services, content, jobs, and more. It includes different ad formats such as Sponsored Content, Sponsored InMail, Text Ads, Dynamic Ads, and more.
Businesses choose objectives for their LinkedIn ads like reaching more LinkedIn members, generating leads, increasing website traffic, promoting content, and growing followers. Based on these goals, they target their ads using options like location, company size, industry, job title, skills, interests, groups, age, and more.
Why target followers of company pages?
Followers of company pages on LinkedIn have already shown an interest in those companies and their offerings. Targeting those followers in LinkedIn ads can be an effective way to reach audiences that may be more likely to engage with your content, visit your website, convert on your offers, or take other desired actions.
Some key benefits of targeting followers of company pages include:
- Laser focused targeting: You can narrow down your audience to only those who follow specific pages related to your industry or competitors.
- Improved relevance: Your ads will be shown to users who are already engaged with similar companies, increasing relevance.
- Increased conversion rates: Targeting warm audiences who know your niche can improve lead generation and conversions.
- Better segmentation: Separate audiences that follow different competitors or industry players.
- Competitive analysis: See what types of users your competitors attract for intelligence.
How to target followers of company pages
Within the LinkedIn ad platform, you can target followers of company pages in a few simple steps:
- When creating a new campaign, select “Followers” under Audiences.
- Search for the company pages you want to target followers of.
- Select the specific pages to target their followers.
- You can narrow down further by attributes like seniority, job function, etc.
- Add this audience targeting to your campaign and launch the ads.
You can target followers of up to 200 company pages in one campaign. The larger the company page’s follower count, the more reach you’ll get for your ads.
Tips for success
Here are some tips to help maximize results when targeting followers of company pages:
- Test different company pages in separate campaigns to see which performs best.
- Target followers of industry thought leaders and influential brands.
- Make your messaging and offers relevant to that audience.
- Use dynamic ads to show followers of each page unique content.
- Monitor performance and optimize based on insights.
- Combine with other targeting like job title for hyper-targeting.
- Target loosely related pages to find new audiences.
Example campaigns
Here are some examples of how targeting followers of company pages could be used effectively in campaigns:
Software Company Example
- Target followers of competitor software brands
- Reach users interested in the category but open to alternatives
- Feature trial offers and product comparisons
Agency Example
- Target followers of brands they want as clients
- Showcase relevant case studies and thought leadership
- Nurture them into your sales funnel
Recruiting Example
- Target followers of niche job boards and industry influencers
- Advertise open positions to passive candidates
- Retarget those who engage to your career page
What types of pages can you target followers of?
You can target followers of these types of company pages on LinkedIn:
- Competitor companies
- Industry thought leaders
- Prospect companies
- Partner companies
- Influencers and experts
- Industry publications
- Niche job boards
- Alumni groups
- Conference pages
Essentially any company or organization page on LinkedIn with a substantial follower count can be targeted. The larger the follower base, the more potential reach for your ads.
What targeting options exist beyond followers?
In addition to targeting followers of company pages, LinkedIn advertising offers many other targeting options including:
- Job title
- Company
- Industry
- Seniority level
- Groups
- Skills
- Interests
- Demographics
- Location
- Engagement with content
- Lead attributes
Advanced options are also available such as targeting by company attributes, lead nurturing, retargeting, lookalike audiences, and more. Flexible targeting combinations help hit even the most specific B2B niches.
Are there any limitations?
A few limitations to note when targeting followers of company pages:
- Maximum 200 pages per campaign
- Overlapping followers if targeting multiple pages
- Visibility limited for smaller niche pages
- All followers may not be in target persona
- Unable to determine how recently they followed
Despite these minor limitations, targeting followers still provides significant value particularly when combined with other attributes.
What are the alternatives?
A few alternatives to complement or compare with targeting followers include:
- Interest targeting based on topics related to the companies
- Job function and seniority targeting for B2B
- Retargeting website visitors of competitor sites
- Lookalike audiences modeled after your clients
- Targeting by groups related to the niche
- More broad targeting by industry and location
Testing different combinations of these targeting approaches is recommended to determine the best strategy.
Should you always target followers?
While targeting followers can be effective in many campaigns, it may not make sense in every situation. Here are a few considerations on when it may or may not be the best approach:
- Good for narrow B2B niches where competitors define the market
- Not always necessary for mass consumer awareness campaigns
- Ideal when you have high profile competitor pages with many followers
- May deliver lower reach if niche pages don’t have large followings
- Followers indicate interest but not always buying intent
- Should be combined with other signals like job title for conversion focus
Do your research on your goals, ideal audiences and the follower sizes of various pages. Follower targeting works very well for targeted B2B lead generation and engagement but may not be necessary in some other use cases.
Conclusion
Targeting followers of company pages is a powerful LinkedIn advertising technique to zero in on highly relevant audiences in a niche. For B2B marketers, it provides a shortcut to reach key decision makers interested in your space and your competitors. With the right accompanying offer and creative, it can become an efficient customer and lead acquisition strategy.
However, follower targeting should be seen as just one piece of the puzzle. Layering it with additional targeting dimensions and optimizing based on performance data is key to maximizing your LinkedIn advertising results.
At the end of the day, taking the time to test follower targeting as part of a comprehensive B2B LinkedIn ad strategy can provide major dividends for connecting with your best-fit audiences.