LinkedIn Business Manager is a powerful tool that allows businesses to manage their LinkedIn presence and advertising campaigns all in one place. To run ads on LinkedIn, you’ll first need to create an ad account connected to your Business Manager. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do it.
Pre-requisites for Creating a LinkedIn Ad Account
Before creating your LinkedIn ad account, you’ll need:
- A LinkedIn Company Page for your business
- LinkedIn Business Manager activated and connected to your Company Page
- A campaign objective in mind (brand awareness, website visits, lead generation etc.)
- Creative assets for your ads ready to go
If you don’t have these pre-requisites ready yet, take time to set them up first before creating your ad account. Your Company Page is required to run ads, and Business Manager will allow you to manage everything in one dashboard.
Step 1: Access LinkedIn Campaign Manager
The first step is to access LinkedIn Campaign Manager, which you can find within Business Manager. Here’s how:
- Go to your LinkedIn Business Manager dashboard.
- Click on the “Campaign Manager” tab at the top.
- Choose whether you want to create an “Individual” or “Team” campaign. Individual campaigns can only be accessed by a single user while Team campaigns can be collaborated on.
- Click on “+ Create” to begin making your new campaign.
Step 2: Choose Your Objective
You’ll now see the campaign setup page. The first step here is to choose your campaign objective from the list of options:
- Brand Awareness – Get your brand and content in front of a wide audience.
- Demand Generation – Generate leads by promoting content.
- Website Visits – Drive traffic to your website.
- Video Views – Get more views for your videos.
- Lead Generation – Collect quality leads for your sales team.
- Followers – Grow your LinkedIn Company Page audience.
Consider what goal you want your LinkedIn ads to achieve. This will inform the type of creative and targeting you’ll need to set up next.
Step 3: Set Up Your Ad Account
After choosing your objective, you’ll come to the ad account creation and payment settings. To create your account:
- Choose if you want to use an existing ad account or connect a new one.
- Select your payment method – you can pay via credit card or invoice.
- Enter your billing details and payment info.
- Agree to LinkedIn’s advertising policies.
- Click “Create Account”.
And that’s it – your LinkedIn ad account will now be created and connected to your campaign and Business Manager account!
Step 4: Set Up Your Campaign Details
After creating your ad account, you can now configure the details of your campaign:
- Campaign Name – Give your campaign a name to easily manage it later, e.g. “Fall Lead Gen Campaign”.
- Campaign Duration – Choose your start and end dates. You can also opt for no end date.
- Target Locations – Select which countries you want to target.
- Daily Budget – Your budget cap per day. You can start low and increase later as needed.
- Total Budget – Your overall budget for the full campaign duration.
Take time to think about these settings, as they will impact how your ads perform. Start with a small daily budget and short duration to test the waters first.
Step 5: Create Your Ad Groups
Within your campaign, you can have multiple ad groups targeting different offerings or audiences. To create your first ad group:
- Click “Create ad group” within the Campaign Manager.
- Choose the objective that aligns with your campaign objective.
- Give your ad group a name, e.g. “Yoga mat offers” if promoting special deals.
- Set your daily and total budget for this specific ad group.
- Click “Create ad group” to save your settings.
Repeat to make additional ad groups. For example, you may want separate ad groups for promoting yoga accessories or yoga class types.
Step 6: Design Your Ad Creatives
Now it’s time to design the visual and text content for your ads. Within each ad group, click “Create ad” to get started. You’ll be able to:
- Upload images and videos to use in your ads.
- Input your ad headline, text, captions, etc.
- Preview how your ad will look on desktop and mobile.
- Add a call-to-action button, like “Register Now” or “Buy Now”.
- Input your landing page URL so leads go to your site.
Take your time to create multiple ads testing out different images, captions, and formats. This will allow you to see what resonates best with your target audience.
Step 7: Target Your Audience
To target your ads to the right people within LinkedIn’s audience, you can leverage:
- Location – Target by country, region, city etc.
- Age – Target specific age ranges.
- Gender – Target by male, female or both.
- Job Title – Target by seniority, function, title.
- Company – Target employees of specific companies.
- Interests – Target by LinkedIn member interests.
Take time to test different targeting criteria and see which gives you the strongest results vs. budget. Start broad, then narrow your focus.
Step 8: Finish Setting Up Your Campaign
The last step is finishing up campaign settings:
- Set your daily ad rotation – how often you want ads to change.
- Choose your bid strategy – automatic vs. manual bidding.
- Activate your campaign to launch your ads!
Monitor your campaign frequently within Campaign Manager to see performance. Make adjustments to optimize results.
Troubleshooting LinkedIn Ad Accounts
Here are some common issues that may come up when creating your LinkedIn ad account and how to address them:
Payment Method Not Accepted
Double check any credit card details entered. Contact your card provider if you continually get a payment declined notice.
Account Not Approved
This usually happens when LinkedIn flags your ad account for potential policy violations. Carefully review their advertising policies and ensure your ads are compliant.
Daily Spending Limit Reached
Your account has hit the daily ad spend cap you configured. You can increase your daily budget or pause campaigns to stop spending.
Campaign Manager Access Issues
If you can’t access Campaign Manager, check your user permissions within Business Manager to ensure you have advertising capabilities enabled.
Ads Not Delivering
There may be targeting or bidding issues if your ads aren’t reaching your audience. Review your campaign settings to diagnose the problem.
Conclusion
Creating a LinkedIn ad account is the first step to unlocking the marketing potential of their powerful advertising platform. By following the steps outlined and leveraging LinkedIn’s detailed targeting options, you can drive strong results for your business across brand awareness, website traffic, lead generation, and more. Monitor performance closely and continually optimize your campaigns until you achieve your desired return on ad spend.