LinkedIn advertising can be an effective way for businesses to reach their target audience. With over 810 million members worldwide, LinkedIn provides access to a massive professional network. LinkedIn campaign ads allow you to promote your business across LinkedIn and create customized targeting to reach your ideal customers.
When considering a LinkedIn ad campaign, one of the first things you’ll want to know is how much it will cost. LinkedIn campaign pricing is based on an auction-style bidding system, so costs can vary significantly depending on factors like competition, targeting, and time of year.
In this article, we’ll break down the key factors that impact LinkedIn campaign costs and pricing models. We’ll also look at average LinkedIn CPC and CPM rates to help you estimate your potential advertising spend.
LinkedIn Campaign Types & Pricing Models
LinkedIn offers a range of campaign objective options to meet different goals. The pricing model and minimum bids can vary for each campaign type.
Awareness Campaigns
Awareness campaigns aim to get your brand and content in front of a wide target audience. This can help amplify reach and increase familiarity with your brand. There are two main awareness campaign options:
- Brand Awareness: Reach a broad audience to increase brand recognition.
- Content Awareness: Promote specific content to engage your target audience.
Awareness campaigns are priced on a Cost Per Thousand Impressions (CPM) model. This means you pay each time your ad is displayed 1,000 times. Minimum bids start around $2 per 1000 impressions.
Consideration Campaigns
Consideration campaigns aim to drive leads and site traffic. There are two main consideration campaign options:
- Website Visits: Drive traffic to your website or landing pages.
- Lead Generation: Generate quality leads by promoting gated content.
Consideration campaigns are priced on a Cost Per Click (CPC) model. You pay each time someone clicks your ad. Minimum bids start around $3 per click.
Video Campaigns
Video campaigns promote video content to engage your audience. You can choose between two objectives:
- Video Views: Get more views on your LinkedIn hosted video.
- Website Visits: Send visitors to your site after watching a video.
Video campaigns are priced on a CPM model, with minimum bids starting around $10 per 1000 impressions.
What Impacts LinkedIn Campaign Costs?
When setting your bids and budgets, it’s important to understand the key factors that impact LinkedIn ad costs:
Targeting
Narrow targeting typically leads to higher cost per click or impression. Targeting by job title or seniority, for example, can reduce the audience pool and increase pricing. Broader targeting based on industry or location can be more budget-friendly.
Competition
Campaigns for highly competitive keywords and audiences will generally have higher costs. Research the competition for your target keywords to get a sense of potential bids needed.
Time of Year
LinkedIn ad costs may fluctuate based on seasonality. The end and beginning of fiscal years are typically high-demand periods where elevated pricing is likely.
Ad Relevance
Creating ads aligned to your target audience’s interests can improve your ad quality score. Higher quality scores allow your ads to compete at lower bid prices.
Platform Differences
Ads only shown in the LinkedIn feed have lower pricing than those also shown across the broader Microsoft Audience Network.
Average LinkedIn CPC & CPM Rates
To estimate what you may pay for LinkedIn ads, here are some average costs from major industry research reports:
Average CPC | Average CPM |
---|---|
$5.86 | $11.90 |
According to LinkedIn’s 2022 Benchmarks report, the average CPC is $5.86 and the average CPM is $11.90. However, costs can vary significantly based on factors like industry, campaign objectives, and other targeting parameters.
Industry Variations
Here is a breakdown of average CPC rates for major industries, per LinkedIn:
Industry | Average CPC |
---|---|
Technology & Computing | $8.41 |
Education | $7.89 |
Media & Publishing | $7.25 |
Software & Internet | $6.67 |
Retail | $5.89 |
Manufacturing | $5.49 |
Finance | $5.33 |
Technology and education verticals tend to have the highest average CPC rates, while manufacturing and finance are on the more affordable end.
Objective & Placement Differences
In addition to industry variation, costs can differ significantly based on your campaign objective and ad placement. For example:
- Lead generation campaigns have an average CPC of $9.11
- Brand awareness campaigns have an average CPM of $13.98
- In-feed video ads have an average CPM of $20
- Microsoft Audience Network ads average $7.19 CPC
Tips for Lowering LinkedIn Campaign Costs
Here are some tips to help control LinkedIn advertising costs:
Set Specific Campaign Goals
Know your key performance indicators (KPIs) upfront. Are you driving traffic or leads? Hyper-targeting your audience to align with your goals can create efficiencies.
Advertise at Optimal Times
Monitor your results to see when your audience is most responsive. You may be able to decrease bids without sacrificing performance if you hone in on peak engagement periods.
Test Different Targeting Approaches
Try narrowing your targeting in different ways to see what delivers the best results. For example, target by seniority vs job function vs skillsets.
Use Negative Keywords
Adding negative keywords can help reduce irrelevant impressions and avoid overspending on broad matches. Identify terms that trigger misaligned audiences.
Improve Ad Quality
Evaluate ad relevance, landing page experience, and other quality factors. Higher ad quality scores can unlock lower minimum bids.
Conclusion
In summary, LinkedIn campaign costs are driven by factors like your targeting parameters, bid strategy, ad quality, and overall competition. Following best practices around optimization and improving relevance can help maximize performance at the lowest effective bids.
Monitoring cost metrics like CPC and CPM in conjunction with the results generated allows you to assess true campaign ROI and adjust budgets accordingly. Work closely with your LinkedIn account representative to configure your first campaign in a way that balances ideal reach with cost efficiency.