LinkedIn advertising has become an increasingly popular way for businesses to reach professionals and promote their products or services. With over 722 million users worldwide, LinkedIn provides access to a massive audience of working professionals in nearly every industry. While LinkedIn advertising can be highly effective for lead generation and brand awareness, there are some potential drawbacks that businesses should be aware of. In this article, we will examine some of the key cons of using LinkedIn ads.
High Cost Per Click
One of the biggest cons associated with LinkedIn advertising is the potentially high cost per click (CPC). LinkedIn advertising uses an auction-style system where advertisers bid against each other for ad placement. This bidding war can drive up the minimum bid prices, leading to high CPCs in competitive industries. In some cases, LinkedIn’s CPCs can be substantially higher than other PPC platforms like Google Ads.
For example, LinkedIn’s average CPC across all industries was $8.03 in 2020. However, the average CPC for industries like finance and insurance was $17.19. Software and IT services had an average CPC of $15.18. This is significantly higher than the average CPC on Google Ads, which tend to fall between $1-$3 across most industries. The high cost per click can diminish profit margins on conversions and reduce the viability of LinkedIn ads for some businesses.
Limited Audience Targeting Options
LinkedIn does allow advertisers to target ads based on professional information, such as job title, company, industry, and skills. However, there are limits to these targeting options that can hamper campaigns. For example, you can only target a single job title, a single company, and around 15 skills at a time. This makes it hard to laser focus your ads on very specific segments of LinkedIn’s audience.
In comparison, platforms like Facebook provide much more expansive targeting based on interests, behaviors, demographics, and more. The limited targeting on LinkedIn reduces the ability to personalize ads and isolate key pockets of your audience. This can lead to lower click-through and conversion rates compared to other advertising platforms.
Low Click-Through Rates
With an average click-through rate of just 0.031% in 2020, LinkedIn ads see some of the lowest click-throughs compared to other social media platforms. For reference, Facebook and Instagram ads had average CTRs of 0.90% and 0.80%, respectively, in 2020. The low engagement on LinkedIn ads can be attributed to the professional mindset of users who are less likely to interact with blatant promotional content.
This poses a challenge for advertisers who may have to significantly increase their ad budgets just to drive enough traffic. The low CTR also impacts the overall performance of LinkedIn advertising campaigns. To boost CTRs, advertisers have to meticulously test different ad variations, visuals, ad copy, etc.
Limitations for B2C Brands
While LinkedIn advertising can be highly beneficial for B2B companies targeting professionals, it poses some limitations for B2C brands that sell non-business products or services directly to consumers. This is because most people on LinkedIn are there for professional networking and recruitment purposes, not shopping and researching personal purchases.
So consumer-focused companies may find their ads underperform with lower relevance scores, higher CPCs, and minimal conversion rates. This makes LinkedIn ads much less viable for many B2C brands selling into non-business buyer groups. The platform’s primary utility remains with B2B targeting.
Slow Approval Process for Ads
LinkedIn has a strict ad review and approval process to maintain the professional nature of the platform. However, this review process can often take 24-48 hours once you submit an ad. This slow turnaround time hinders the ability to quickly test and iterate different ad versions. It also limits your capacity to react and change messaging in response to real-time events or trends.
For advertisers seeking greater speed and flexibility, LinkedIn’s sluggish approval process can be a big hindrance. The long lag time between ad creation and going live adds unnecessary delays compared to other advertising platforms.
Weak Ad Relevance & Positioning
Relevance is a measure of how closely aligned an ad is with the interests and characteristics of the user it’s displayed to. LinkedIn’s relevance rating algorithm often seems to underperform, leading to ads with weak relevance scoring. This results in off-target ad displays that waste impressions and hurt campaign performance.
Similarly, the positioning of ads on LinkedIn’s desktop and mobile interfaces is not always ideal. Important placement factors like adjacency, above the fold position, and distance to content can negatively impact results. Overall, the sub-optimal relevance and positioning of LinkedIn ads can suppress clicks and conversions for advertisers.
Restrictions on Image Advertising
LinkedIn Ads manager places restrictions on the use of image ads compared to other ad formats. For example, you cannot run carousel image ads or advertise based on image assets alone. The platform requires text overlaying any image ads. This reduces the visual impact of advertising creative and flexibility for advertisers.
Without the ability to solely rely on images, it can be harder to capture user attention in a visually compelling way. For certain brands and products, this restriction on image-focused ads can significantly hinder campaign performance on LinkedIn.
Minimal Support for Retargeting Ads
Retargeting involves serving ads to users who previously engaged with your website, content, or ads. This is a proven tactic to increase conversions by continuously re-engaging past site visitors. However, LinkedIn currently offers limited options for configuring and optimizing retargeting campaigns.
There is no automated way to create custom audiences from your website traffic or CRM data. Retargeting for visitors of specific site pages or content is also not supported. This restricts the versatility of retargeting approaches on LinkedIn and prevents advertisers from maximizing the technique’s potential.
Reporting Limitations
LinkedIn’s reporting functionality within Campaign Manager has some restrictive limitations. For instance, LinkedIn does not provide detailed conversion attribution reporting to understand which ad clicks led to downstream conversions.
There are also limits in segmenting analytics by campaign, ad set, or demographic factors. This makes optimizing campaigns difficult without also using third-party tracking tools. The lack of robust reporting capabilities on LinkedIn Campaign Manager is a noteworthy shortcoming.
Lack of Support Resources
LinkedIn does not offer much in the way of dedicated customer service support for advertisers. Phone support is only provided as an add-on paid service for select account types. For most advertisers, support is limited to online self-service resources and troubleshooting through email/chat. This lack of readily available help can be problematic when issues arise with accounts, billing, campaigns, or ads.
Additionally, LinkedIn’s help documentation for Campaign Manager can be limited compared to other platforms. There is a lack of detailed technical guides, how-tos, and training resources. Support limitations present a challenge, especially for newer LinkedIn advertisers.
Audience Overlap With Facebook
Studies have found a high degree of audience overlap between LinkedIn and Facebook – around 55% on average. This overlap is likely because many professionals maintain both a LinkedIn profile and a Facebook account. The similar reach can lead to advertising budget and effort duplicated across the platforms.
For marketers, it may make more sense to focus spend on just one platform rather than spreading budgets across both. This is especially true given Facebook’s lower CPCs and advanced targeting capabilities. The high audience overlap with Facebook is a key consideration when assessing LinkedIn advertising ROI.
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Reach targeted professional audiences | High cost per click |
Generate B2B leads | Limited ad targeting options |
Increase brand awareness | Low click-through rates |
Drive website traffic | Limitations for B2C brands |
Retarget website visitors | Slow approval process for ads |
Share content and articles | Weak ad relevance and positioning |
Restrictions on image advertising | |
Minimal support for retargeting | |
Reporting limitations | |
Lack of support resources | |
Audience overlap with Facebook |
Conclusion
In summary, while LinkedIn advertising provides a unique opportunity to engage professional audiences, there are notable limitations and cons to consider. The platform’s high cost per click, limited targeting options, low click-through rates, and lack of robust analytics are chief among these disadvantages for marketers.
However, for B2B companies promoting products and services related to careers, business needs, and professional growth, LinkedIn ads can still drive tremendous value. The key is setting proper expectations around potential costs, leveraging LinkedIn’s capabilities for B2B targeting, and monitoring performance across other marketing channels. With the right strategic approach, LinkedIn ads can play an important role in reaching and converting professional audiences.
Key Takeaways
- LinkedIn ads come with a high cost per click, often exceeding $8+ on average across industries.
- Targeting options are limited compared to other platforms like Facebook Ads.
- Low click-through rates of 0.03% lag far behind more engaging platforms.
- B2C consumer brands may find minimal value given LinkedIn’s professional audience.
- Slow approval delays and lack of robust analytics/reporting hamper optimization.
- But for B2B targeting focused on professionals, LinkedIn remains a viable platform.