The LinkedIn billing admin plays a critical role in managing the financial operations of a company’s LinkedIn presence. As social media becomes increasingly vital for businesses in building their brand, generating leads, and driving revenue, having a dedicated resource to oversee LinkedIn billing can optimize costs and ensure proper allocation of budget.
Managing LinkedIn Ads Spend
One of the primary responsibilities of the LinkedIn billing admin is keeping track of the company’s spending on LinkedIn ads. LinkedIn offers a variety of advertising options including Sponsored Content, Sponsored InMail, Dynamic Ads, Message Ads, and more. The billing admin monitors monthly ad spend across the different campaigns, ensuring it aligns with the predefined budget. This involves reviewing dashboards and reports in LinkedIn Campaign Manager to identify top performing ads as well as any potential waste.
In addition to day-to-day ad spend, the billing admin also prepares annual projections for the total LinkedIn ad budget. This requires analyzing historical performance data and industry trends to estimate costs for the upcoming year. With regular check-ins, the billing admin makes any necessary adjustments to stay within the parameters of the projected budget. Having oversight of the numbers enables the company to scale LinkedIn advertising in a strategic, cost-effective manner.
Billing and Invoices
Managing the invoicing and payments for LinkedIn advertising is another central duty. LinkedIn bills businesses on a monthly basis for charges accrued the previous month. The billing admin reviews the invoice details including the dates of the billing cycle, the account name and information, the specific ad products utilized, any discounted credits applied, taxes added, and the final amount due.
It is important for the billing admin to confirm the accuracy of each invoice before processing payment. He or she must also keep track of due dates for each monthly bill to avoid any late fees or suspension of account services. The admin may choose to set payment reminders and schedule automatic payments via the LinkedIn payment settings. Additionally, the billing admin maintains documentation of past invoices, payments, and any noted discrepancies in case they need to be referenced.
Allocating Spend Across Business Units
For larger enterprises with multiple business units, the LinkedIn billing admin must determine how to appropriately allocate ad spend. There are a few options on how to apportion the costs:
- Divide evenly across all business units
- Allocate proportional to revenue generated by each unit
- Assign specific budget to each unit based on goals and needs
The billing admin evaluates historical LinkedIn performance and future objectives for each unit to decide on the optimal allocation method. This ensures every department has sufficient budget to operate effective LinkedIn campaigns without going over budget collectively.
Establishing Billing Policies and Approvals
The LinkedIn billing admin is responsible for instituting internal policies and protocols around billing. This starts with determining who has the authority to change billing settings or exceed predetermined budgets. Restricting access helps safeguard against unexpected spikes in spend.
The admin should also create standards for when and how budget increases can be approved, whether through submitting an official request form or seeking authorization from finance stakeholders. Additionally, the admin may choose to implement budget check-ins at regular intervals (e.g. monthly, quarterly) to evaluate spending across units.
Instituting billing policies and approval gates promotes accountability in managing the company’s LinkedIn advertising investment.
Navigating LinkedIn Billing Platform
To effectively oversee LinkedIn billing, the admin must be skilled in navigating the LinkedIn billing platform. Key features and functionalities include:
Billing Overview
This page displays at-a-glance information on the monthly invoice including:
- Total amount due
- Due date
- Summary of current charges
- Outstanding balance
The billing admin monitors this regularly to stay on top of upcoming payments.
Plan & Billing Settings
Configure payment methods and billing preferences here such as:
- Payment schedule (monthly or annual)
- Payment method (credit card, PayPal, wire transfer etc)
- Billing notifications
- Adding VAT registration for specific countries
The billing admin manages settings for accurate invoice generation.
Account Users
Review all users under the LinkedIn account. The admin can add or remove access as needed. Restrict permissions to limit ability of other team members to alter billing settings.
Billing History
Provides records of all previous invoices, payments, and statements. The billing admin can audit details from any past billing cycle. Useful for investigating discrepancies, identifying trends, and forecasting future costs.
Getting Support
LinkedIn offers customer support to help troubleshoot any billing issues. The billing admin can open tickets for assistance on matters such as:
- Questions about charges
- Invoice corrections
- Payment problems
Leveraging support improves ability to resolve billing errors or concerns.
LinkedIn Advertising Products
In order to strategically allocate budget, the LinkedIn billing admin should have working knowledge of the range of advertising options:
Sponsored Content
Native, in-feed ads targeted to LinkedIn audience based on characteristics such as geography, job role, interests etc. Appear in news feed alongside organic posts.
Sponsored InMail
Personalized messages sent directly to LinkedIn member’s inbox. Allows for highly targeted outreach at scale.
Dynamic Ads
Automated customized ads that showcase specific products/services to prospects likely to be interested.
Text Ads
Highly targeted text ads displayed on the right rail of LinkedIn pages.
Message Ads
Attention-grabbing displays that appear in the LinkedIn Messaging section. Optimized for engagement.
There are also options like Lead Gen Forms, Video Ads, and more. Understanding the full suite of offerings allows the billing admin to allocate spend where it has the greatest impact.
Managing Multiple LinkedIn Pages
Large enterprises often have various standalone LinkedIn pages for subsidiaries, brands, or geographic offices. The billing admin coordinates with admins of each page to get an aggregated view of LinkedIn ad activity. He/she ensures spending stays within budget across the company’s overall presence. This may involve:
- Establishing universal policies and limits at the company level
- Enabling cross-account reporting
- Consolidating LinkedIn invoices
- Summarizing performance data across all accounts
Maintaining visibility across multiple accounts prevents budget overages or inconsistencies.
Staff Education
Part of the billing admin role involves educating team members on how LinkedIn billing and budgeting works. This ensures proper understanding of:
- LinkedIn advertising capabilities
- How usage translates to cost
- The billing and payment cycle
- How to monitor campaign performance
- Guidelines for staying within allotted budget
Providing learning resources and guidance prevents unnecessary LinkedIn expense. It also enables employees to maximize results within designated budget.
Billing Cost Savings
In addition to keeping spending controlled, the LinkedIn billing admin also identifies opportunities for cost reduction. Tactics may include:
- Renegotiating enterprise contract – Leverage high spend to negotiate custom rates or bundled packages.
- Optimizing ads – A/B testing, targeted audience refinement, and monitoring KPIs improves conversion at lower cost.
- Pausing ineffective ads – Eliminate spend on underperforming ads that aren’t generating ROI.
- Reducing impression share – Being more selective with targeting to reduce costs while maintaining relevance.
- Consolidating campaigns – Eliminate duplicate efforts and consolidate insights.
Diligent cost management allows for higher return from LinkedIn advertising budget. The billing admin should always be assessing ways to maximize value.
Leveraging LinkedIn Insights
To inform budgeting decisions, the billing admin taps into LinkedIn’s robust data and analytics capabilities. Valuable insights include:
- Audience reports – Learn about followers and engagement rates to optimize ad targeting.
- Company page analytics – Identify high traffic times and top performing content.
- Ad performance – Evaluate click-through rates, conversion rates, cost per lead, ROI etc.
- Lead intelligence – Discover interests and pain points of leads generated.
These insights allow for accurate forecasting of optimal budget to achieve LinkedIn advertising goals.
Coordinating with Finance Team
The LinkedIn billing admin maintains alignment with the broader finance team. This collaborative relationship ensures:
- Budget allocated is adequate and realistic.
- Spending aligns to overall company objectives.
- Unexpected overages can be addressed.
- Future budget requests are backed by data.
- ROI on ad spend is measured.
Open communication with the CFO, controllers, and accounting team leads to fully optimized LinkedIn billing and budget utilization.
Conclusion
The LinkedIn billing admin plays a strategic role in overseeing the company’s financial operations on the LinkedIn platform. From managing daily ad spend to negotiating enterprise contracts, this critical function optimizes budget and enhances ROI of LinkedIn investments. As social platforms become increasingly vital for brands, dedicating specialized resources to effectively control billing and costs is a smart organizational move.