LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 800 million members. As a platform built around making professional connections and sharing insights, LinkedIn offers a unique environment for businesses to reach their target B2B audiences through advertising.
Video ads on LinkedIn can be highly effective for several reasons:
Captures audience attention
Video is an engaging, dynamic format that can grab viewer attention in a way that static images and text cannot. LinkedIn reports that video ads on their platform have up to 3x higher click-through rates compared to other ad formats. Videos help marketers tell stories and make an emotional connection with the viewer.
Communicates key messages
Video ads allow marketers to communicate their key messages and value proposition in a rich, visual manner. They can demonstrate a product, explain complex concepts, introduce brands, and more through sight, sound and motion. Videos condense messages into a short, digestible format.
Boosts brand awareness
Video ads increase brand awareness and visibility – important goals for many B2B marketers. Video ads stand out in the LinkedIn feed, garnering more impressions. The dynamic nature of video also makes the brand, product or service more memorable.
Drives traffic to websites
Videos ads can be optimized with clear calls-to-action to drive traffic to the advertiser’s website, landing pages, blogs, events and more. CTAs prompt the viewer to click through to access further information.
Ability to target professional audiences
One major advantage of LinkedIn advertising is the ability to target ads based on member profile data such as job title, industry, company, skills, and interests. This allows B2B brands to achieve laser-focused targeting of their best-fit audiences.
Video ads on LinkedIn can be targeted by:
Job Title
Targeting by job title allows advertisers to reach decision makers and influencers within their ideal customer profiles. For example, a cybersecurity software company could target CISOs, IT directors, security managers, etc.
Industry
Targeting by industry vertical ensures your videos reach professions within your field. For a financial services product, you may target those working in banking, insurance, accounting, etc.
Company
You can target employees at specific companies you want to reach, especially existing customers or prospects on your target account list. Targeting by company size is also available.
Interests & Skills
Using LinkedIn member interests and skills allows for nuanced targeting of audiences passionate about topics relevant to your brand. A software company could target members with interests in SaaS, AI, or machine learning.
Detailed audience insights
LinkedIn provides robust audience insights to advertisers based on member data and activity. You can analyze details on your target audience including geographic location, seniority, industry distribution, top companies, related skills, and more. These rich insights help optimize video ads for the right viewers.
Geographic
Understand which countries and cities your audience is based in to tailor video messaging. You can also geo-target campaigns by location.
Seniority
Gauge the seniority of your audience – e.g. percentages of entry-level, manager, director, VP and C-level titles – to craft appropriate messaging for different senior stakeholders.
Industries
See a breakdown of your audience’s industry representation and focus video messaging for priority verticals accordingly.
Companies
Identify top target companies your audience belongs to. Tailor videos with messaging that resonates for people in those companies.
Related skills
Determine related skills that your audience possesses. Adapt vocabulary and messaging to align with those skills and interests.
Retargeting capabilities
LinkedIn ads allow advertisers to create customized audience segments based on website visitors, engagement with ads/pages, LinkedIn activity and more. You can then retarget these users with video ads to increase relevancy.
Website Retargeting
Remarket to people who have visited specific pages on your website through website retargeting. For example, you can target those who viewed a pricing page.
Engagement Retargeting
Retarget people who have watched a certain percentage of your video ad, interacted with your ads, or visited your LinkedIn Showcase Pages.
Account Targeting
Target employee groups belonging to your LinkedIn Account List – ideal for outreach to existing customer bases.
Matched Audiences
Target audiences similar to your existing contacts and leads for video ad campaigns. Leverage LinkedIn’s powerful platform to expand your audience.
Detailed campaign reporting
LinkedIn provides excellent visibility into video ad performance through its self-serve Campaign Manager Ads platform. You can track metrics like:
Impressions | How many times your videos are shown. |
Clicks | Number of clicks on your ads. |
Clickthrough Rate | Clickthrough rate = Clicks / Impressions |
Views | Number of times your videos are watched. |
Completion Rate | Percentage of viewers who watched your videos to completion. |
These insights help optimize targeting, bidding, creative, and overall performance.
High impact video ad formats
LinkedIn provides a variety of video ad formats to engage B2B audiences:
Sponsored Video
Sponsored Videos appear in the LinkedIn feed like organic posts. They autoplay when scrolled into view for guaranteed views.
Sponsored Content
Native-style videos play as members scroll feeds on desktop/mobile. Videos are labeled “Sponsored” for transparency.
Message Ads
Message Ads are mobile-only units. They include a clickable video creative that leads to a destination website.
InMail Video Ads
Video ads sent directly to LinkedIn members via targeted InMail for high visibility.
Opportunities across the funnel
Video ads on LinkedIn can impact audiences at every stage of the marketing funnel:
Awareness
Capture audience attention through branded videos that communicate your positioning, mission and values. Increase awareness among new audiences.
Consideration
Move prospects into consideration with product videos, customer testimonials and thought leadership that provides value.
Conversion
Encourage conversions by featuring demos, free trials, events and special offers. Add clear calls-to-action.
Conclusion
In summary, video ads perform well on LinkedIn due to:
– Engaging ad formats
– Targeted professional audiences
– Detailed audience insights
– Retargeting capabilities
– Robust reporting and optimization
– Impact across the customer journey
For B2B brands, using video ads on LinkedIn provides an unparalleled opportunity to connect with decision makers, demonstrate expertise, boost brand awareness, and drive conversions across a specialized professional network. The combination of video’s storytelling power and LinkedIn’s targeting makes for a potent advertising solution.