According to a recent release from LinkedIn, they will begin showing ads off of their website and app via their new Lead Accelerator Program. While this follows in the footsteps of both Twitter and Facebook, the advantage, at least to B2B marketers, is that LinkedIn offers a superior audience to advertise to and arguably better targeting.
Although LinkedIn’s user base of nearly 350 million users is dwarfed by Facebook’s approximate 1.5 billion, LinkedIn’s users are generally higher income earners and the decision makers in the business world. The Lead Accelerator program allows advertisers to pick whom they want to display ads to in the same way that they allow advertisers to select whom to show sponsored posts and on-site ads to. This means that people can select things what type of job, company, location and age to market to, and those individuals will see ads on a network of 2,500 of other business-focused websites, the LinkedIn Network Display, according to Business Insider.
In an interview with AdAge, the LinkedIn Marketing Solutions’ head of products, Russel Glass, said:
This is the first time we’ve had a fully integrated product that allows marketers to reach our audiences outside of LinkedIn.
Another benefit of using the new Lead Accelerator program is the ability to tailor messages based on what parts of a company’s website someone has visited, which is made possible with tracking cookies. This allows businesses to create one set of ads for individuals who have never been to the site before and different sets for visitors who have looked at pricing or products.
The one major issue is that getting involved in the program is cumbersome to say the least. According to LinkedIn:
As of today, LinkedIn Lead Accelerator will be available in most markets globally, and sold through a LinkedIn sales representative via an annual or quarterly subscription.
In other words, you can’t sign up online, and Business Insider states that although web management is planned for the future, program members must leave optimization to the LinkedIn team; however, online stats are available for read-only viewing.
