In June 2016, Microsoft purchased LinkedIn for a fee of $26.2 billion. From that point forward, many within the digital marketing community wondered how and when Microsoft would implement and integrate the vast amount of data LinkedIn possessed into their own search advertising platform, Microsoft Ads (formerly known as Bing Ads).
The rivalry between Google Ads and Microsoft Ads has been a longstanding one with each having their own unique benefits over the other. Having LinkedIn data within their arsenal, Microsoft looked to utilise this to give themselves an extra edge over their competitors. Then in 2018, Microsoft Ads launched a Beta feature called LinkedIn Profile Targeting which allows Microsoft Ads users to leverage profile data from LinkedIn into their campaigns. However only a select few advertisers have access to this feature whilst it is still in its Beta phase in 2020. At Pivotal One we are one of the agencies that can utilise this powerful feature in order to refine and strengthen our targeting for our clients.
Linkedin Profile Targeting can be found under the Demographics tab within Microsoft Ads. Currently as of 2020 it has three targeting capabilities which are: Company, Industry, and Job Function.
This data is obtained from the vast database of LinkedIn accounts within the platform and is matched with the data shared by LinkedIn users. Specifically in this case Microsoft has access to the Company, Industry, and Job Function data a user shares on their LinkedIn profile.
For example, if you were to launch a Search campaign with the intention of targeting Recruitment staff in a particular industry. You can specifically target this group and LinkedIn targeting will allow you to place a higher bid to those users that fit both the Job Function and Industry tabs within Demographics.
Company
Over 80,000 companies are available for targeting including the ones shown in the below image:
Industry
145 Industries are available for targeting which includes: Financial Services, Retail and Higher Education.
Job Function
26 Job Functions are available for targeting which includes: Marketing, Sales and Operations.
As can be seen from the examples above, LinkedIn Profile Targeting offers strong targeting capabilities that incorporate valuable data to help refine campaigns for Microsoft Ads users. It is especially alluring as Microsoft Ads is able to retain highly reduced CPCs when compared to the much higher costs required in using LinkedIn Ads directly. With that being said if an advertiser is seeking to target LinkedIn but without a substantial budget, Microsoft Ads gives an alternative avenue for lower cost LinkedIn targeting.
It’s also important to note that LinkedIn Profile Targeting can also be applied all Microsoft Ads campaign types which includes: Search, Shopping, Dynamic Search Ads, and even Audience Specific campaigns.
As mentioned, LinkedIn Profile Targeting is still in its Beta phase of development and only a select few users have access to this. With that being said, we can anticipate that further LinkedIn targeting options will appear in the future as Microsoft develops this feature more in preparation for an official launch.
Luckily we are one of those agencies that does have first access to this great feature. If you’d like to know about how your business could get more leads using this audience targeting then please contact us on 0161 660 9222 or visit our contact page and let’s have a chat.
Find out how many leads we could generate for your business, how many will convert to
customers and how much each lead will cost. Giving you an ROI before you decide to go ahead.
