Getting seen on LinkedIn — and using ads to your advantage
If you’re not already familiar with LinkedIn, it’s time to think about joining the crowd. LinkedIn is the largest social network for business professionals, corporations and business owners. It’s easy to use and you can access it from your computer or a smartphone app.
Did you know that LinkedIn has more than 550 million users from more than 200 countries looking to professionally network?
Unlike other social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn is focused on showcasing a person’s professional experience (or the attributes of a business). It’s easy to get started and build your profile. From there, you can create a robust business profile that’s even connected to your personal profile. You’ll quickly find that LinkedIn ads are likely one of your most powerful marketing tools.
The basics of building a LinkedIn profile
Profiles for personal use and business profiles are both free. However, you do have the option to upgrade for a paid profile. Creating a profile is simple — whether it’s your personal profile or your business profile. Be sure to:
- Upload a professional photo
- Complete your work history (and add a full resume)
- Include your geography/location
- Take time to include a summary of your work
Using LinkedIn to market your business
LinkedIn is a powerful tool that can be used to market your tax and accounting firm because it’s a lead-focused marketing tool. It helps you get the right clients in the door so you can start booking appointments. It also creates authority, showcases your specialty and can be seen by both individuals and other businesses. The best part about advertising on LinkedIn is that you choose your ad spend, budget and how you want your ads to look.
Using the campaign manager for LinkedIn
The campaign manager on LinkedIn lets you customize your ads, including inbox ad messages, text ads, sponsored content related to your business and dynamic content ads (high-visible ads). It’s fairly simple to create ads. All you need to do is:
- Select your ad type and budget: Choose a baseline ad spend. Remember you can always add or take away from the budget depending on how successful the ads are.
- Create and target your ads: Pick the right audience and geographical location so your ad has maximum visibility.
- Monitor your ads and watch performance: LinkedIn lets you adjust as you go. If you find that a certain type of ad is working better than another you can allocate your budget appropriately.
Types of content to advertise on LinkedIn for your tax and accounting firm
There are a few types of content you can use to advertise with on LinkedIn. And the marketing solutions page on LinkedIn does a great job of explaining how to get started. Here’s some basic info on content and the differences between content types:
- PPC ad campaigns: These will appear as small banner-like ads. They are easy to set up and also include a photo.
- Sponsored content: This will show up in the sidebar. The copy for this is more robust than small PPC ads. It’s also a way to showcase white papers and/or articles you’ve recently written or published.
- InMail messaging: These are ads sent right to an individual and/or business. It’s a personalized, email-like message that lands right in someone’s message inbox.
All of these ad types can be measured with the LinkedIn campaign manager. When choosing the right type of content to advertise, consider your “ideal” client and what type of clients you want for long-term retention. You can always move things around if you find certain content ads aren’t as effective for your business.
Get started with cloud-based marketing tools and LinkedIn marketing
Mostad Marketing Cloud is exclusively designed for tax and accounting firms across the nation. See the benefits today and start by scheduling a personalized demonstration. Now is the time to get things rolling as tax season approaches!