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Have you heard of LinkedIn lead gen form ads?
In this article, you’ll learn how to set up a LinkedIn ad campaign that collects downloadable leads.
#1: Offer Something Your Target Audience Will Truly Value
LinkedIn lead gen forms make it easy to collect leads via your ads. When members click your ad’s call-to-action button, your form will open with the fields already filled using information from their LinkedIn profile. This makes it easy for them to accept your offer.
Before you create a lead gen form, however, you need to decide what your offer will be. Think about what’s important to your target audience. What information will appeal to them? What will capture their attention? Where are they in the customer journey (top of the funnel, mid-funnel, bottom of the funnel)?
Answering these questions will help you choose an offer that will be of value to your target audience, such as a free consultation session, eBook, assessment session, report, or guide.
#2: Start Your LinkedIn Ad Campaign
After you decide what your offer is, you’re ready to set up your LinkedIn ad campaign and create your lead gen form.
To get started, navigate to your LinkedIn home page. Then click Work and select Advertise from the pop-up window. Or go directly to www.linkedin.com/advertising.
On the next page, click Create Ad.
When the LinkedIn Campaign Manager dashboard opens, click Create a Campaign.
Select an Ad Type and Format
On the Choose an Ad Product page, select Sponsored Content.
On the next page, you choose your objective. Select Collect Leads Using LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms.
The next step is to choose an ad format. You can choose from three options: article image or link, carousel, or video. The format for your LinkedIn ad campaign depends on your industry and target audience.
If you’re not sure which LinkedIn ad format your audience prefers, test all three options for 14 days. After you determine which one performs the best in terms of leads generated, go all-in on that one.
Select Your Ad Content
After you select a LinkedIn ad format, you’re ready to build your ad. You can either select existing content or create new content. The language in your creative should match your offer. This will make it easier for people to understand your message while aligning with your call to action.
#3: Build Your LinkedIn Lead Form
Once you have your content, the next step is to select a call to action. This is critical. The call to action you choose should be based on what you want your audience to do as a next step.
This page is also where you can create a lead gen form template that will filter out some of the leads you generate from this LinkedIn ad campaign.
The form template should collect basic information, such as name, email address, and phone number. To identify qualified leads for your business, it’s also helpful to include a few questions such as “What are your biggest challenges?”
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To build a lead gen form template, click Create New Form Template at the top right. In the pop-up window, add a form name, describe your offer, and enter details about your privacy policy. When you’re finished, click Next.
Now decide what info you want to collect on your lead form. The default settings are First Name, Last Name, and Email Address. The fields you choose will be prefilled for the LinkedIn member based on their profile.
Scroll down to add questions to your form. When you’re finished, click Next.
The final step to building your form is to customize your thank-you message, which is optional. This is the message that members will see after they submit your form.
You can also enter the URL you want people to visit after they complete your form and select a call to action to display on the thank-you page. Click Save when you’re done.
Click Next to move on to the next step.
#4: Set Up Targeting, Bidding, and Scheduling
Now you’re ready to choose your target audience. To get the best results from your Linkedin ad campaign, you need the right messaging and targeting. It’s important to go beyond just the basic job role, industry, and location targeting.
A micro-targeting outreach approach can work well for some businesses. In this case, you target an audience from a niche group or a particular group of companies on LinkedIn. Although this narrows your audience, you’re able to customize the language of your advertising creative to appeal to them.
When you’re finished setting up your targeting, be sure to save the audience for future LinkedIn ad campaigns. This will make it easier to test different audiences.
Now you need to set a bid. One common error that many businesses make is not setting the right daily budget or bid. With a testing campaign, I recommend that you start with a minimum of $50 per day. The bid will vary based on what LinkedIn suggests, but it’s helpful to set the bid $1 higher than the suggested bid (i.e., if the suggested bid is $9.82, go with $10.82).
You can adjust the bid as the LinkedIn ad campaign performance improves and the suggested bid number drops. If there’s a lot of activity and engagement with your LinkedIn ad campaign, you’re more likely to see that change, which places you in a great position to adjust your bid.
After you set your bid, schedule your campaign. You can either start it immediately or choose a start and end date. Finally, set a total budget for the LinkedIn ad campaign and click Next.
The last step is to review your campaign details and launch your LinkedIn ad campaign.
#5: Monitor Your LinkedIn Advertising Campaign and Download Leads
After you launch your LinkedIn ad campaign, monitor the LinkedIn ad campaign daily for the first 14 days.
In Campaign Manager, open the Campaign Performance tab. Pay attention to the key performance indicators such as the click-through rate (CTR), social actions, cost per click, and any leads being generated.
To export your leads as a CSV file, click Account Assets and select Lead Gen Forms.
On the Lead Forms page that appears, find your lead form and click Download Leads under the Actions column.
To make the most of these new leads, it’s best to follow up with them in the first 24-48 hours, while your business is still fresh in their minds. This also gives people the opportunity to ask for additional information.
Click here to learn how to reveal your best LinkedIn prospects.
What do you think? Have you used lead generation forms in your LinkedIn ad campaigns? How have they performed for your business? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
