Late last week someone told me about a new traffic source. I was really interested to test out a new traffic source that I thought would do really well because of its professional network. This traffic source I believe has just started launching their ad platform on their social network. I was noticing ads on this specific network and I always wanted to advertise on their platform, just never saw the "Advertise Here" link.
LinkedIn has finally decided to release DirectAds, their advertising platform. The reason why I was interested in this audience is because of the way LinkedIn is being used as not to network but more as more of a professional communication portal. Don't really want to go into the exacts but if you wanted to advertise on LinkedIn then you may know my reason.
Here is their audience...
Now they are going through a lot of testing, because I notice the ad formation and structure is being adjusted throughout the social platform. Also, your ad is displayed in 4 different variations: plain text, image with text (300* 250 w/ 1 other ad) and (728 * 90 w/ 1 other ad), and a facebook style format. These ads are displayed throughout the network and on specific pages, they do not appear every page - that I noticed anyways.
To advertise on LinkedIn is fairly expensive, one of the most expensive - $2 per clicks is the minimum and $3 per 1000. I emailed them on this just because I thought that was crazy $2! Just because they are a professional network doesn't mean they can claim their traffic is worth $2. Here is the response I got from their support...
Hi Ian,
That is our set minimum bid at this time for a pay per click ad. That is something we determined internally.
Also, we may offer keyword targeting in the future but there are no immediate plans to offer that option.
I will pass your below feedback along to the Product Manager.
If you have further questions, please feel free to reply to this message.
Regards,
DirectAds Specialist
I also asked about their targeting structure because it is an awkward way they allowed me to target. There isn't any interest or keyword targeting, it is more about company info. You can target only...
- Company Size
- Job Function (limited)
- Industry (limited)
- Seniority
- Gender
- Age
- Geography
Targeting got me thinking a lot on my audience and I did more research on my demographics on who I wanted to target, so it did get me thinking a bid more. With these targets I wanted to just do CPM but the minimum is $3 and I wanted to test the clicks prior.
Usually the first to try out and test the traffic is the one that benefits, but I have to do more testing. My small test wasn't that impressive and I am going to post the full case study and how I approach this ad platform. I may do it this week or decide if I really want to do it.
With this new ad platform emerging, not sure if $2 per click is going to attract advertisers such as me or maybe they are going for big advertisers. So far I have not seen any affiliate offers on the DirectAds network, most are from bigger companies. The amount of advertisers that are on LinkedIn isn't high at all, so the first set of people will always benefit but at $2 per click? $3 CPM?
I think LinkedIn thinks their audience is professional meaning more of a quality traffic. Maybe, but that means each lead captured is worth more than a traditional email submit. For example, I do local marketing stuff and I can charge up to 30$ a lead because the client can earn up to $600 form the consumer. I think that is the type of audience LinkedIn think they have, which they think they can do a minimum $2 bid click.
I just did a small test last week and I am in the air if I really want to spend $2 a click, I still have somethings I do want to test....
