While standard LinkedIn ad clicks cost $10-15, high-engagement 'Thought Leader Ads' are rewarded by the algorithm with significantly lower costs. Clicks can drop to $1-2, making the platform economically viable and even competitive with Facebook.
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Many businesses fail on LinkedIn because default settings like "audience expansion" and the third-party ad network are optimized for enterprise budgets or platform profit, not for precise SMB targeting. Disabling these is the crucial first step to success.
Company pages can achieve more significant growth in impressions, likes, and follows by leaving well-crafted, entertaining comments on posts from industry thought leaders, rather than solely focusing on creating original in-feed posts.
Boosting posts directly from a person's profile (like a CEO or founder) performs significantly better than standard company ads. Users on LinkedIn engage more authentically with individuals than brands, leading to higher dwell times and lower costs.
Social platforms want to acquire new advertisers. By boosting your best-performing organic posts with micro-budgets (even just $5), you can achieve disproportionately large reach as platforms "make it rip" to encourage future spending. Don't boost underperforming content.
Instead of large ad spends, marketers can achieve disproportionately high reach by applying very small budgets—as little as $5 on YouTube—to boost organic posts that are already showing traction. This tactic is effective across multiple platforms.
The high cost-per-click on LinkedIn makes it economically unfeasible for low-priced services. To achieve a positive ROI, your customer lifetime value (LTV) should generally be at least $15,000, which typically applies to enterprise software or high-value ongoing services.
Due to high CPCs, LinkedIn ad copy should be direct and clear about who the offer is for. Unlike Facebook's flashy, attention-grabbing style, the goal on LinkedIn is to repel unqualified clicks and attract only the most relevant prospects, maximizing budget efficiency.
LinkedIn shows impressions on comments, allowing marketers to prove ROI. A strategic commenting plan can now be a core part of a content strategy, sometimes yielding more reach than original posts. This shifts focus from just publishing to engaging with others.
Unlike Facebook's algorithm, which thrives on broad audiences, LinkedIn's requires precision. Success comes from using small, hyper-targeted audiences, often built from custom-uploaded company lists, to ensure every dollar reaches the exact target profile.
Counterintuitively, dedicating budget to campaigns optimized for engagements, follows, and shares can be a powerful brand-building tool. This approach reaches more people less expensively than conversion campaigns, building an audience and 'searing memories' that lead to future demand, complementing direct response efforts.
