Making an Impression: Getting Started with LinkedIn Ads and HubSpot

Welcome to the eighth installment of the Making an Impression ads series. Before jumping in, make sure you're up to speed on the other parts of the series so that you're ready to enter this article as an inbound ads pro!  

Need a quick refresher? Catch up on the latest parts of the series here:

• Read Part 5.
• Read Part 6.
• Read Part 7.

Ready? Let's go!  

By now, we've talked a lot about Google and Facebook Ads. For many HubSpot users, those are not the only networks their personas frequent. So, to help you execute your journey-based advertising strategy, LinkedIn ads is now available within HubSpot's ads tool.

Considering advertising on LinkedIn? Here are some key things you need know.

LinkedIn as an Advertising Space

What comes to mind when you hear LinkedIn? Is it your own professional profile? Is it the quasi-résumé, headshot, or skill endorsements? Maybe it's your company's page or the well-catered work of a coworker, friend, or an acquaintance you've met in the network. 

While LinkedIn is technically a social media platform, the key differentiator lies in the fact that it operates as a professional network rather than a personal one. Rather than encouraging users to spend time catching up with friends or looking for entertaining content, LinkedIn is an arena where you invest time by staying up-to-date on industry trends and top brands.

According to LinkedIn, the platform already boasts over 535 million users worldwide. Depending on your key personas and where they're frequenting, that's a large potential audience you could be engaging by using relevant content and advertising. 

LinkedIn's mission is to connect the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful. With the use of inbound advertising, you can help your leads discover and learn about your products and services that fit their needs.

Still struggling to visualize how to implement LinkedIn advertising for your business? Check out how these businesses harnessed LinkedIn to augment their marketing and advertising efforts. 

Want to learn more about how to advertise on LinkedIn specifically? Check out their library of free education, which covers everything from running an advertising campaign on LinkedIn to budgeting best practices. 

Benefits of Connecting Your LinkedIn Ads to HubSpot

As the world’s largest professional network, LinkedIn enables you to target a specific persona with your ads based on a wide range of targeting options.

Connecting your LinkedIn ads account to HubSpot, you’ll be able to sync leads directly from LinkedIn lead generation ads into HubSpot or create audiences based on any CRM data point and sync them between HubSpot and LinkedIn.

Ads are often only as good as their return on investment. With the HubSpot ads tool, all your reporting is centralized in one easy-to-use location. No need to constantly jump from platform to platform to answer a question. You’ll also be able to report on exactly how your LinkedIn ad spending is influencing your bottom line.

Best of all, with your LinkedIn ads being managed in the same place that you do the rest of your marketing, you’ll be able to create a consistent narrative and align your LinkedIn ads with every stage of the buyer's journey. 

LinkedIn Ads Connection Requirements

Connecting your LinkedIn ads account looks similar to connecting your Google or Facebook ads accounts. Before you get started, however, here are the connection requirements you need to know.

• The HubSpot user who connects a LinkedIn ads account must be an account manager in that LinkedIn ads account. Learn how to check user permissions in a LinkedIn ads account.
• In order to sync leads from LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms, the user who connects the LinkedIn ads account must also be a page admin or Lead Gen Forms manager for the associated LinkedIn business page. 

No one likes surprises, especially when it comes to your data. Please note:

• After connecting your LinkedIn ads account to HubSpot, your existing leads from LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms will automatically sync to HubSpot. HubSpot will use the email address to deduplicate contacts that already exist in your account and update their contact record with any new information from their Lead Gen Form submission or create a new contact if they don't yet exist in your HubSpot account.
• LinkedIn stores leads from lead ads for 90 days after creation. When you connect your LinkedIn ads account to HubSpot, these leads will be synced to HubSpot, along with leads generated going forward.

FAQs

• Does the demographic information in LinkedIn get pulled into HubSpot?

HubSpot's integration with LinkedIn Sales Navigator allows you to see insights from LinkedIn right from your HubSpot contact and company records. Additionally, connecting your LinkedIn Insight Tag to HubSpot will unlock demographic insights in LinkedIn regarding your website traffic.

• How does LinkedIn handle consent and subscription opt-ins with ads? Is GDPR compliance covered by the privacy policy?

Currently, advertisers can use 'custom questions' with check boxes on LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms to obtain appropriate consent from end users. HubSpot will sync over the 'custom question' text as a contact property, as well as the state of the check box. HubSpot customers can use workflows to automatically map these custom contact properties to the appropriate subscription settings.

For more general GDPR information, you can read LinkedIn's overview of GDPR compliance here. 

• With someone starting out with ads, what is the average budget most people utilize?

This deeply depends on the individual advertiser, their industry, and their product. Ultimately, advertisers should have a strong sense of what cost-per-click or cost-per-new-contact will provide them with a positive ROI. That said, you can use this calculator to get started.

Talk to Us

Here's how you can get involved and share your inbound advertising story: 

• Twitter: Tweet us @HubSpotAcademy or through the #makinganimpression hashtag.
• HubSpot Community: Connect about the series here. 

Want to connect with others on HubSpot tips, tricks, and updates? Head over to the HubSpot Community to join a conversation or start one of your own.