The document provides an overview of targeting capabilities on LinkedIn. It discusses how LinkedIn members can be targeted based on profile information like title, company, skills, groups, and more. It also discusses targeting best practices like keeping targeting broad for awareness campaigns, testing different audiences and creatives, and aligning measurement with goals. The document uses examples to illustrate how targeting can be leveraged for various LinkedIn marketing tactics and account-based marketing.

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2. Demystifying Targeting on LinkedIn
Irina Skripnik
Senior Product Marketing Manager,
LinkedIn
Cassandra Clark
Marketing Manager, Demand Generation,
LinkedIn

3. Today We’ll Cover…
LinkedIn Targeting
101
Targeting Best
Practices
LinkedIn Marketing
Tactics
ABM on LinkedIn

4. 4
Connect the world’s professionals
to make them more productive
and successful
LinkedIn’s mission

5. CANADA
11M+
BRAZIL
22M+
EMEA
122M+ SAUDI
ARABIA
1M+
SOUTH
AFRICA
4M+
INDONESIA
4M+
AUSTRALIA
7M+
USA
118M+
UAE
1M+
CHINA
10M+INDIA
31M+
RUSSIA
5M+

7. LinkedIn Marketing Solutions Mission
Be the most effective platform
for marketers to engage
with professionals

8. Influenced by their professional networks
Opinions from their professional peers impact personal buying decision
A professional audience
Brand loyal professionals with more purchasing power than other social platforms
In an aspirational mindset
Opportunity for marketers to align their brands with member’s professional success
Mindset + Context

9. Targeting on LinkedIn 101

10. Deciphering Profile-based Targeting
Title
Company
Geography
Member
entered or IP
Group
Membership
Company
Following
School
Field of Study
Graduation Year

11. Danie
Seattle, WA USA
Boston University
COMPANY INDUSTRYSIZE
SCHOOL
LOCATION
JOB
TITLE
SENIORITY
FUNCTION
FIELD OF STUDY
DEGREE
GRADUATION AGE
SKILLS
GROUPS
IP
Communication
Bachelor of Science
2011, 25-34
Simply Measured, 51-200,
Internet
Senior Marketing Manager,
Marketing, Senior IC
CMA, LEWIS, Social Tools
SEO, Social Media, Digital
Marketing, Blogging

12. 12
Targeting by Function
Inferred from user entered title
User Entered Title (possibly many)
↓
Standardized Title
↓ ↓
Seniority Function
Levels of Seniority:
Unpaid / Training / Entry IC* / Senior IC* /
Manager / Director / VP / CXO / Partner / Owner
*Individual contributor (IC) includes highly skilled
professionals ex. Engineer, teacher, doctor, lawyer, etc

13. Influence the Influencer:
• Consider targeting Senior IC as part of your
audience these are the Senior System
Network Engineers, Senior Developers,
Accountants, Lawyers, Scientists
• You have a much bigger audience that will
test products and influence the purchase vs.
person signing the contract
Owner
Partner
CXO
VP
Director
Manager
Senior
Entry
Training
Unpaid
Seniority Targeting
•Our most differentiated targeting option
Pro tip: Owner/Partner/CXO content
should be crafted specifically for this
audience

14. 14
Company Size and Company Industry
Member industry is directly inferred from their current experience
Company Entered Name

Company Entered Industry

Company Entered # of employees
Sample Targeting Facets:
Company Name → LinkedIn
Company Industry → Internet
Company Size → 5,000-10,000
Large companies may span several industries but
can only choose one. Spot-check company pages to
ensure you are targeting the correct industry.

15. Skills Targeting – reach experts in their field
When targeting by skills you are
reaching members who:
• Explicitly added their skills into
the skills section
• Have skills mentioned on their
profile text, but not within the
explicit skills section
• Have inferred skills based on
explicit skills and key values
they entered

16. LinkedIn Member Personas

17. INTERNAL USE ONLY
What are “Member Personas”?
Unique aggregations of targeting facets, which are built based on
member entered data and user behavior
• Action or trigger-based (e.g. Job Searchers)
• Intent-based (e.g. Opinion Leaders)
• Data model-based (e.g. SMB Inferred)

18. LinkedIn Member Personas
FINSERV
Finance & Banking Followers,
Mass Affluent, Active Traders,
Credit Card, Finance Followers,
Financial Advisor Network,
Fortune 1Ks, Finance Opinion
Leaders
Regional
Outside of Home Country
Connections, Canada Dual Language,
Ex-Pat Segment, Newcomers to
Canada
TECH
IT Committee,
Technology Followers,
CI/TO Network
General Use
Retail Followers, Entrepreneurship &
Small Business Followers, SMB
Inferred, Young & Upwardly Mobile,
Opinion Leaders, Business Travelers,
Small Business Growth, Energy
Followers, CEO Network,
Mobile/Device, Automotive Followers,
Freelancers,
EDU
Education Followers, Students,
Higher Ed Followers, Career Starters,
Job Searchers, Unemployed
Professionals, Career Changers,
Bachelors but no Masters, 2-7 Years
of experience, 13+ Years of
Experience, Undergrad Senior,
Veterans, Company Changers

19. 19
Targeting Best Practices

20. 20
ONSITE DISPLAY
Keep your targeting broad. Targeting by industry, function, and/or
seniority provides more scale
A/B test your creative and optimize towards best performing option
Use company follow adds to increase your follower base and
spotlight ads for maximum brand impact to drive leads
LinkedIn Display

21. 21
• Plan out the timeline of your campaign if you are
going after a niche audience
• Consider refreshing your content if you are
targeting the same target audience after 60 days
• Taylor your content to your target audience by
crafting genuine and interesting content
• Consider influencing the influencer and include
Senior IC
Sponsored InMailSponsored InMail

22. 22
• Taylor content to your target audience
• Keep targeting broad at first to understand who
your audience is
• Avoid hyper targeted campaigns since they
tend to have lower performance and much
lower scale
• Set up multiple campaigns using the same
creative but diversify your targeting: ex. Skills +
Seniority, Groups + Function, Titles +
Company Size etc.
Sponsored Updates

23. Focus your campaign on both decision makers and influencers
A/B Test Your Audiences & Diversify Your Reach

24. Power of Account-Based Marketing
(ABM)

25. The Buying Committee
OperationsFinanceSalesMarketing C-Suite HR
Now all possess budget, purchase authority, and influence in buying decisions

26. Align sales and marketing by seamlessly
engaging influencers and decision makers
across your key accounts with Account
Targeting on LinkedIn

27. Source: LinkedIn data;
Senior Level Decision
Influencers
60MM+
Decision Makers
40MM+
C-level execs
6.8MM+
Opinion Leaders
10.7MM+
Match your target account list to over 8MM+
Company Pages on LinkedIn

28. Extending Account-based marketing seamlessly across
devices with SU and Sponsored InMail

29. 29
Align program dollars and resources against priority accounts that are determined
in partnership with your sales team
Use Case Why How
Audience and reach
Accurately target influencers across
prospect organization
Relevancy
Tailor Sponsored Updates and
Sponsored InMail campaigns to accounts
that matter most
Business impact
Deliver relevant content that translates
into meaningful results
Your target audience
Define your account list and streamline
your focus using LinkedIn profile-based
targeting like seniority and job function
Your Content
Create relevant and valuable content to
drive impactful engagement among
your key accounts
Your Results
Measure the effectiveness of your
campaigns and optimize your content
Re-engagement
Re-establish a connection with your lost
opportunities through valuable and
relevant content
Thought leadership
Deepen relationships with your current
customers and find a voice amongst your
target accounts
Business results
Deliver marketing-influences leads to your
sales team

30. How we leverage targeting on LinkedIn
LinkedIn Marketing Solutions

31. Total addressable audience
Any member in the marketing, media
or communication job function
How we deliver relevancy to our target audience
● Geo targeting
● Title targeting
● Company size targeting
● Skills targeting
● Company targeting
● Industry targeting
Segmentation within our addressable audience

32. #LinkedInMktg
Display Ads Targeting

33. Leverage display channel to reach broad audiences with top
funnel content and grow audience base with follow company
page ads
Job function = marketing, media and communication
Seniority = manager+
Company size = 50+ employees

34. #LinkedInMktg
Sponsored Content Targeting

35. #LinkedInMktg
Leverage targeting for deeper personalization in the feed

36. Using title and skills targeting to differentiate
between brand and demand generation marketer
Job title = Demand Generation
Manager, Digital Marketing,
Acquisition Marketing, SEO Marketing,
Search Engine Marketing, Marketing
Job title = Brand Manager, Brand
Marketing Manager, Global Marketing
Manager, Director Brand Marketing,
etc

37. Content and targeting strategies must be aligned
Example: Using seniority targeting to speak to topics, trends, and pain points
specific to their roles.
Seniority = entry, manager,
senior
Seniority = director, VP, CXO,
Owner, Partner

38. #LinkedInMktg
Sponsored InMail Targeting

39. Delivering relevant content to highly targeted audiences
Job function: marketing, media &
communication
Industry: Computer Hardware,
Computer Software, Information
Technology and Services,
Computer and Network Security

40. By delivering relevant content to targeted audiences, InMail drove
47% of registration

41. Using LinkedIn targeting to reach the executive audience
via InMail
Function: Marketing,
Media &
Communication
Company Size: 50+
Seniority: Director,
VP, CXO
55%
Open
Rate

42. #LinkedInMktg
Future Exploration
● Targeting by age
● Targeting by gender
● Exploring relevant member personas
● Account Based Marketing

43. LinkedIn Targeting Best Practices
● Find the balance between scale and relevancy
● Content and Targeting strategies must be aligned
● Don’t be afraid to experiment and test
● Align campaign goals to channel and targeting strategy

44. Guiding Targeting Principles
Influence the Influencer Not All Products are Equal A/B Test and Test Again
Need brand exposure?
Consider broader targeting with products
that are designed for branding and
advocacy
Need Leads?
Drive net new traffic to your site while
staying focused on a more specific
targeting audience
Want to be granular?
Consider products designed for a highly
personalized outreach
Testing Targeting Facets
A/B test to see which audience is engaged
• Titles vs. Function + Seniority
• Group members + Seniority
• Skills & Seniority
Testing Creative
Use one audiences with multiple creative
assets to see what content works best
Use a Consistent Measurement
Your measurement should align with your
campaign goals
Define your audience
Think members first. Who would find the
content relevant?
Establish your goals
What does success mean for this campaign?
Resist temptation to hyper target
Hyper targeting significantly reduces your
scale and ability to optimize

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