On Monday, LinkedIn announced the launch of Matched Audiences. This new feature gives advertisers three new options for targeting people they already know:

  1. Website Retargeting
  2. Account Targeting
  3. Contact Targeting

These options will be available for LinkedIn advertising products including sponsored content, sponsored InMails, and all other ad formats

LinkedIn Matched Audiences – Website Retargeting

LinkedIn Website Retargeting will allow you to create target audiences from your website visitors. Anyone who has used custom audiences on Facebook or tailored audiences on Twitter, will be familiar with this long awaited strategy.

1) Go to your Campaign Manager > Create a new campaign > Select your ad type (sponsored content, text ads, or sponsored InMails) > Enter your campaign name, choose ad destination > Choose/create ads

2) When you get to the audience screen, click ‘Select’ next to Use a matched audience

how to linkedin matched audiences

3) Click  ‘Create an audience to retarget’

linkedin ads website retargeting setup

4) Determine the audience you would like to target based on the potential segments of your website visitors and the current ad you are creating. For example, if we were creating an ad about content marketing, we would add pages and blogs on our website related to that topic. This will allow you to target people based on their specific interests.

linkedin retargeting audience

5) Finally, you will need to add the Insight Tag to your website so LinkedIn can track your website visitors. Copy and paste the code in the prompt.

This tag should be placed in your website’s footer before the <body> tag. For additional information and directions for adding the insight tag, click here.

linkedin retargeting insight tag

LinkedIn Matched Audiences – Account Targeting

Have a list of target companies? With LinkedIn Account Targeting, you can upload a list of company names to use as your target ad audience. LinkedIn will match the company list you upload against the 12 million company pages on LinkedIn to enable you to market to decision makers at your target companies.

1) Go to your Campaign Manager > Create a new campaign > Select your ad type (sponsored content, text ads, or sponsored InMails) > Enter your campaign name, choose ad destination > Choose/create ads

2) When you get to the audience screen, click ‘Select’ next to Use a matched audience

how to linkedin matched audiences

3) Click  ‘Create an audience to retarget’

linkedin matched audiences account and contact targeting

4) Name your audience and select ‘Match based on a list of accounts’. Then, upload your CSV file. Keep in mind the following guidelines for your company list:

  • Your list should be in CSV format
  • Company names should be in the first column, one per row
  • The first row header should read “companyname”
  • Max file size is 20MB and a maximum of 300,000 rows
  • It is recommended to have a minimum of 3o0 companies on your list
  • It could take up to 48 hours to process your list (LinkedIn matches across the 12 million Company Pages on LinkedIn to generate your audience)

LinkedIn account targeting setup

Once your account list is uploaded and matched, you will be able to select and include your list in your targeting setup.

LinkedIn Matched Audiences – Contact Targeting

LinkedIn Contact Targeting takes the previous option a step further and allows you to target specific contacts or prospects individually. With Contact Targeting, you can upload a list of email addresses to use as your target ad audience. Or, you can integrate with Marketo, Oracle Eloqua, and LiveRamp Platforms, to import your lists of contacts.

1) Go to your Campaign Manager > Create a new campaign > Select your ad type (sponsored content, text ads, or sponsored InMails) > Enter your campaign name, choose ad destination > Choose/create ads

2) When you get to the audience screen, click ‘Select’ next to Use a matched audience

how to linkedin matched audiences

3) Click  ‘Create an audience to retarget’

linkedin matched audiences account and contact targeting

4) Name your audience and select ‘Match based on a list of contacts’. Then, upload your CSV file. Keep in mind the following guidelines for your company list:

  • Your list should be in CSV format
  • Email addresses should be in the first column, one per row
  • The first row header should read “email”
  • Max file size is 20MB and a maximum of 300,000 rows
  • It is recommended to have a minimum of 3o0 email addresses on your list
  • It could take up to 48 hours to process your list

LinkedIn Contact Targeting Setup

Once your contact list is uploaded and matched, you will be able to select and include your list in your targeting setup.

 

Need help with LinkedIn Advertising? Modern Marketing Partners can help you get results! Click here to contact us.

Additional LinkedIn Resources

LinkedIn Tutorial: Big Changes for Free Accounts

LinkedIn as a Marketing Weapon: Groups and Inmails