LinkedIn launches LinkedIn Marketing Labs on-demand courses for advertisers

LinkedIn has introduced on-demand video courses that aim to teach advertisers how to use LinkedIn ad tools. The courses cover the basics including an introduction to LinkedIn Ads, how to use LinkedIn ad targeting, and reporting and analytics for LinkedIn ads.

The move comes as many advertisers differ on their opinions of LinkedIn ads’ effectiveness, saying success is often achievable for niche industries.

Why we care. For businesses looking to advertise on LinkedIn, the platform has historically been hard for marketers to use. That, plus the lack of results for many advertisers has made using LinkedIn ads a hard sell. Others claim that once they were able to figure it out, they’ve seen success for themselves and their clients. When I polled the marketing community on Twitter the feedback was varied:

The LinkedIn Ads platform has a terrible UI even though it was refreshed about 2 years ago. Rather than calling it hard to use, I would say it is frustrating. That being said, it has generated great results for multiple B2B clients when good audiences and offers are available

— Andrea Cruz (@andreacruz92) January 15, 2021

Frustrating interface, but great for niche B2B clients if you can nail the right offer and messaging. The built-in lead gen forms are a great route. I have worked with multiple B2B clients who consistently say their most qualified leads come from LinkedIn

— Tim Jensen (@timothyjjensen) January 15, 2021

I'm sure there's a niche where either can work, but I've seen it in B2C and B2B and there's just never enough scale, leads or ROI to justify even the headcount managing it (in my limited experience)

— Jackie Chu (@jackiecchu) January 15, 2021

Video courses for better leads. LinkedIn Learning Labs launched initially with 6 main courses for advertisers to better understand and use the advertising tools:

• Introduction to LinkedIn Ads
• Using LinkedIn’s Ad Targeting
• Reporting and Analytics for LinkedIn Ads
• Building a Full-Funnel Content Marketing Strategy on LinkedIn
• Using LinkedIn for Brand Awareness
• Using LinkedIn for Lead Generation

Choose your own adventure. The course platform offers custom paths for media planners versus those who run ad campaigns and is meant to help both beginner and intermediate advertisers.

Works when done well. In the announcement, Renee Lowe, Customer Marketing Manager at LinkedIn says that, when done correctly, LinkedIn advertising works: “Lead generation forms on LinkedIn drive 5X more conversions than landing pages and you’re 6X more likely to convert audiences when they see both brand and acquisition messages on LinkedIn.” The courses are free and self-paced.

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