LinkedIn Adds Retargeting by Video Views, Lead-Gen Forms

The ability to retarget by video views and lead-gen forms will be added to Campaign Manager over the next month.

LinkedIn said the new targeting options can help advertisers tailor their messages to their objectives, providing the example of a brand that runs a video ad to showcase an upcoming event retargeting people who watched 75% of more of that video and inviting them to register for the event via a sponsored content ad.

The professional network also pointed out that someone opening a lead-gen form is expressing at least some interest, and those people can be retargeted to try to reach those who showed initial interest but did not convert.

Finally, LinkedIn said that while many advertisers already use its account targeting features to reach the right contacts for their campaigns, the expanded retargeting features it is introducing will help those brands market based on where those contacts are in the purchase process.

TOPdesk international content marketer Marit van der Louw said in a statement, “The new remarketing capabilities for lead-gen forms and video enable us to complete the full-funnel strategy we’ve been implementing on LinkedIn. Since using the new remarketing capabilities for lead-gen forms and videos, our conversion rate has gone up by 20%, while our cost per conversion went down by 24%.”

Jabra senior marketing manager Morten Jensen added, “We tested retargeting by lead-gen forms against our normal targeting tactics and found the click-through rates to be two to three times higher. Although still early in the process, we find that leads generated from retargeting have a higher qualification rate from MQL (marketing qualified leads) to SQL (sales qualified leads).”

Advertisers were already using LinkedIn Audience Network to expand delivery of sponsored content to third-party publishers’ applications and websites, reaching their target audiences beyond LinkedIn’s feed and within established bid and budget parameters.

They can now scale those campaigns with select trusted apps and publishers including Flipboard, Microsoft News and MSN to achieve up to 25% more reach and up to nine times more monthly touchpoints to LinkedIn members who are more active on apps and publishers that are part of LinkedIn Audience Network.

Members who watched part or all of videos ads on LinkedIn or LinkedIn Audience Network can also be retargeted so that brands can deliver their message throughout the potential buyer’s journey, across mobile and desktop.

Finally, the platform-wide pre-bid integration with Integral Ad Science provides an additional layer of brand protection and contextual brand safety, while the professional network’s integration with Pixalate will score and filter all publishers based on invalid traffic.

LinkedIn said in a statement, “As the business world transitions to recovery mode, it’s more important than ever for brands to reach and engage the audiences that matter to their business. Reduced marketing budgets and shifting business needs also mean you are under more pressure than ever to make your online investments go further.”