An existing ad format just got a major overhaul. You're going to want to know all about this new hotness on this week's episode of the LinkedIn ads show.
Welcome to the LinkedIn ads show. Here's your host, AJ Wilcox.
Hey, hey, hey there, LinkedIn ads fanatics. As he said, I'm AJ Wilcox. I'm the host of the weekly podcast, the LinkedIn ads show. I'm thrilled to welcome you to the show for advanced B2B marketers who want to evolve and master LinkedIn ads and achieve true pro status. Our guest today is someone that I've mentioned on the show before at the last B2Believe event. She gave one of my favorite presentations, the one about the LinkedIn ads roadmap for partners. I'm so excited to have her on today telling us all about a new ad format that I've had so much interest and so many questions about. I'm leaving you in so much suspense today. Am I not? I'll fill you in right after the jump.
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That's right. B2linked is the ad agency, 100% dedicated to LinkedIn ads and we have been since 2014, you know, way back before it was cool. We build a custom strategy for every account we work with. You get to work directly with me and my local team. You won't get any sort of a cookie cutter approach or any sort of standard account template from us. Plus we've developed and pioneered strategies that save our clients more than we charge. So it's kind of like getting to work with the best in the biz for free. If you'd like to explore partnering with us for your LinkedIn ads, schedule your free discovery call today at B2linked.com/discovery. All right. A special shout out to Rani Nicole from SAP. She recorded this review of the podcast.
Hey AJ, it's Rani here. I want to share my utmost gratitude to you for all the insights and education news to share through your LinkedIn posts and your podcast. You've provided such a great resource for learning all things, LinkedIn advertising. It's like learning from a mentor or a friend, which is so much more valuable than going through articles and how to guides. Thank you for all that you do. All the best.
Thanks Rani. I'm so grateful that you would leave that review and so grateful that the show has meant so much to you. All right. Everyone else, do you have a question or a review that you'd like to share on the show or even feedback, please message me on LinkedIn. My DMS are open and they're free. You can also email us at podcast@B2linked.com. If you want to attach a link to a voice recording, I'll play you right here on the show. Or if you want to just leave text, that's fine too. And just let me know if you want me to keep you anonymous. I can do that as well. I hope you understand. I want to feature you. All right. Without further ado, let's hit it.
AJ
I am so excited to have our guest today, Gina Kleiner. Gina is the lead PMM over LinkedIn ads at LinkedIn. So excited to have you here, Gina. Thank you for joining us.
Gina
Thanks for having me, AJ. I'm excited to be here.
AJ
Awesome. And I hope this is not the last time that we have you. You are coming to talk to us about a potentially new ad format that we may not have tested out. Tell us about live event ads.
Gina
Absolutely. So the way we're thinking about it is this. LinkedIn is the place that has the largest professional audience in the most professional context. And that's hugely valuable for anyone thinking about video as part of their marketing strategy. And so we built out a varied video ecosystem between both organic and paid opportunities on and off platform. And live streaming is of course an important component of any video platform. Live events is really a no brainer for our platform and for B2B audiences, given how important we know that events are for B2B marketers. Live event ads are essentially a step by step recipe for successful event promotion. So what they do is they really help advertisers promote an event before, during, and after. And it's particularly impactful for customers who are running a live stream event and they can even live stream it on LinkedIn if they choose. Live event ads are available to all advertisers today in our campaign manager tool. And we're really excited about this one because we know what a great fit it is for these marketers being such an important part of their strategy.
AJ
So event ads on LinkedIn are not new. We've had these now for several years with one really important addition. And you kind of alluded to it here. That is we have a different call to action built into the ad itself. Whereas before when we used to run event ads, it was like, if you forgot to pause it the day of, it was still inviting people to an event that happened, you know, days ago. Tell us more about this. The call to action is actually dynamic. It changes based on whether the event's happening right now or it's a week from today, or it was back a week.
Gina
That's exactly it. And that's really the magic of this event. It almost acts as many different ads in a single wrapper that dynamically evolves as the event lifecycle continues. And so before an event, it can help advertisers increase awareness and drive registrations via an event page on LinkedIn. So advertisers can run a campaign to their target audiences to build awareness for an event and drive event registrations leading up to it. Then during the event, again, it dynamically adjusts the creative. So that we're able to drive traffic directly to a live streamed event. And we even have this cool tool to accelerate the delivery of the ad during this critical timeframe to maximize live views, which customers are finding really, really valuable. We also recently ramped sneak peak feature, which displays a little 30 second preview for live event ads in the LinkedIn feed during and after the event to provide a teaser of the content and encourage that tune in. And then the event is over, went really well, but we all know the hardest part of an event is to truly nurture attendees following the event. And so our solution is able to retarget audiences to continue that conversation and drive them to whatever desired action is next. And the cool thing here about the retargeting is that you can use different messages depending on how much of the live event that they streamed.
AJ
That's amazing. So this is my second favorite feature of the live event ads. Number one, of course, is the dynamic call to action. Number two, I did this a few weeks ago and went, wow, this is amazing. If you go in to create a retargeting audience from an event, your list is like 15 items long of the ways that you can say, put someone into an audience because they did this. I think we have more control over how someone engaged with our events than we do on any other ad format out there. It's amazing. That's right. All right. So for one of these live event ads, what are the kinds of events that we can actually run? I know you mentioned a live stream. If I'm putting on an in-person event somewhere and there's not a live stream, can I still use a LinkedIn event for that? Can I still make that a LinkedIn event ad? And do we have registrations happening right inside of LinkedIn? Can we take them to something like an Eventbrite? Run us through like what's possible.
Gina
Yeah, there's a lot of combinations that are possible with this format and it is really, really cool. I would recommend that marketers do some experimentation to pick the combination of features that drive the best results for their company because there are so many options here. So you can run ads before the event to promote awareness and registration. You can do the live streaming. You can do ads during a live stream. There can be ads after the live stream to drive replay views and then ads using retargeting audiences. And so there's a ton of ways for folks to use parts of these in order to drive results for their business. And if we want, we could talk a little bit about the lead gen forms and how that works. Yeah. Yeah, let's do that. Awesome. So when creating an event page on LinkedIn, marketers have the option to use a LinkedIn registration form, which essentially functions just like a lead gen form. And when this registration form is enabled, members will be required to complete the form in order to view the event content, including from the live event ad.
AJ
Fantastic. And can that be pushed right into campaign manager, those leads, just like we can with lead gen forms, or is there a little bit different of a process in setting those up?
Gina
It should be consistent with the standard process.
AJ
Love it. All right. So this is amazing. We love lead gen forms on LinkedIn, being able to gate an event that way. I've also gotten to play with it where we're not gating an event. Someone can just say, yes, I want to attend RSVP and it'll throw it on their calendar and then they get to come attend. So like Gina said, lots of different ways that you can actually host an event out of curiosity, what do you think is the simplest way to test this ad format out? Do you think it's schedule a live webinar on LinkedIn live and run? Do you have a simpler process or a test you'd recommend?
Gina
I think when you do a LinkedIn live, you're really able to experiment with the range of features that are available in the format. So if you do want to be able to test all the different kind of permutations and truly get the full benefit of the dynamically changing format, I think a LinkedIn live event makes a lot of sense. So I would recommend doing that.
AJ
Very cool. Okay. That's my recommendation as well. Awesome. Tell us about metrics, about reporting. Obviously with this new way of running the format, if we have the ad telling people the event is now, it's different than it was an hour ago telling people, you know, register for the event, your call to action is changing. And that means that your performance may actually change. Tell us about the reporting that we get access to and how can we actually see what did performance look like during each stage of this journey?
Gina
Absolutely. So the great thing is that customers can expect to see the standard metrics that they are used to seeing from LinkedIn ads today. They'll be able to view our typical campaign performance metrics like impressions and registrations, video metrics like plays, clicks, and views in campaign manager. And then if they're running a LinkedIn live event, they'll be able to see analytics for that live stream as well in things like peak live viewers to get a sense for the attendance at the peak of the live stream. And what's great about this is that in just one report, they'll be able to see before, during, and after the event and the metrics throughout those phases.
AJ
Love it. Do you know, where can we find that report? Is that under export or is it a breakdown where we can go and see those?
Gina
It's in CMT and you can use the event stage breakdown to view performance by pre, during, and post. And there's also real time reporting available for spend impressions, views, and clicks.
AJ
And that real time reporting, this analytics is new to advertisers because if you haven't already been running like LinkedIn events, you may not know that this is available. I know you said you can see how many people are live at any time. What are some of the other analytics that we'll get to see from these now that we get to use them as an ad?
Gina
For a live stream event, you can see as an organizer, total number of attendees and visitors, total event visits, the top job functions, attendee engagement with your event posts, there's video performance, minutes lifetime. So the total number of minutes that the video has been watched. There's a ton. And I encourage if you're running a live stream, go in and check it out because there's a lot that you will find. There's a lot of richness in this reporting.
AJ
And again, these are reporting and metrics that you don't find normally in the ads that you manage. You'll probably find a wealth of things that you get to dive into and sink your teeth into.
Gina
It really crosses the blend between, you know, organic content, paid content, and you'll be able to, if you're running the LinkedIn live, you'll be able to get those metrics in kind of a fluid way between those assets.
AJ
That's right. So I know this is still pretty new, but what's the reaction that you're getting from advertisers so far who have been adopting it?
Gina
Customers are finding a ton of value in this product. And as we started, you know, it is a really critical part of the marketing journey for B2B events. And so we thought that this would be a really good hit and it really is. Customers are really liking it. Customers with large tent pole events like Salesforce used it with their annual Dreamforce conference have been seeming incredible results and amplifying their events and supporting their sales pipeline. So the Dreamforce campaign specifically, it generated over 3.4 million views. With more than 46,500 viewers staying engaged for five minutes or longer. And they also had a 30% lower cost per five minute viewer, which was great. But we're also seeing customers with more recurring events like webinars use these live event ads to grow these event series. And customers have been reaching out with success stories across verticals, from luxury to SaaS and also across regions. And so we've been really thrilled with the value that live event ads has been driving so far and we're excited to continue building from here.
AJ
Love it. All right. So let's say that an advertiser who's listening, they've never run a LinkedIn live, they've never run an event ad before. What are your recommendations for how we might start to think about or integrate live events into our whole LinkedIn ad strategy?
Gina
Absolutely. So I think first is it sounds intimidating, but just jump off the diving board. Give it a try. We really do make it really easy to take advantage of this tool. If you can run a webinar, you can do a LinkedIn live event. And so I would recommend really just looking at your marketing strategy, where you typically leverage events and substituting a couple for a LinkedIn live event, just to test it out, because really the combination of running the live stream plus the power that this new format drives in before helping to get those registrations, generating that engagement and also that accelerated delivery so that you can reach a broader audience if you'd like to have them join your event while it's happening. And then after the ability to retarget, it's really, really powerful. And so I really recommend just giving it a try, doing it a few different ways. Right. So we talked about the fact that there's a lot of different permutations that are possible with this ad. And so trying out what drives the best results for their business, I would say would be my recommendations.
AJ
And I've always said video and especially long form video is by far the strongest way that you're going to make an impression on your audience and get them to know, like, and trust you. So if you don't have any other long form content to introduce your audience to and get them to love you, I totally agree. I think putting on a webinar, running it as a LinkedIn live, it's a great way into this long form content that makes people love you.
Gina
That's it. And live streaming, this makes sense for B2B. It really just gives advertisers an opportunity to make the most of their events. Video is the way of storytelling, right? There's no better format that resonates with customers than video. It's also just the context of LinkedIn also just amplifies. It has a halo effect on their performance as well, because they're in the right mindset, there's the right decision makers and industry leaders. And so I think you're really setting yourself up for success to try taking advantage of this format.
AJ
Amazing. All right. So what advice do you have for LinkedIn advertisers in adopting or thinking about this new ad format?
Gina
So I, again, I think it's what we said. I think it's just give it a try. Try the live stream where you would typically do a webinar. Try experimenting with the different permutations. See if targeting a narrower group before and a broader group during is what gives you the results that you need as an example, right? There's so many different options with this format that I think giving it a try and seeing what works best for your business will definitely be my recommendation.
AJ
Wonderful. I know this is so new. I'm sure you don't have benchmarks or anything like that. So I won't ask you this, but I'd love to have you LinkedIn ads fanatics thinking about it. If you're running a live event, consider what the difference might be between getting as many registrations as possible by just having someone, you know, immediately sign up and start watching versus gating it and collecting information. We know that anytime you gate something, you're going to have a smaller number of registrations, but think about how you might test that and see. I'd also love to hear from all of you as you run these, what are you finding in terms of costs, like a cost per registration, especially per registration. If you're gating it using a lead form, these are the kinds of benchmarks I'm going to be watching for and trying to understand how these work with our strategies. Is there anything else that you would suggest to us advertisers as we're using it, maybe advanced testing that we can do or I don't know any off the wall ideas that we should keep?
Gina
I love your questions, AJ. I mean, it's a relatively new format, right? And so I think at this point, trying it out, getting some revs in is the best advice. And then once we have that kind of solid foundation, we'll be able to kind of come up with the crazier off the wall suggestions. But for right now, I think it's go out and give it a shot. It's really powerful. It's driving really great results for our customers. And so I encourage everyone to give it a shot because hopefully it will do the same for them.
AJ
All right. So ignore my crazy off the wall ideas for right now. Don't overcomplicate it. Just try it out. I think that is really good advice. There we go. Try it out. Then we'll get geeky later. Yeah. Gina, I would love to hear from you. First of all, tell us about yourself. Tell us about yourself personally. And maybe the things that you're most excited about both personally and professionally coming up.
Gina
Yeah, absolutely. So I'm a born and bred New Yorker. I speak a little fast. People tell me sometimes, but let's see. I lead the most amazing PMM team for LinkedIn ads. And so I spend a ton of my time with those amazing folks outside of work. I have three young children. So between the two things that keeps me very busy and there's a ton of, I think, opportunity for video. Video on LinkedIn is being watched 36% more year over year. So it's truly growing exponentially. Wow. It's just incredible. The amount of video content that folks are creating and posting to our platform. And it makes sense. You know, it resonates more. It's more engaging. And so I think for me, what, what gets me most excited is just thinking about the number of ways that we are going to integrate video more into our customers B2B marketing strategies in a way that in the past was a bit more nascent.
AJ
Love it. Okay, cool. For those who haven't done a live stream yet on LinkedIn, I know the platform doesn't support, like you don't just natively jump on and start recording. You do use a third party. Can you tell us what are some of the third party platforms that we can and should go try using?
Gina
Absolutely. So our preferred partners are Restream, Streamyard, Vimeo, Social Live and Switcher Studio. So we recommend that folks leverage one of those when live streaming on LinkedIn.
AJ
Love it. And then there's tons of other options too. I've gone live through Zoom. It's really hard, but I've done it. And then I know you can do things like right through something like OBS Studio. Don't overcomplicate it. Go with one of the providers that Gina talked about.
Gina
Awesome.
/ end of interview /
All right. Check the show notes. Make sure you go follow Gina Kleiner on LinkedIn or send her a connection request. I'm sure she'd be okay with that. Now, if you haven't yet joined the LinkedIn ads fanatics community, get on it. For a low monthly charge, you get access to all four of our courses that take you from beginner to expert, plus all of the other LinkedIn ads fanatics in the community that you can bounce ideas off of, learn what each other is learning. And here are the results of all of their tests. There's even an upgraded option where we get to hop on weekly group calls and get to share everything we're working on. There's even an upgrade option where we get to hop on a weekly group coaching call. So check that out at fanatics.b2linked.com. If this is your first time listening, welcome. We're excited to have you here. Hit that subscribe button. If you want to hear awesome in-depth LinkedIn ads content every week, if you're a loyal listener, please share the show with other LinkedIn ads fanatics in your life, and by far the best compliment you could pay me is by going to Apple podcasts and leaving a review. And of course, as you do, I'd love to shout you out. With any questions, suggestions, or corrections, reach out to us at podcast@B2linked.com. With that being said, we'll see you back here next week. And I'm always cheering you on in all of your LinkedIn ads initiatives.