How LinkedIn's Audience Expansion Can Boost Your B2B Campaigns

 

Unlocking LinkedIn's Audience Expansion: A Game-Changer for B2B Marketing

In B2B marketing, finding the most relevant audience is crucial to maximizing the effectiveness of ad campaigns. However, sometimes reaching a broader audience can reveal new opportunities and increase conversions. LinkedIn's Audience Expansion feature allows B2B marketers to extend the reach of their ads by targeting individuals who share similar attributes to the primary audience. This is essential for discovering untapped leads and improving the overall performance of campaigns.

In this article, we’ll dive into how Audience Expansion works, its impact on B2B campaigns, and how you can leverage it to increase your campaign’s reach and ROI.

What is Audience Expansion on LinkedIn?

Audience Expansion is a LinkedIn feature that automatically extends the reach of your ads by showing them to individuals with similar professional characteristics to your targeted audience. This helps you discover new leads who might have been overlooked while still staying aligned with your original audience criteria.

For example, let’s say your campaign is targeting Marketing Managers in the Healthcare Industry. Audience Expansion could automatically show your ad to Healthcare Marketing Directors, Content Strategists, and other relevant professionals who might also benefit from your product or service.

How Does Audience Expansion Work?

When you enable Audience Expansion, LinkedIn's algorithm searches for individuals who share similar traits, such as job titles, company size, skills, and other professional characteristics. It doesn’t change the core targeting of your campaign but broadens the pool to include people who are similar to your original audience.

For example:

• If your campaign targets Project Managers in the IT sector, Audience Expansion may show your ad to IT Directors or Program Managers, individuals who could also benefit from your product but weren’t specifically targeted.

What’s the Impact of Audience Expansion on a B2B Campaign?

To understand how Audience Expansion can impact your campaign, let's look at a real example. Imagine you are targeting professionals in Germany with English language settings and a daily budget of €150, ad format selected is 'Single image ad'  Below is how your campaign performance could look with and without Audience Expansion. We haven’t added any specific targeting to simplify the explanation.

Explanation of Metrics:

1. 30-Day Cost per 1,000 Member Accounts Reached:
• Without Audience Expansion: This represents the cost to reach 1,000 unique individuals in your targeted audience. The cost is relatively high, ranging from €25.01 to €37.51 for every 1,000 members reached.
• With Audience Expansion: The cost significantly reduces to a range of €4.10 to €6.15 for every 1,000 members. This makes it much more cost-effective to reach more people, allowing you to stretch your budget further and reach a larger pool of potential leads.
2. 30-Day Reach:
• Without Audience Expansion, your reach is limited, potentially reaching 92,000 to 370,000 unique people in your targeted audience.
• With Audience Expansion, that reach increases substantially, potentially reaching 200,000 to 810,000 people. This expanded reach gives your campaign the potential to connect with a broader, yet relevant audience.
3. 30-Day Spend:
• Without Audience Expansion: You’ll spend between €2,700 and €4,500 to achieve your targeted reach.
• With Audience Expansion: The spend drops significantly to a range of €980 to €3,901, making your campaign more budget-friendly while still increasing reach.
4. 30-Day Average Frequency:
• Frequency measures how often your ad is shown to the same person. Without Audience Expansion, the frequency is lower (between 1.0 and 1.4), which means fewer impressions per person.
• With Audience Expansion, frequency increases (2.7 to 4.2), meaning your ad is shown more frequently, which helps reinforce your brand and messaging.

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How Does Audience Expansion Benefit B2B Clients?

1. Increased Reach: Audience Expansion increases the number of people who see your ad, making it easier to discover new leads while still staying within your original target audience. For example, a software company targeting Project Managers in Healthcare could expand its reach to include IT Managers and other decision-makers in the healthcare sector who may also benefit from their services.
2. Cost Efficiency: With a lower cost per 1,000 member accounts reached, Audience Expansion allows you to achieve more reach without raising your budget. This helps B2B clients get better ROI and ensures that their ad dollars are used more effectively.
3. Higher Engagement and Recall: By showing your ad more frequently to a broader yet relevant audience, you increase your chances of engagement. Frequent exposure helps reinforce your messaging and improves brand recall, which is vital in the B2B space where purchase decisions can take time.
4. Discovering New Leads: Audience Expansion helps you find new leads with similar professional traits to your original target. For example, if you’re targeting Marketing Managers in the Healthcare sector, Audience Expansion may also target Healthcare Consultants or Operations Managers, thus opening up new segments without sacrificing relevance.

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Pros and Cons of Audience Expansion

Pros:

• Broader Reach: Your ad can be seen by more relevant individuals who may have been missed with the initial targeting criteria.
• Cost Efficiency: By reducing the cost per 1,000 member accounts reached, you can reach more people without increasing your budget.
• Higher Frequency: More frequent ad exposure improves brand recall and the likelihood of conversions.
• Better ROI: You get more impressions, reach, and engagement without having to spend more money, making the most of your advertising dollars.

Cons:

• Less Control: LinkedIn’s algorithm expands your audience based on similar traits, but you lose some control over the exact makeup of that audience.
• Potentially Irrelevant Leads: If the audience expansion goes too broad, you may end up reaching people who aren’t as relevant to your product or service, though LinkedIn’s targeting still ensures professional alignment.
• Limited for Certain Ad Formats: Audience Expansion is not available for dynamic ads or predictive audiences, meaning you cannot use this feature for all campaign types.

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Key Things to Keep in Mind:

1. Exclusion Criteria: Ensure you set exclusions for job titles, industries, or skills you don’t want to target. Audience Expansion will respect these exclusions and will avoid showing your ads to irrelevant professionals.
2. Ad Frequency: Be cautious of overexposure. If the frequency gets too high, it may lead to ad fatigue and lower engagement. Monitor metrics to avoid oversaturating your audience.
3. Performance Metrics: When using Audience Expansion, your campaign’s performance metrics will include both the original and expanded audiences. Make sure to track both metrics to get a full understanding of your campaign’s performance.
4. Test and Optimize: Test campaigns with and without Audience Expansion to determine whether it’s driving real value. Comparing performance will allow you to adjust your strategy for optimal results.

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Conclusion

LinkedIn's Audience Expansion feature is a valuable tool for B2B marketers looking to increase reach, improve cost-efficiency, and discover new leads. By showing ads to a broader yet still relevant audience, it opens up new opportunities for businesses while keeping costs under control.

While there are some limitations, such as reduced control over the exact audience composition, Audience Expansion remains a powerful tool when used strategically. By properly setting exclusions, testing campaigns, and monitoring performance, B2B clients can maximize their ROI and drive better results from their LinkedIn ad campaigns.