LinkedIn Retargeting Ads and Social Selling: Expandi’s Overview

Tired of making hundreds of sales calls a week just to hear crickets?

Or, are you wasting valuable time talking to leads that aren’t really leads at all? 

It might be time to dive into social selling.

What is Social Selling & Why Should You Care? 

Social selling is the act of using social media to develop relationships as part of the sales process. 

And it’s incredibly powerful — LinkedIn reported that 78% of salespeople who leverage social selling outsell their peers. 

But only when you do it right. 

Before we talk about how to do it well, let’s talk about what social selling looks like when it’s done poorly. 

Here’s an example on LinkedIn from someone I’d never met or connected with. I have no idea who this person is or what they do. Most likely it was the bulk messaging with the use of LinkedIn automation.

There’s no mention of my name (which makes it feel like a batched message) and they don’t mention anything they can do for my company or what they actually do. 

Instead of finding out what I might really need, they decided to play the numbers game and just message as many people as possible. 

Maybe it works for them — who am I to judge? 

But I do know they are wasting a ton of time. Not just sending out those messages, but by booking meetings with totally unqualified leads. 

Social selling is the power of using your social networks to find valuable prospects, build real trust, and then use that relationship authentically to sell them products or services they actually need. 

When it’s done well, social selling doesn’t feel much like selling at all — it feels like getting advice from a friend.

And for B2B businesses, LinkedIn is one of the most powerful social selling platforms.

PS – We’re constantly sharing the latest proven email as well as LinkedIn outreach templates in our private Facebook group – join the LinkedIn Outreach Family now!

The Power of Retargeting on LinkedIn 

Retargeting is the strategy of targeting people who have expressed interest in your company at some level. 

How often have you looked at a product on Amazon, only to see it show up in your Facebook Ads minutes later?

That is retargeting — and it’s one of the most effective targeting strategies out there. 

According to Criteo, site visitors who are retargeted are 43% more likely to convert.

A survey by the Interactive Advertising Bureau found that 92% of marketers say retargeting performs as well or better than search, email, or display ads. 

You can set up retargeting on Facebook, Google Ads, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

For SaaS and B2B companies, LinkedIn is going to be one of the most effective retargeting platforms.

In fact, 4 out of 5 B2B marketers use LinkedIn, second only to Facebook.

Consider this — if you want to reach decision makers at a company, do you want to promote your company on Facebook, where people go to look at pictures of their friends and share political memes, or would you rather use Linkedin, with a 28% lower cost per lead over Google Ads? 

If you are looking to reach business decision makers, LinkedIn is the way to go — and retargeting can help ensure you reach the right people. 

How to Super-Charge Your Social Selling Strategy By Leveraging Retargeting LinkedIn Ads 

Social selling is powerful. LinkedIn is powerful. Retargeting is incredibly powerful. 

What if you could wrap all those strategies up into one box?

Maybe not a blue police box, but a sales tool box. 

Which is where retargeting through LinkedIn comes in.

It combines three highly effective strategies into one super-charged sales strategy that helps you find and close more qualified deals.

Here’s how to do it. 

Step 1: Outline Your Sales Goals 

Before diving into this “bigger on the inside” sales strategy, take the time to outline your goals.

What, exactly, do you hope to achieve with LinedIn retargeting?

Remember that retargeting helps you reach people who have interacted with your brand —  maybe they’ve visited your website, followed you on social media, clicked on an ad, or downloaded an ebook. 

Since they’ve already expressed interest in your brand, you know they are more likely overall to convert— but conversion might not be the next step in your sales process. 

For example, your retargeting goal might be to encourage users to:  

• Download a resource 
• Schedule a call 
• Ask for a quote
• Fill out a form 
• Sign up for a webinar

Social selling is about building trust, so don’t jump straight to closing the deal if your leads aren’t  ready. 

Step 2: Gather Your Data 

Most paid ads platforms use their own data to help you target specific users.

For example, on Facebook you can target customers who are interested in sci-fi or live in Chicago.  

With retargeting, however, you are targeting users based on your own data about how those people have interacted with your brand — which is part of why retargeting is so much more effective. 

But, where do you get that data from? You can create a LinkedIn retargeting audience based on data from: 

• Website visits: Target people who have visited your website by importing data from Google analytics or a lead generation tool like Leadfeeder, which helps you reach visitors who interact with content on your site.

• Video ad views: Target people who have watched video ads you’ve published on LinkedIn. These viewers are already familiar with your brand and are more likely to convert. 
• Lead gen forms: Build your audience by targeting folks who have filled out a lead gen form on Linkedin — or upload a list from a lead generation platform. 

Linkedin Also offers a feature that allows you to retarget lookalike audiences that have similar characteristics to your audience, but are up to 15 times larger than your current audience. 

Step 3: Create Retargeting Ads 

Once you have a goal and have selected your audience, you can create your ads.

Remember the main goal of social selling is building relationships.

So make sure to create ads that build on the trust you’ve already established with your audience. 

Then, follow these steps to create your retargeting ads.

Make sure to exclude existing customers so you don’t waste ad spend on people who have already converted! 

Step 4: Optimize Your Retargeting Ads 

You’ve created your ads and launched them. You are done, right?

Not so fast. 

Retargeting is powerful, but you know what is better than the first retargeting ad you create?

The second, and the third. 

Each time you run an ad, you learn a bit more about your audience.

Put that knowledge to work by optimizing your retargeting ads. 

Try testing out different offers, ad headlines, ad sizes, relevant frequency caps, and even audiences.

You might find that certain offers resonate better with specific audiences.  

Conclusion 

Social selling leverages the power of social selling by focusing on building relationships rather than sending cold emails or LinkedIn messages.

When paired with retargeting, social selling can be an effective way for brands to connect and convert qualified leads.  

Author bio: 

Anna is the Assistant Editor for Search Engine Journal and Head of Content at Leadfeeder. Over the last 10+ years, Anna has successfully been running her own SEO and content agency working with brands like Moz, Kissmetrics, Dollar Thrifty Rental, Hearst Magazine, Mailboat Records, Philip Morris International, Bloomin’ Brands, & many more. She enjoys burritos and puppies (in that order).