It’s taken them a while to join the party but LinkedIn have joined Facebook and Twitter and are the latest platform to offer advertisers Carousel Ads.
In a nutshell, LinkedIn Carousel ads convey 10 cards, which are completely customisable including a headline, engaging image and supporting short body text. Each card can be broken down into individual metrics and optimised upon accordingly. So, what are the benefits of this for student marketers and how can these be used to boost your brand?
Tell a deeper story
With up to 10 customisable cards you’ll have plenty of space to work with. Use it to tell a deeper story about you, humanise your brand and convey a compelling narrative.
Tell the audience more
Alternatively you could showcase multiple offerings, while being able to drive traffic to unique URLs for each card. For example, if an important application deadline is fast approaching, you could use each card to promote a different course; with an applicable headline and image to support this.
Be memorable and unique
With their ability to shine in a user’s newsfeed, Carousel ads give your target audience a unique and memorable experience.
Carousel ads stand out. With the option to adjust the total number of cards, the order and individual headline descriptions, the advert type will be great at achieving the various KPIs student marketers come up against.
Sounds interesting, right? We caught up with one of our in-house advertising experts, Cj Carver, to give us the lowdown on how student marketers could best utilise LinkedIn’s new feature…
“Not only can the new format be very useful for raising brand awareness by telling a story and deriving a compelling narrative, but they can also be a driving force for enquiries and direct response.
A great feature of these Carousel ads is the combination of a creative and engaging format with Lead Generation forms. By having pre-populated forms that pop-up upon a user’s click, there is an increased chance for driving conversions. This can then be integrated with your CRM, or, if you’re an Akero user, then this will work too! All data will be stored in one place, making the lead management process as easy as possible.
From an optimisation perspective, being able to assess the effectiveness of each card will be highly beneficial, as we will be able to make informed changes towards the headlines and creative; achieving the best results possible for your campaign.”
How can you use this new tool best?
Well, due to the versatility of Carousel ads, there are many ways in which they can be used:
Give them depth: Your audience craves more information, so give them a deeper understanding of the university/campus, student experience or course. This not only offers a personalised element, but also gives them greater insight into your institution.
Show your offerings: With up to 10 cards, this is a great opportunity to target students with a range of courses that are popular, or showcase unique aspects of your institution.
Tell a story: Use these ads to tell a story or give a step by step guide to Clearing or what your open days will offer for example.
Nurture: Beyond this, it’s possible to use retargeting to place adverts in front of an already invested audience; thus nurturing them down the conversion funnel with tailored messaging and imagery.
Event promotion: By using LinkedIn Carousel ads, you can showcase multiple faculties or facilities in one post; then combine this with Lead Gen forms to gain an increased number of registrations.
Remember: If you’re telling a story, place the call of action in the final card to keep your audience engaged, encouraging them to swipe through the whole carousel.
LinkedIn is known as the professional social network, so it’s likely this new format will be ideal for targeting postgraduate MBA, EMBA or other professional study options.
If you would like to speak to us about how LinkedIn and Carousel ads would fit into your next campaign, get in touch.
The post Something new for LinkedIn: Carousel Ads appeared first on Net Natives.
