Last week, AIMCLEAR blog took you on a tour through the nascent field of inbound PR, articulating the advantages of using paid advertising technologies for classic public relations. Included in this primer was a selection of media roles and workplaces targetable through Facebook’s ad platform. LinkedIn ads may not be as sexy as those brought to you by Facebook, but LI is chock-a-block with editorial staff hungry for a scoop, making it a worthwhile medium for media relations.
Targeting job titles with LinkedIn ads can get PR content in front of the folks you’ve only dreamed about reaching via phone, and we’ve previously covered how to target media job titles in LinkedIn, but things have changed a bit. Read on for an update, as well as a look at deeper targeting options.
LinkedIn Target Audiences: Does Size Matter?
As our astute readers pointed out, microtargeting no longer works in the LinkedIn ads platform. Prior to the change, targeting segments with fewer than 1,000 people was possible; LI just wouldn’t tell us the exact number of individuals in our target audience. Now, it seems, the minimum audience size is 1,000. Oh well. Guess we’ll take our small-group targeting to Facebook.
If specificity isn’t your goal, LinkedIn can still be a gold mine for reaching the media, provided you can hit the audience minimum. That, however, can be a problem for some media roles. Take a look:
Using LinkedIn’s job-title targeting for legal writers, we’re a bit short of the mark.
But if we head into group targeting, we can find 8,000+ individuals who are members of groups related to legal writing.
Even if you’re able to hit the minimum with job-title targeting alone, you may be limiting yourself. Compare what we found for food writers using job-title targeting…
…to food writers using group targeting.
Refine Your Audience: Merge Titles With Groups
Another targeting option is combining general media-related job titles with industry-specific groups. It’s safe to assume that reporters join LinkedIn groups for story ideas and sources. In the target audience below, we’ve captured editor job titles mashed up with groups, including law journals, practice groups and other large legal-oriented groups.
When targeting media roles in LinkedIn, don’t rely on job titles alone, and don’t forget bloggers! Group targeting and group targeting mashed up with general-media-job-title targeting may be just the ticket for reaching industry-specific editorial staff in LinkedIn. Happy hunting!
Header image © iQoncept – Fotolia
