Using LinkedIn and Bing together can save money, combine tools for more effectiveness, reach a more professional audience, and more. These are a few reasons why LinkedIn and Bing should be a part of B2B marketing strategies:
Why Should You Include LinkedIn & Bing in Your Marketing Efforts?
1. Reach a Wide Range of People
Bing may have a much smaller share of the market than Google, but at 14.5% of the PC market share, or 14.5 billion monthly PC users, this number is nothing to ignore. Additionally, an estimated 645 million people use LinkedIn. While some crossover is to be expected, this audience size is still worth considering. More recently, LinkedIn profile targeting was opened up to include international users, expanding a B2B brand’s reach.
2. Target a Professional Audience
LinkedIn and Bing are especially beneficial in B2B marketing. Because LinkedIn is a social media platform primarily targeted at professionals, brands can reach more professional audiences. Bing, or Microsoft Advertising, is also the only ad platform that has a built-in feature for specifically targeting LinkedIn profiles. This means B2B brands can narrow down their ad targeting to include professionals in different industries and those who hold certain executive positions.
The ability to target audiences based on LinkedIn profiles is not a feature that’s yet available through Google. In a traditional search, both B2B brands and customers may be served with the same keyword. Because each has a different intention, this can lead to wasted ad spending and a higher overall budget with fewer conversions. The ability to target specific companies or people who work for certain brands can help B2B businesses better reach their ideal customers.
3. Increase Organic Traffic
Paid ads aren’t the only value that LinkedIn and Bing have to offer brands. LinkedIn is packed with useful tools that can help brands and business professionals demonstrate their expertise, develop meaningful relationships with potential customers, and increase organic traffic. The use of hashtags can also help brands share their content with others in the industry, while also recognizing trending topics.
Bing Places for Business, similar to Google My Business, is another effective tool for increasing organic traffic. Bing offers a variety of tools to brands to help them take control of their brand, including Bing Webmaster Tools.
4. Collect Data
Most marketers would agree that data drives an effective marketing campaign. The data from LinkedIn can be especially beneficial in B2B marketing because it contains information from business professionals, including executive decision-makers. The marketing opportunities available with this data are endless. While paid ads may be the most obvious way to use LinkedIn data, brands can also use it for other purposes, such as when creating a content marketing strategy.
Brands can use this data to narrow down their targeted audience by characteristics such as education, position, location, and industry. More recently with Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn, brands can now also take advantage of interest targeting. LinkedIn first released interests as a targeted factor but improved the feature by incorporating data from Bing, relying on the search engine to import data for more accurate predictions.
This means that targeting efforts can not only include LinkedIn profile information but also information pulled from a user’s search history in Bing. LinkedIn also has lookalike targeting, which is the ability to search for users based on traits. Brands can look at specific traits or buying habits of current customers and then recreate those on LinkedIn with similar characteristics, increasing the chance of conversions.
5. Create Ads Faster and More Efficiently
Creating ads using LinkedIn and Bing can be faster and more efficient. Bing has moved to increase the ease and speed at which brands can create effective marketing campaigns using their built-in tools. With a large inventory of premade B2B templates, placing ads can be as easy as inputting information, placing the ad, and then sitting back and waiting for traffic.
6. Reduce the Cost of Marketing
Marketing on LinkedIn alone can be expensive. Solely targeting LinkedIn without the use of Bing tools can also lead to targeting customers who are higher in the sales funnel. Using Microsoft Bing ads with LinkedIn targeting can help brands reach an even narrower audience who are lower in the funnel and are more likely to convert.
With over 150 industries available for targeting on LinkedIn, the opportunities are endless. It’s also extremely easy to import ad data and creatives from Google Ads to Bing, making the transition to LinkedIn with Bing a seamless strategy.
While Bing may not be the most popular search engine today, its partnership with LinkedIn proves that Microsoft continues to adapt to better meet its users’ needs. Brands who use LinkedIn in coordination with Bing can unlock an abundance of useful, cost-effective B2B marketing benefits.
