Is LinkedIn targeting completely off target? And are you missing the mark on LinkedIn?

“Well, it is not LinkedIn’s fault, it the member’s fault.”

We all know the statement GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out) which can also be applied to LinkedIn and targeting. The members are sloppy and not completing their profile (purposefully or not?) thus throwing off the targeting on LinkedIn.

Here is what I mean. When you target in the ad module of LinkedIn or use Search in Sales Navigator/Recruiter, you will not reach or find everyone that you should be reached or found.

Let’s take Belgium as an example (and this is also applicable to other countries, I have checked. Of course, the numbers might be different but the phenomenon is the same)

Belgium - Total membership: 3.55 million

Here are the fields where targeting goes wrong (when selecting ALL options from the pulldown menu):

1.     Industry filters returns less than 3M users

2.     Company headcount filter returns about 1.5M users

3.     Seniority level filter returns 1.5M users (linked to above point)

4.     Years in Current filter position returns under 2M users

5.     Years at current company filter returns less than 900K users

6.     Years of experience filter returns 1M+ but under 2M results

7.     Company Type returns under 2M results

"You will miss up to 50% of your target audience when using certain filters in Sales Navigator or ad module"

Don’t believe me! Check out the stats for the Netherlands who is considered to be the best/most active LinkedIn users in Europe!

Why?

The reason being for these “mistakes” is the incompleteness of profiles

1.     Personal profile not linked to a real Company page (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 )

2.     Incomplete Experience fields in profiles (4, 5, 6)

How can this be resolved?

Well, I guess this is a multi-million dollar question where 3 parties need to step up:

1.     LinkedIn:

a.     For new members make more fields mandatory

b.     For existing members, request people to update their profile more regularly with suggested update.

2.     Trainers/social media managers at companies :

a.     Focus even more on completing profiles during the training sessions

b.     Offer even better templates to complete profiles

3.     Members:

a.     Actually take the time to complete the profile

Conclusion

There are 2 suggestions I would like to make:

a.     When you invest in a premium subscription or advertising on LinkedIn, make sure you can find your target audience using the standard version of LinkedIn first.

b.     Remember when you use the premium or ad module, the filters mentioned above do not always represent the final and real result of your targeting

Any other questions and/or suggestions are welcome!