In the previous article, we focused on the Rate Accounts tab, a crucial tool for refining audience targeting. Now, let’s explore the other tabs within the Audience Tuning. These tools—Rate Industries, Rate Countries, Rate Account Sizes, Rate Job Titles, Rate Job Functions, and Rate Seniorities—provide even more ways to fine-tune your audience selection, ensuring you reach the most relevant individuals for your campaigns.
Overview of Audience Tuning Tabs #
The Audience Tuning module provides insights into how different audience segments interact with your ads. The targeting options are split into Demographic Attributes and Firmographic Attributes:
- Demographic Attributes:
- Rate Job Titles
- Rate Seniorities
- Rate Job Functions
- Firmographic Attributes:
- Rate Industries
- Rate Countries
- Rate Account Sizes
These categories allow users to review the performance of ads based on different audience characteristics, such as job titles, industries, and company sizes. The Rate tabs serve as an enhanced version of the LinkedIn Demographic report, enabling users to identify which audience segments are responding to ads and make adjustments on the fly.
Columns in the Audience Tuning Tabs #
Each of the tabs displays several key metrics that help assess the effectiveness of your audience targeting. The columns displayed are:
- Attribute: The audience characteristic (e.g., Industries, Account Sizes, Job Titles, Job Functions, Seniorities)
- Clicks: The total number of clicks on your ads from this audience segment
- Impressions: The number of times your ads were shown to this audience segment
- Cost: This would represent the total cost of the ad campaign targeting that specific audience segment.
- CPC (Cost per Click): This is the average cost you pay each time someone clicks on your ad. It’s calculated by dividing the total cost by the total number of clicks.
- Avg. CTR (Click-Through Rate): The average percentage of people who clicked on your ad after seeing it
- Conversions: The number of successful actions taken by users (e.g., sign-ups, purchases)
- Cost per Conversion: This is the average amount spent for each successful conversion. It’s calculated by dividing the total cost by the number of conversions.
- Leads: The total number of leads generated from this audience segment. Leads are typically potential customers who have shown interest by filling out forms, signing up for newsletters, or other similar actions.
- Cost per Lead: This is the average amount spent for each lead generated. It’s calculated by dividing the total cost by the number of leads.
- Rate (Upvote/Downvote): Allows users to provide feedback on the relevance of the audience segment
LinkedIn Native Interface vs. DemandSense: Key Differences #
While LinkedIn’s native interface is limited to showing only 25 results and does not allow direct exclusion of irrelevant audience segments, DemandSense offers a much broader view. You can see the full list of industries or audience segments interacting with your ad and directly exclude irrelevant segments within the platform—without leaving the interface. This gives you more flexibility and control over your targeting strategy.
Downvote/Upvote Functionality #
The downvote and upvote buttons allow users to provide feedback and refine audience targeting.
- Downvote: Clicking the downvote button will immediately add the corresponding parameter (e.g., a job title, industry, or seniority) to the exclusion list in LinkedIn. If you click the downvote again, it will remove the parameter from the exclusion list.
- Upvote: Clicking the upvote button marks the parameter as valuable for future targeting. If the parameter was previously downvoted and you upvote it, the exclusion will be removed on LinkedIn.
This flexibility helps you adjust your campaigns in real-time based on which segments are most relevant to your objectives.
Important Note: Unlike the Rate Accounts tab, where downvotes are updated once a week (every Friday at 10 PM UTC), the downvote action for other Rate tabs (such as Rate Industries, Rate Countries, Rate Account Sizes, Rate Job Titles, Rate Job Functions, and Rate Seniorities) is applied immediately. This means that exclusions take effect as soon as the action is taken, providing faster adjustments to your targeting strategy.
Analyzing Performance by Campaign #
Each of the Rate tabs allows you to click on a plus sign next to an attribute to see the performance distribution by individual campaign. This gives you a deeper look at how different audience segments are interacting with specific campaigns, helping you optimize your targeting strategy further.
Excluding Audience Parameters #
The downvote button serves as the main tool for excluding irrelevant audience segments from LinkedIn campaigns. Here’s how it works:
- Excluding an Attribute from All Campaigns: Click the downvote button in the row corresponding to the audience attribute (e.g., job title or industry) to exclude it across all campaigns.
- Excluding an Attribute from a Specific Campaign: If you only want to exclude an attribute from one campaign, click the downvote button in the row where the campaign name is listed.
This feature ensures that you can make adjustments and refine audience targeting for future campaigns without logging into LinkedIn Campaign Manager.
Conclusion #
The Rate Industries, Rate Countries, Rate Job Titles, Rate Job Functions, Rate Account Sizes, and Rate Seniorities tabs within the Audience Tuning give you the flexibility to refine your audience targeting even further. By providing detailed insights and offering direct control over exclusions, these tools can dramatically improve your campaign performance. Implementing these adjustments will help you create more efficient and successful campaigns, leading to better results.