Navigating the vast virtual networking landscape of LinkedIn is complex, to say the least. Your target audience is out there, just waiting to connect and engage with your brand.
However, identifying and establishing relationships with the right professionals and businesses can be as challenging as it is rewarding.
In this guide, we’re covering everything about your LinkedIn audience targeting and how to optimize the impact of every post and interaction.
What is a LinkedIn target audience?
LinkedIn audience targeting is the ability to focus your marketing efforts on a specific set of LinkedIn users based on their profile data, job roles, interests, and more.
This helps you angle your content and advertising in a way that’s more likely to resonate with your intended audience, leading to greater ROI on your LinkedIn marketing activities.
To start, let’s lay the groundwork by addressing what LinkedIn’s targeting options include and how they can serve your goals.
How to start audience profiling
Effective targeting begins with understanding who you’re looking for, and why. Audience profiling is the process of creating detailed profiles of the types of professionals most interested in your brand or offerings.
To ensure your efforts are not in vain, you need to be able to answer these profiling questions:
- Who is your product or service designed for?
- What are the specific attributes of your ideal customer?
- Where are they in their professional journey, and what challenges do they face?
- How can your business uniquely solve their problems?
Furthermore, take advantage of LinkedIn’s insight Tag. It lets you learn more about your target audience’s activity and behaviors, and further tailor your marketing campaigns to fit their specific needs.
What goes into LinkedIn audience targeting?
LinkedIn offers an array of powerful targeting options:
- Location targeting helps you reach professionals in specific regions or cities.
- Company targeting can narrow your focus to employees of certain organizations.
- Job title targeting allows you to direct your content toward individuals with specific roles.
- Industry targeting lets you aim for particular business sectors.
- Interest and group targeting enable you to engage audiences with certain professional interests or affiliations.
- Experience level targeting hones in on professionals at entry, intermediate, or senior levels of their careers.
These options are your toolkit. The more adept you are at wielding them, the more precise your targeting will be.
How to find your target audience on LinkedIn
So, how do you find your audience on the platform?
Using audience profiling along with the tools offered by LinkedIn, you can start targeting. Just follow these tips to refine your search:
Tip 1: Leverage LinkedIn’s search filters
LinkedIn’s robust search filters are a great starting point. Use keyword search, location filters, and other criteria to get a list of potential connections and groups. Next, scrutinize profiles and group discussions to ensure they align with your brand.
Tip 2: Study your competitors
Your competitors are likely engaging your target audience. Analyze who follows them, who comments on their posts, and which groups they are active in. These insights can help you identify common connections and communities.
Tip 3: Employee and alumni networks
Tap into your company’s network on LinkedIn. Current and past employees, industry colleagues, and alumni groups can be treasure troves of mutually aligned professionals who may be interested in your content or offerings.
Tip 4: Run content analysis
Use your LinkedIn page analytics to understand who is interacting with your content. Insights on who views and engages with your posts can inform your targeting approach.
How to configure your LinkedIn target audience settings
Setting up your target audience inside Campaign Manager is rather straightforward. After you pick your campaign objective and ad format, you’ll land on the Audience tab.
Here’s a 10-step guide to your LinkedIn target-audience setup:
- Define the goal (awareness, demand, leads, hiring).
- Add Insight Tag or Conversions API so you can retarget and feed AI models.
- In Campaign Manager, click Create Campaign and choose the objective.
- Set the required Location plus the default Language and then Location.
- Under Audience attributes, layer one or two facets (e.g., Job Function + Seniority) to keep reach ≥ 30k; add Company Size or Industry only if still too broad.
- Open Matched Audiences to upload CSV lists (≥ 300 records) or switch on Predictive Audiences for auto-refreshed look-alikes; upload suppression lists for customers and employees.
- Toggle Audience Expansion when you need extra top-funnel scale; leave it off for ABM or when Predictive is active.
- Check the right-rail estimate. Aim for 300k+ members for Sponsored Content, 30k+ for tight account lists.
- Choose placements, budget, and bid strategy; save the audience as a template for future boosts.
- Post-launch, review Audience Insights weekly for drift, tweak filters/exclusions, and rotate ads every 2–3 weeks to avoid fatigue.
Want to scale further? Toggle Audience Expansion or create a lookalike to let LinkedIn find professionals who resemble your seed list.
When the numbers meet your objective, click Save as template so you can reuse the setup across future campaigns without starting from scratch.
When you configure your audience here, every impression and click is laser-focused on the decision-makers who matter most.
Mastering LinkedIn Matched Audiences’ targeting techniques
Matched Audiences on LinkedIn is a sophisticated targeting option that enables you to upload your list of contacts to the platform for targeted advertising.
Once your list is uploaded and matched, you can engage these prospects with relevant content and retarget them with specific ads (special offers, timely discounts), further increasing your chances of conversion.
Here’s how you can optimize this feature:
LeadsBridge integrations
As an official partner of LinkedIn, LeadsBridge provides seamless integrations for various LinkedIn products, among them LinkedIn Matched Audiences.
You want to connect your CRM with LinkedIn Matched Audiences through LeadsBridge. This allows your segmented lists and data to move to and from LinkedIn on a continuous and automatic basis.
These integrations ensure that your matched audience is consistently updated and your targeting remains precise.
Leveraging LeadsBridge’s CRM and LinkedIn Matched Audiences integrations allows you to use your first-party data effectively and retarget contacts already stored in your database.
This also enhances your marketing efforts as well as your retargeting strategy on LinkedIn.
Custom audience lists
Segment your audience list on LinkedIn to ensure highly tailored advertising. You can create lists for different segments of your audience, based on where they are in the buyer’s journey or their interaction history with your business.
Lookalike audiences
Once you’ve defined your matched audience, use lookalike audiences to broaden your reach. LinkedIn’s algorithms will find users with similarities to your matched audience.
This, in turn, helps you discover new prospects who are likely to be interested in your brand.
LinkedIn targeting options & strategies
Once you’ve found your LinkedIn target audience, next comes engagement. The key is to build relationships and offer value to your LinkedIn connections.
To do so, use the following strategies:
Create and share valuable content
High-quality content that addresses the needs of your audience can foster trust and establish your brand as a thought leader. Share industry insights, case studies, and best practices to provide real value.
Engage with other users’ content
Be an active participant in the LinkedIn community. Comment on and share others’ posts, offer your take, and start conversations. This engagement can help you attract your target audience’s attention while building your brand presence.
Join and moderate groups
Join LinkedIn groups that align with your industry and target audience. Actively participate in discussions, and consider moderating a group to further position yourself as a leader in your field.
Utilize LinkedIn polls and surveys
Use LinkedIn polls to gather data on industry trends, common challenges, and the opinions of your target audience. Sharing the results and providing your analysis can spark engagement and demonstrate your expertise.
Host webinars and live events
Leverage LinkedIn Live or host webinars to engage with your audience in real time. These events can provide a platform for deeper discussions and Q&A sessions, humanizing your brand and building trust.
One of the most streamlined ways to put this strategy in action is using LinkedIn registration forms for events, and using automated data bridges to efficiently manage your data.
Run targeted ad campaigns
LinkedIn’s robust ad platform allows you to craft targeted campaigns that speak directly to your audience. Tailor your messaging and creativity to the interests and needs of your audience.
Personalize your outreach
When reaching out to new connections, personalize your messages to show that you’ve done your research and genuinely want to connect. A personalized touch can make your brand more memorable and encourage a positive response.
Monitor and respond to interactions
Consistently monitor your LinkedIn notifications for likes, comments, and messages. Timely and thoughtful responses can help maintain engagement and further the conversation.
Final thoughts
Finding and engaging with your LinkedIn target audience is an art that requires a mix of data-driven tactics and authentic human interaction.
Remember, the digital networking journey is dynamic, so be open to using new features, adapting your strategies, and continually learning from your audience’s feedback.
With the help of LeadsBridge automation to streamline your efforts, your LinkedIn community is within reach, waiting to be united by your brand’s vision.
Discover LeadsBridge’s Matched Audience integration now to help your business get the most out of LinkedIn and your LinkedIn target audience.
