It’s been a long time since social media was simply “social.” As Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and the rest grew and monetized, they became much more than a place to interact with friends and colleagues; they became one of the best places to sell.
These days, no life science marketing strategy is complete without a social media plan. And no social media plan is complete without a follower campaign. After all, how can you effectively sell if you don’t have an audience?
What Is a Follower Campaign?
A follower campaign is a paid social campaign that attracts new users to follow your corporate page or profile with follower ads.
Pssst! We’re focusing on LinkedIn here because:
- 80% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn ads
- LinkedIn is responsible for 50% of social media traffic for B2B websites and blogs
Follower ads encourage members to visit and (ideally) follow your LinkedIn or Showcase Page on their desktop application. These ads are unique because they allow you to target specific audiences and cut through the noise with personalization. Follower ads are tailored to each member of your targeted audience with their profile photo, your company’s logo, their first name, and your company name in the ad copy. Wouldn’t seeing your name and picture in an ad get your attention?
Why Should I Care About LinkedIn Follower Campaigns?
There are 3 main reasons why you need to add follower campaigns to your LinkedIn ad strategy:
- Results – Growing your social following means growing your brand’s reach. Increased reach means more brand awareness, and more brand awareness translates to more sales. One of the best ways to grow your social following? Follower campaigns!
- Targeting – Follower campaigns can target audiences your brand might not have interacted with in the past, effectively expanding your reach.
- Metrics – Follower campaign engagement metrics allow you to measure your advertising’s effectiveness, while demographic reporting helps you understand your audience on a deeper level.
Tell Me More About Targeting
Precise targeting is one of the best things about follower campaigns, especially for life science marketing, as targeting helps you focus on the quality of your followers rather than the quantity. You don’t want to drive your metrics down with followers that don’t engage!
LinkedIn has excellent targeting parameters that allow you to home in on broad terms like drug development, pharma, and medical technologies as well as niche skills or interests that your ideal audience may have, from contact dermatitis to AI-powered patient enrollment. You can also target by company name, job title, years of experience, member groups, and more.
There’s always a chance unqualified people will slip through your criteria – which is why exclusion targeting is another standout feature of LinkedIn follower campaigns. Adding exclusions narrows down your audience pool to only those you really want to reach.
How Much Do Follower Campaigns Cost?
Great news! Follower campaigns are inexpensive when compared to content brand awareness and lead generation campaigns. They should also be viewed as long-term investments, and they deliver the best results when run over an entire year.
ROI-BOOSTING TIP:
Follower campaigns support your organic content. You need to post relevant, interesting content 2-3 times per week so that when new users come to your page, they stick around.
Follower campaigns don’t operate in a vacuum. You need to invest time in a solid social media strategy *before* you begin a follower campaign so when a prospect lands on your page, they find a wealth of content that’s educational, engaging, and valuable. Don’t forget to have a full calendar of planned posts for after the campaign, too. Remember, engagement = sales.
Do They Really Work?
Follower campaigns help build awareness of your brand. Even if your targeted audience doesn’t follow you through the ad itself, they will be primed to follow you organically now that they’ve been exposed to your brand in the ad.
Two of our clients ran LinkedIn follower campaigns that ran for 12 months and earned nearly 4 million impressions and more than 3,500 new followers.
Client 1:
- Paid follows: 940
- Total new followers: 3.5k
- Impressions served: 3,706,271
Client 2:
- Paid follows: 151
- Total new followers: 2.4k
- Impressions served: 1,693,188
Let’s Build an Effective LinkedIn Ads Strategy!
If you’re ready to try follower campaigns in your life science marketing, we’re here to help. Get in touch with our experts today.
About the Author
Hayden Ogden