LinkedIn, TikTok and other channels: when to even consider them
The second tier of channels is worth opening only once the first has nowhere left to grow. Where that line sits, how to recognise exhausted demand, and what to realistically expect from smaller channels.
- Open a new channel only when the existing ones cannot spend their budget while meeting the target.
- LinkedIn buys precision at a high price: it needs high deal value and a narrow, describable audience.
- Every new channel needs a separate budget big enough to gather evaluable conversions in a month.
The question “should we try X as well?” usually arrives at the wrong moment — when the existing channels are not performing as the company hoped. But a new channel is not the answer to a performance problem. It is the answer to exhausted demand, and those are two entirely different situations.
The only test for when it is time
The existing campaigns have a high impression share, meet their target, and still cannot spend their budget. Only then has the next unit of money nowhere to go.
If campaigns are spending their budget and losing impressions to budget, the next money belongs there, not elsewhere. If they are not spending it because the target is too strict, the fix is the target, not a new channel. Covered in budget and in the section on why a strategy will not spend.
LinkedIn Ads
The only channel with precise targeting by job title, company size and industry. You pay for that precision: cost per click and per conversion are among the highest of any channel.
It makes sense when all of the following hold:
- Deal value is high — in the order of tens of thousands and up.
- The audience is narrow and describable by role and sector.
- You have content worth the attention of someone who is not searching for anything.
- You can measure the path from enquiry to deal. See B2B PPC.
If any of those fails, LinkedIn will be an expensive source of enquiries sales will not take.
TikTok, YouTube and demand-creation channels
The common denominator: they do not reach people who are searching. That is why they cannot be evaluated on the same metric as search, and why they generate the longest arguments.
- Attribution is systematically off. Either it understates (people do not click but buy later) or it overstates (it counts views).
- Sensible evaluation goes through the total. Watch total company revenue and the share of direct and brand searches, not just campaign numbers.
- They need a different horizon. A month is short. If you do not have the patience and the budget for that, do not start.
- Creative is the whole channel. In search a good query compensates for a weak ad. Here it does not.
Microsoft Advertising
Covered in its own article, because for many advertisers it is the first channel to consider after Google rather than a second-tier option — see Google Ads vs. Microsoft Ads. In short: easy campaign import, lower competition, but small volume that will not gather data on smaller accounts. Consider it on large accounts chasing the last few per cent of volume, or in B2B where the share of corporate devices matters.
How to test a new channel
- A separate budget. Not the leftovers from the main channel. Enough to gather evaluable conversions within a month.
- The same conversion definition. Otherwise you are comparing incomparables — the most common reason a channel “comes out better” or “worse”.
- A success criterion written down in advance. What cost per conversion would mean continuing, and by when you will evaluate.
- A long enough window. At least two months for demand-reactive channels, longer for demand-creating ones.
- A decision at the end. Either the channel gets a full budget and proper management, or it gets switched off. The worst state is a forgotten campaign quietly spending for a year with nobody looking at it.
Every channel needs budget, attention and its own creative. With limited resources, doing two channels well beats five by the drop — and a split budget also means none of them gathers enough data for automated strategies.
What to take away
A new channel is the answer to exhausted demand, not to poor results. Before opening one, check impression share in your main campaigns — in most cases it turns out the room is still where you already are. And when you do open one, give it a separate budget, a success criterion written down in advance, and a date on which the decision gets made.
Common questions
When does it make sense to add a new advertising channel?
Only when your existing campaigns have a high impression share, meet their target and still cannot spend their budget — that is, when demand is exhausted. If campaigns are spending their budget and losing impressions precisely because of it, the next money belongs where you already are. And if they are not spending it because the return target is too strict, the fix is to adjust the target, not to open a new channel.
Is LinkedIn Ads worth it?
Only under fairly strict conditions. It is the one channel with precise targeting by job title, company size and industry, but cost per click and per conversion are among the highest anywhere. It makes sense when deal value runs into tens of thousands and up, the audience is narrow and describable by role and sector, you have content worth the attention of someone who is not searching, and you can measure the path from enquiry to closed deal. If any of those is missing, it becomes an expensive source of enquiries sales will not take.
How many channels should a company run at once?
As many as it can give adequate budget, attention and its own creative. With limited resources, two channels done properly beat five done by the drop. A split budget also has a concrete technical consequence: none of the channels gathers enough conversions for automated strategies to learn from or for anything to be evaluated. The worst state is a forgotten campaign in a fifth channel quietly spending for a year.