LinkedIn Matched Audiences & Contact Targeting

Native targeting (Job Titles) is good. Matched Audiences (Your Data) are better. Why? Because you know who they are. They are not just anonymous clicks. However, most advertisers get a 20% match rate and quit. Here is how to get a 50-70% match rate.

The Problem: Work vs Personal Emails

You have a list of work emails (john@company.com). John signed up for LinkedIn with his personal email (john@gmail.com). If you upload the work email, LinkedIn says "User not found." The Fix: You need enriched data. Tools like ZoomInfo, Lusha, or Apollo provide both work and personal emails for prospects. Upload both columns in your CSV.

The Format Checklist

LinkedIn is picky. Your CSV headers must match exactly.

• email
• firstname
• lastname
• companyname
• jobtitle
• country

Pro Tip: Include mobileid (MAID) if you have mobile app data. It has a very high match rate.

Strategic Use Cases

1. The "Wake Up" Campaign

• Segment: Leads who went cold 90 days ago.
• Creative: "Still thinking about X? Here is what's new."
• Goal: Re-engage dead pipeline.

2. The "De-Risk" Campaign

• Segment: Current open opportunities (Stage 3+).
• Creative: Case Studies / Testimonials.
• Goal: Show social proof to the decision maker while they are deciding.

3. The Exclusion List

• Segment: Competitors, Bad Fits, Current Customers.
• Action: Always exclude these lists from your Prospecting campaigns.

Integrations

Don't upload CSVs manually. Use the native integrations for:

• Salesforce
• HubSpot
• Marketo
• LiveRamp This ensures your lists update daily. If a lead unsubscribes in HubSpot, they stop seeing ads on LinkedIn automatically.

Summary

Data is your competitive advantage. If you rely solely on LinkedIn's native targeting, you are renting an audience. If you use Matched Audiences, you are owning the relationship.