Targeting: LinkedIn
LinkedIn targeting in Plai lets you reach a professional audience using four targeting approaches: interests, job titles, company attributes, and contact list audiences. All targeting is built directly in the campaign — there are no pre-saved audiences for LinkedIn campaigns.
The four targeting tabs
The LinkedIn targeting panel has four tabs. You can use one or combine multiple to narrow your audience:
Interest
Target people based on professional interests and LinkedIn member activity. Select interest categories relevant to your product or service — for example, Marketing, B2B Software, Leadership, or Financial Services. LinkedIn infers these from members' content engagement, follows, and profile activity.
Job Titles
Reach people by their specific job title. Type a job title and LinkedIn will match it and suggest related titles. This is one of the most precise LinkedIn targeting options — useful when you know exactly who makes the buying decision at your target companies (e.g., "Head of Marketing", "VP of Sales", "IT Manager").
Company
Target by company attributes, including:
- Industry — target people working in specific sectors (e.g., Financial Services, Healthcare, SaaS)
- Company size — narrow to SMBs, mid-market, or enterprise by employee count
- Company name — target employees at specific named companies (account-based targeting)
Contact List Audience
Upload a CSV of email addresses to match against LinkedIn's member database. This lets you target a specific list of people — for example, event attendees, existing customers, or a prospect list from your CRM. LinkedIn matches emails to member profiles and delivers ads to matched contacts.
Combining tabs: You can layer targeting across multiple tabs to create a more specific audience — for example, targeting people in the "Software" industry with the job title "Chief Marketing Officer" who also have an interest in "Marketing Technology". Each additional layer narrows the audience size, so monitor the estimated reach indicator as you build.
Location
LinkedIn location targeting is set by country or region. You can target one or multiple countries/regions per campaign. Unlike Meta, LinkedIn does not support city-level or radius targeting — location targeting operates at the country or broad regional level.
Audience size
LinkedIn requires a minimum audience size for campaigns to deliver. The app shows an estimated audience size as you build your targeting — aim for at least 50,000 members for most campaign types. If your audience is too small, LinkedIn may limit or prevent delivery.
LinkedIn audiences tend to be more expensive per click than Meta or Google. Start with broader targeting and use performance data to refine rather than over-targeting from the start, which can drive CPCs up significantly.
Common issues
My LinkedIn audience is too small to deliver
You've likely layered too many targeting criteria. Start by removing one layer at a time — often the most effective approach is picking one primary dimension (e.g., job title or company size) and keeping the others broad. Check the estimated audience size indicator and aim for 50,000+ members.
Related articles
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