Custom LinkedIn Dashboards for B2B Insights
- Henry McIntosh
- 22 hours ago
- 12 min read
Want better LinkedIn results for B2B marketing? Standard dashboards often fall short for industries with long sales cycles and niche audiences. They lack detail on seniority, company size, and role-specific engagement - critical for reaching decision-makers like CTOs or finance directors. Custom dashboards solve this by tracking tailored metrics, linking engagement to leads, and revealing what content drives results.
Key Takeaways:
Standard dashboards: Limited to broad metrics like impressions and clicks.
Custom dashboards: Provide insights by job title, company size, and industry.
Benefits: Track leads through long sales cycles, optimise campaigns in real time, and align with UK-specific business needs (e.g., financial quarters, £ currency).
With custom dashboards, you can monitor CPL, audience demographics, and ABM metrics, ensuring your LinkedIn efforts contribute directly to pipeline growth. Ready to refine your campaigns? Let’s dive into the details.
LinkedIn Analytics in Power BI
Getting Started with LinkedIn Analytics
Set up LinkedIn Analytics to gather the exact data you need for crafting customised B2B dashboards. This involves navigating LinkedIn's analytics tools and configuring them to collect detailed data tailored to your B2B campaigns.
How to Access LinkedIn Analytics Tools
To track organic performance, head to your company page and click on the 'Analytics' tab while in admin mode [1]. This dashboard provides insights across categories like Content, Visitors, Followers, Leads, Competitors, and Employee Advocacy. Typically, it showcases a snapshot of your performance over the past 30 days [1].
For paid campaign data, use Campaign Manager. Access it by clicking the 'Advertise' icon. This tool offers in-depth metrics specifically for your paid campaigns [2]. By keeping organic and paid performance data separate, you can better analyse each area - an essential feature when building effective B2B dashboards.
Access permissions are crucial for managing who can view and export analytics. For Company Page Analytics, users need to have either "admin" or "analyst" roles [1]. Campaign Manager requires the appropriate roles assigned to the ad account [4]. If your organisation uses LinkedIn's Business Manager, access to both ad accounts and company pages is managed by administrators [3]. Setting up these permissions early ensures your team can access the data they need to support B2B objectives.
Once access is sorted, you can customise your dashboards to align with regional standards.
Setting Up Dashboards for UK Business Needs
After securing access, adjust your dashboard settings to meet the reporting and financial requirements of UK businesses. Standard LinkedIn dashboards often need tailoring to reflect these specifics.
Start by aligning date ranges with UK financial quarters. For instance, Q1 for many UK businesses runs from 1st April to 30th June, as the financial year often spans April to March. LinkedIn's default calendar quarter reporting may not match this, so adjustments are necessary.
Ensure all costs are displayed in pounds sterling (£), formatted with commas for thousand separators and a decimal point for pence (e.g. £1,234.56). While Campaign Manager will show costs in your billing currency, make sure your custom dashboards reflect this formatting for consistency.
When exporting data, configure dates to appear in the DD/MM/YYYY format, which is standard in the UK. This is especially important when combining LinkedIn data with CRM tools or other UK-based marketing platforms.
Finally, check your regional targeting regularly within Campaign Manager Analytics. This ensures your campaigns are reaching key decision-makers in important regions like London's financial hub or Manchester's growing tech scene.
In the next section, we'll dive into selecting the metrics that matter most for driving B2B decisions.
Selecting and Setting Up Key Metrics for B2B Goals
When it comes to B2B marketing, success hinges on tracking metrics that provide actionable insights - not just flashy numbers. A well-designed dashboard should translate data into meaningful strategies that drive long-term growth. Unlike consumer-focused campaigns, B2B efforts prioritise quality engagement and building relationships over time, rather than chasing instant conversions.
Must-Track Metrics for B2B Marketers
To create an effective LinkedIn strategy for B2B, you need to focus on a set of metrics that matter:
Lead generation metrics: Keep a close eye on cost per lead (CPL), measured in pounds (£), to understand how much you’re spending to acquire new leads.
Engagement rate by job function: Use LinkedIn Analytics to segment engagement by job titles, such as Chief Financial Officer, IT Director, or Head of Procurement. This ensures you’re reaching the key decision-makers within a buying committee.
Audience demographics breakdown: Dive deeper into geographical and role-based segmentation to fine-tune your targeting approach.
Click-through rates (CTR): Don’t just focus on the percentage of clicks - consider the quality of clicks. In B2B campaigns, it’s often more about meaningful engagement than sheer volume.
Conversion tracking by company size: Analyse how leads convert across different company sizes. This helps you allocate your budget more effectively and refine your targeting.
Content performance by industry: Track how different sectors engage with your content. For instance, manufacturing firms might respond well to detailed case studies, while technology companies may prefer thought leadership pieces.
Competitive benchmarking data: Use LinkedIn’s built-in tools to compare your performance - like engagement rates, follower growth, and content success - against industry standards. This can highlight areas where you need to improve.
Once you’ve identified these metrics, align them with your specific campaign objectives to monitor progress throughout the conversion funnel.
Setting Up Metrics for Targeted Campaigns
For precise tracking, use unique UTM parameters for each campaign. These tracking codes allow you to differentiate between efforts like targeted account-based marketing (ABM) campaigns and broader brand awareness initiatives.
Funnel progression metrics: Measure how leads move through the sales funnel, from LinkedIn engagement to sales-qualified opportunities. Break it down into stages like form submissions, CRM entries, discovery calls, and eventual conversions. Tailor your dashboard to display performance over different timeframes - weekly for quick adjustments, monthly for broader optimisation, and quarterly for alignment with UK financial cycles.
Account-based marketing (ABM) metrics: When targeting high-value accounts, track engagement from specific companies. This ensures you’re building awareness across the entire buying committee within your target organisations.
Regional performance tracking: If your campaigns are UK-focused, apply location filters to compare results across different regions. This can help you identify where your efforts are resonating most effectively.
Custom conversion windows: Adjust your conversion tracking to reflect the longer sales cycles typical in B2B. This ensures your metrics align with the realities of your business model.
The ultimate goal is to link these metrics to real business outcomes. Avoid being swayed by numbers that look impressive but don’t contribute to revenue growth. These metrics form the foundation for creating impactful dashboards in the next stage.
Building and Setting Up Custom Dashboards
Once you've identified the metrics that matter most, the next step is to organise that data into custom LinkedIn dashboards. These dashboards should be designed to provide clear, actionable insights tailored to the needs of each stakeholder.
Creating Dashboards in LinkedIn and Third-Party Tools
LinkedIn's Campaign Manager is a solid starting point for building B2B dashboards, but some customisation is necessary to meet more advanced needs. Begin by navigating to the Reports section within Campaign Manager, where you can craft custom reports based on your chosen metrics.
For example, the Performance Chart is a great tool to pair metrics like cost per lead (£) with engagement by job function. This combination allows you to quickly assess whether you're effectively reaching the decision-makers within your target audience.
Another powerful feature is the Demographics Report, which becomes even more insightful when segmented by company size and industry. You might create separate dashboards - one for enterprises with over 1,000 employees and another for mid-sized firms with 100–999 employees. This segmentation makes it easier to identify how businesses of different sizes engage with your content.
When it comes to LinkedIn's Conversion Tracking dashboard, careful configuration is essential to account for the longer sales cycles typical of B2B industries. Adjust the conversion windows to 30–90 days to ensure the data reflects meaningful business outcomes rather than short-term clicks.
To take your dashboards to the next level, export LinkedIn data to tools like Google Data Studio or Microsoft Power BI. By integrating this with CRM data, you can create a more comprehensive view of your marketing funnel. Set up automated data refreshes to keep your dashboards updated daily, ensuring they always reflect the latest performance metrics.
With your dashboards built, the next step is to focus on presenting the data in a way that’s easy to understand and act upon.
Best Practices for Data Display
When designing dashboards, simplicity is key - especially when your audience includes busy executives who need to grasp insights at a glance. Start with a summary section at the top that highlights the most critical metrics, such as cost per lead, lead volume, and conversion rate, using large, easy-to-read figures.
Organise the metrics to follow the sales funnel: begin with awareness data, move to engagement metrics, and finish with conversion rates. This logical flow helps viewers quickly understand the overall campaign performance.
Incorporate colour coding for quick visual cues. For example:
Green for metrics exceeding targets
Amber for metrics nearing thresholds
Red for areas that need improvement
However, limit your colour palette to no more than four shades to maintain a polished, professional look.
Time-based comparisons are crucial for B2B campaigns. Include both month-over-month and quarter-over-quarter views to align with typical UK business reporting cycles. Adding trend lines can visually show whether performance is improving or declining, rather than just presenting static figures.
For B2B audiences, percentage changes often carry more weight than raw numbers. For instance, display cost per lead alongside its percentage change from the previous period to highlight efficiency improvements. Similarly, show changes in engagement rates by job function to pinpoint which audience segments are becoming more or less responsive.
Make your dashboards interactive by adding drill-down features. The main view might show overall campaign performance, but clicking on a specific metric could reveal insights by industry, company size, or geographic region. This layered approach keeps the primary dashboard clean while still offering deeper insights when needed.
Finally, think about how often your data should be updated. While real-time updates might seem appealing, they aren’t always practical for B2B campaigns with longer sales cycles. Weekly or bi-weekly updates often provide a better balance, allowing trends to emerge without focusing on daily fluctuations that could lead to unnecessary concerns.
Don’t forget to ensure your dashboards are mobile-friendly, making it easy for stakeholders to review performance on the go. A well-designed dashboard should offer a quick snapshot of performance while still providing the depth needed for strategic decisions.
Reading Insights and Taking Action
Creating custom dashboards is just the first step; the real value lies in interpreting the data to guide your decisions. Many B2B marketers gather extensive data but often struggle to extract actionable insights that can enhance their campaigns. Proper analysis allows you to make real-time adjustments to your marketing strategies.
Spotting Trends and Opportunities
To get the most from your dashboard, focus on uncovering deeper patterns. Start by analysing trends in your cost per lead over time. For instance, if your cost per lead has recently increased but your conversion rate remains steady, this could indicate rising competition within your audience rather than a drop in campaign performance.
You should also look at engagement patterns by job role. If engagement from one key role decreases while another increases, this might reflect a shift in decision-making dynamics within your target organisations. Such insights can help you tweak your targeting and refine your messaging.
Performance differences across company sizes can also highlight opportunities. If larger enterprises generate most of your leads but smaller or mid-sized companies show higher conversion rates, it might be worth shifting some of your focus to this more responsive segment.
Geographic data can offer additional clues. If certain regions consistently show higher engagement despite lower overall reach, this could point to markets with strong potential. Investing more in these areas could yield better returns.
Timing is another important factor. Analysing when your audience engages most - whether it’s specific times of day or particular days of the week - can help you optimise your content schedule for better results.
These insights are not just data points; they provide a roadmap for refining your campaigns and driving better outcomes.
Next Steps for B2B Marketers
Once you’ve drawn insights from your dashboards, it’s time to act on them. Start by narrowing your audience segments and reallocating budgets based on cost-per-conversion data, rather than focusing solely on cost-per-click metrics.
Refine your creative strategy based on what the data reveals. For example, if different audience tiers respond to different types of content, tailor your messaging and creative assets accordingly.
When presenting your findings to stakeholders, go beyond raw numbers. Contextualise the data by linking campaign performance to broader business goals. Instead of just reporting lead counts, show how your efforts contribute to the organisation’s overall success.
Look for opportunities to scale successful campaigns. If your data shows consistent improvements in lead quality alongside stable or declining acquisition costs, this could signal that it’s time to expand those efforts.
In B2B environments where purchasing decisions involve multiple stakeholders, dashboard insights are especially valuable for account-based marketing. If you see strong engagement from multiple contacts within key accounts, prioritise these for personalised outreach rather than relying on generic campaigns.
Finally, use your dashboard to identify testing priorities. If you spot performance differences between messaging or creative approaches, run systematic tests to determine what’s driving the results. Create a feedback loop between your marketing and sales teams to ensure that promising leads are acted on swiftly and strategically.
Conclusion
Custom LinkedIn dashboards have the power to reshape B2B campaigns by offering insights that directly influence growth. With the ability to track key metrics and uncover trends, these dashboards give businesses a competitive edge.
Key Benefits Summary
Custom dashboards bring clarity and focus to your marketing efforts. By prioritising targeted tracking, you can monitor critical metrics like lead quality, conversion rates, and pipeline contributions. This ensures your attention stays on the factors that drive meaningful results.
Data presented in an intuitive format helps you spot trends and anomalies, enabling real-time decision-making. For example, if your cost per lead rises due to market competition rather than campaign inefficiencies, you can quickly adjust your strategy and avoid unnecessary spending.
Geographic and demographic insights provide a deeper understanding of your audience. If certain regions show higher engagement despite lower reach, you can shift resources to capitalise on these opportunities. Similarly, knowing which job roles generate the most valuable leads allows for more precise targeting.
When it comes to account-based marketing, dashboard insights are invaluable. High engagement from multiple contacts within a target account signals the need for personalised outreach, which often leads to stronger conversions and deeper client relationships.
Custom dashboards also demonstrate the tangible impact of your campaigns on broader organisational goals. This makes it easier to secure funding for initiatives that deliver results. Use these insights to fine-tune your strategies and outline clear, actionable steps.
Next Steps for B2B Marketers
To make the most of your custom dashboards, focus on a few key actions. Start by selecting three to five metrics that align closely with your business objectives. Fewer, highly relevant metrics allow for more decisive and effective action.
Set up regular review cycles to evaluate your dashboard data. Weekly reviews help you catch short-term shifts, while monthly analyses provide a broader view of longer-term trends, guiding your strategic decisions.
As noted earlier, aligning metrics with business outcomes is essential for LinkedIn B2B campaign success. The complexity of industries like financial services and technology often demands tailored approaches, given their longer sales cycles and multiple decision-makers. Twenty One Twelve Marketing excels in creating strategies for these challenging sectors. Their expertise in precision marketing and account-based campaigns ensures that your custom dashboards lead to measurable growth, delivering qualified leads and driving meaningful results.
FAQs
How do custom LinkedIn dashboards help optimise B2B marketing campaigns?
Custom LinkedIn dashboards give B2B marketers a powerful way to track and analyse campaign performance with precision. Unlike generic dashboards, these are designed to zero in on the metrics that matter most to your specific goals - whether that's lead generation, engagement rates, or audience demographics.
With real-time data all in one place, these dashboards make it easier to act quickly and fine-tune your targeting. This approach ensures your marketing strategies are not just data-informed but also flexible, driving improved results and measurable progress for your campaigns.
What key metrics should B2B marketers track when building custom LinkedIn dashboards?
When building LinkedIn dashboards for B2B campaigns, it's crucial to focus on metrics that truly showcase performance and engagement. Key metrics to include are:
Conversion rate: This reveals how effectively your campaigns are turning viewers into leads or customers.
Click-through rate (CTR): A vital measure of the percentage of users clicking on your ads or posts.
Impressions and engagement rate: These track how often your content is seen and how actively users are interacting with it.
Follower demographics and growth: These insights help you understand your audience and monitor how it evolves over time.
Lead generation metrics: Metrics like cost per lead and Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) highlight the quality and value of leads your campaigns generate.
By keeping an eye on these metrics, you can gain a clear understanding of your campaign's performance and refine your strategies to achieve stronger results in the competitive world of B2B marketing.
How can B2B marketers customise LinkedIn dashboards to meet UK-specific business and financial requirements?
To tailor LinkedIn dashboards for UK-specific business and financial requirements, B2B marketers should prioritise metrics that align with the UK market. Focus on tracking regional engagement and reach, ensuring the data reflects local activity. Configure the dashboard to present financial information in pounds sterling (£), follow UK date formats (DD/MM/YYYY), and adhere to local financial reporting standards like UK GAAP, such as FRS 102.
It's also worth incorporating metrics tied to UK regulations and business objectives. For instance, sector-specific performance indicators or compliance-related data can provide deeper insights. This ensures the dashboard remains relevant and delivers actionable insights for decision-making within the UK market.