LinkedIn and Meta Ads for B2B trade events in Saudi Arabia
Historical case study: LinkedIn and Meta campaigns for Saudi trade shows — $143K LinkedIn media, 2.13% CTR, and a 74% lower cost per lead on one InMail campaign.
- Business type
- International events organiser (exhibitions and summits)
- Market
- Saudi Arabia
- Platforms
- LinkedIn Ads, Meta Ads
- Time period
- Campaigns run 2021–2026; CPL comparison is the SES 2026 InMail against its previous period
Objective
Fill each trade show with qualified professional visitors at a cost per lead the show could carry.
Starting situation
Several recurring shows needed senior professional visitors, not just registrations. Lead costs needed to stay within each show's economics, and the team needed to see which campaigns produced genuine visitor leads.
Strategy
- —Use LinkedIn to reach senior buyers by role and seniority.
- —Use Meta for registration volume, optimised to each show's own registration event.
- —Measure each event separately so one show's results never hid another's.
Implementation
- —25 LinkedIn event campaigns, including Sponsored InMail and lead campaigns.
- —Meta registration campaigns optimised to each show's visitor_registration event.
Measurement setup
- —Event-specific conversion tags on LinkedIn, one per show.
- —A dedicated visitor_registration event per show on Meta, so cost per registration was comparable across shows.
Campaign changes
- —LinkedIn activity split by show and by format (InMail vs lead campaigns).
- —Meta budget compared across shows on cost per registration, with spend and cost reviewed per campaign.
Results
Historical results for Campaigns run 2021–2026; CPL comparison is the SES 2026 InMail against its previous period.
- $8.36
- cost per lead on the SES 2026 InMail, down 74% on the previous period
- 118,643
- LinkedIn clicks at a 2.13% average CTR
- 8,779
- Meta registrations from four campaigns, $4.28 each ($37,535 spend)
- $2.34
- cheapest cost per registration (SES 2024, 3,320 registrations)
Source: LinkedIn Campaign Manager (vs previous period) and Meta Ads Manager (campaign lifetime, USD).
Limitations and context
- —The 74% reduction applies to one flagship InMail campaign, not the whole account.
- —Cost per registration varied widely by show — HRSE 2025 ran at $10.23 each.
- —Figures are platform-reported; attendance and sales outcomes are not included.
- —Client name withheld on this site for confidentiality.
Past results do not guarantee future performance.
Lessons
- —Separate measurement per event is what makes budget comparisons honest.
- —LinkedIn and Meta do different jobs in B2B: seniority versus volume.
Services used
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