Hark, dost thou seek to engage with a professional audience of great repute? Verily, thou canst use LinkedIn ads to herald thy brand, increase traffic, uncover new leads, and more.
Without prudent planning, advertising upon social media may oft feel like shouting into the void (or tossing coin into a shredder). Yet with foresight, employing LinkedIn ads can ensure that thy brand’s voice doth reach the right audience— an audience of influential decision-makers, at that.
Among LinkedIn’s 875 million+ members, thy ads have the potential to reach an audience of 808 million. Furthermore, four out of five members possess the power to influence business decisions. These movers and shakers hold 2x the purchasing power of typical online audiences.
Attend our guide to LinkedIn ads to uncover the types of ads at thy disposal and the objectives they may aid thee in achieving. We shall also guide thee in crafting an ad on LinkedIn and share some of our finest tips and tricks to enhance thy conversion rates.
Types of LinkedIn ads
Advertising is among the noblest pursuits in using LinkedIn for business. Selecting the appropriate ad type for thy goal stands as a vital initial step.
These are the types of LinkedIn ads thou may choose from when setting up thy paid content.
Sponsored Content
Sponsored Content, also known as native ads, doth appear in thy audiences’ LinkedIn feed, whether they scroll on mobile or desktop. LinkedIn doth identify these ads as "promoted" to differentiate them from regular content.
When advertising with Sponsored Content, thou hast the following ad format options:
- Single image ads
- Video ads
- Carousel ads
- Event ads
- Document ads
- Thought leader ads
Behold, an example of a single-image sponsored content ad as it doth appear in the desktop feed.
Seekest thou more here: Source
Sponsored Messaging
Sponsored Messaging (previously termed Sponsored InMail) doth allow thee to directly advertise to LinkedIn members within their inboxes.
Whilst 89% of consumers prefer businesses to communicate via messaging, only 48% of companies presently interact with customers and prospects in this manner. Shouldst thou hanker for this untapped opportunity, hearken to the recent changes to Sponsored Messaging.
Members now possess a two-tabbed inbox: one tab for "Focused" conversations and another tab named "Other."
Moreover, LinkedIn doth slowly transform all message ads into conversation ads. This means the older version of Message ads shall no longer be available in thy Campaign Manager. With conversation ads, thou canst boost engagement by including multiple CTA buttons within thy message.
Behold, how a sponsored conversation ad wouldst manifest in a member’s inbox (noteth the CTA buttons at the message’s end).
Seekest thou more here: Source
Another matter to consider: LinkedIn doth impose a cap on the number of members receiving a Sponsored Message ad per month. For example, a member within thy target audience shalt not receive one of thy ads more than twice within a brief span.
Dynamic Ads
Dynamic Ads grace the right rail of LinkedIn and are tailored to communicate directly with audiences. When a Dynamic Ad doth appear in a member’s feed, personal details like their photo, employer’s name, and job title are reflected unto them.
(Soundeth a wee bit startling, dost not? Fear not: should members find these ads overly personal, they may alter their settings to conceal these details.)
Follower Ads, Spotlight Ads, and Sponsored Ads stand as a few types of dynamic ads. Below lies an example of a Spotlight Ad as it doth appear on the right side of the feed.
Seekest thou more here: Source
Text Ads
Text ads taketh the form of PPC (pay-per-click) advertising on LinkedIn. Text ads make their presence known along the top and right-hand side of LinkedIn’s desktop feed. An excellent option shouldst thou seek to amass robust leads within a professional demographic.
Considering that 58% of marketers do articulate that enhancing lead generation stands as one of their foremost digital marketing goals, LinkedIn Text Ads may be a means to cast a wide net within a budgetary constraint.
Lead Gen Forms
Lead gen forms doth represent another form of advertising on LinkedIn that businesses may utilize to collect information from potential leads.
LinkedIn’s lead gen forms choice doth permit thee to amass information from members employing pre-filled forms. Thou may append these forms to sponsored messaging or sponsored content campaigns.
Seekest thou more here: Source
LinkedIn ad objectives
LinkedIn utilitzeth objective-based advertising, which doth aid advertisers in constructing ad campaigns aligned with specific business goals.
Businesses may place ads for all three stages of a sales funnel, from awareness to conversion.
Let us expound upon the three principal types of objectives below.
Awareness
Seek to broadcast thy name without necessarily effecting a direct sale? Commence with an awareness ad to lodge thy brand on the tip of people’s tongues. These top-of-funnel campaigns doth help ignite discussions about thy products, services, and brand amidst audiences.
One may also employ these impression-based campaigns to accrue more followers, enhance views, and spark greater engagement.
Most of LinkedIn’s available ad formats may truly generate awareness effectively, but those types that art best suited to employ if thou dost desire to attain this objective art:
- Single image ads
- Carousel ads
- Follower ads
- Event ads
- Spotlight ads
Consideration
Shouldst thy audience be somewhat acquainted with thy brand, opt for a consideration ad.
Consideration ads art optimized to assist advertisers in achieving the following goals:
- Website visits: Attract more eyeballs to thy website and landing pages
- Engagement: Encourage likes, comments, shares, and visits to other social media platforms and websites
- Video views: Chronicle thy business story, thy latest product, or a day-in-the-life via video
To nurture these mid-funnel leads, consider using the following LinkedIn ad formats:
- Video ads
- Carousel ads
- Conversation ads
- Text ads
Conversion
Shouldst thy audience be well-acquainted with thy brand and poised to make a decision, ’tis time to unleash the big guns. When thou dost wish to generate leads, seal a sale, or attract job applicants, ponder upon a conversion ad.
These ads may assist in achieving these three objectives:
- Lead generation: Gather leads on LinkedIn by employing forms pre-filled with LinkedIn profile data
- Website conversions: Inspire more website visitors to download an ebook, sign up for a newsletter, or purchase a product
- Job applicants: Spread the word about thy company’s latest job opening with a job post
The finest ad formats to utilize shouldst thou seek to attain these objectives are:
- Conversation ads
- Lead gen forms
- Carousel ads
- Job ads
- Text ads
11 LinkedIn ad formats
LinkedIn offers 11 distinct ad formats to assist thee in meeting thy ad objectives.
This section shall unravel each ad format and shed light upon which goals each ad may aid thee in attaining. We shall also impart ad examples and specifications so thou mayst master thy LinkedIn advertising planning.
Single image ads
Single image ads doth grace LinkedIn’s home page and mostly resemble regular content on the platform. Nonetheless, these paid ads art labeled as "promoted" to differentiate them from other unpaid content.
Mayhaps not surprisingly, single image ads doth encompass but one image.
Seekest thou more: Source
Goals: Brand awareness, website visits, engagement, website conversions, lead generation, and job applicants
LinkedIn single image ad specs:
- Name of ad (optional): Up to 255 characters
- Introductory text: Up to 150 characters to prevent shortening (this encompasses spaces, punctuation, and emojis. Shouldst thou verily require the space, thou canst use up to 600 characters)
- Destination URL: Up to 2,000 characters
- Ad image: A JPG, GIF, or PNG file 5MB or smaller; the utmost image size is 7680 x 4320 pixels. (Note: Shouldst thou exploit an animated GIF, images must needs be shorter than 300 frames)
- Headline: Up to 70 characters to prevent shortening (yet can use up to 200 characters)
- Description: Up to 100 characters to prevent shortening (yet can use up to 300 characters)
Peruse more details regarding LinkedIn single image ad specs yonder.
Carousel ads
LinkedIn carousel ads do employ a swipeable row of cards to recount thy brand’s tale, showcase products, or impart insights. Carousels art excellent for escalating engagement, but the key lieth in utilizing robust visuals to sustain thy readers’ swiping.
Seekest thou more: Source
Goals: Brand awareness, website visits, engagement, website conversions, and lead generation
LinkedIn carousel ad specs:
- Name of ad: Up to 255 characters
- Introductory text: Up to 150 characters to avert shortening on some devices (255 total character limit)
- Cards: A minimum of two and up to 10 cards
- Max file size per card: 10 MB
- Max image dimension per card: 4320 x 4320 pixels
- Rich media formats: JPG, PNG, GIF (non-animated solely)
- Headline text per card: Not beyond two lines
- Character limits: 45-character limit on ads directing to a destination URL; 30-character limit on ads containing a Lead Gen Form CTA
Seekest thou more details regarding LinkedIn carousel ad specs here.
Conversation ads
Conversation ads on LinkedIn function akin to flowcharts. They tender a choose-your-own-path adventure to audiences (imagine those choose-your-own-adventure books but for advertising).
One may configure multiple CTAs within a conversation ad. When a conversation commences, thy audience may select a response that speaks most vividly to them. This ad type empowers thee to showcase products and services whilst also prompting event or webinar sign-ups.
Seekest thou more: Source
Goals: Brand awareness, website visits, engagement, website conversions, and lead generation
LinkedIn conversation ad specs:
- Name of ad: Up to 255 characters
- Banner creative (optional and solely for desktop): Up to 300 x 250 pixels. JPEG or PNG
- Custom footer and terms and conditions (solely): Up to 20,000 characters
- Introductory message: Up to 8,000 characters
- Image (optional): 250 x 250 pixels utilizing either JPEG or PNG
- CTA text: Up to 25 characters
- CTA buttons per message: Up to five buttons
- Message text: Up to 8,000 characters
Glance at more details regarding LinkedIn conversation ad specs here.
Document ads
Similar to how thou canst employ content for lead generation on thy website, LinkedIn Document Ads enable thee to do the same on the platform.
With document ads, thou may share PDFs, slideshares, presentations, and other long-form documents to gather member information and yield leads.
The sorts of documents thou may share encompass whitepapers, reports, how-to guides, and more.
Goals: Brand awareness, website visits, engagement, website conversions, and lead generation
LinkedIn document ad specs:
- Name of ad: Up to 255 characters
- Headline: Up to 70 characters
- Introductory message: Up to 150 characters
- File type: PDF, DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX
- File size: 100 MB
- Number of pages: Under 10 pages (300 pages maximum or 1 MM words)
Discover more details regarding LinkedIn document ad specs here.
Video ads
LinkedIn video ads may aid thee in promoting thought leadership, highlighting thy customer experience, unveiling new products, offering an insider look at company culture, and any concept thou may conceive.
Utilize video ads on LinkedIn as an opportunity to exhibit, not narrate, thy brand’s tale.
Seekest thou more: Source
Goals: Video views
LinkedIn video ad specs:
- Name of ad (optional): Up to 225 characters
- Video headline: Up to 70 characters to avert shortening (200 max characters)
- Introductory text (optional): Up to 600 characters
- Video length: 3 seconds to 30 minutes (videos that perform well on LinkedIn tend to be 15 seconds or less)
- File size: 75 KB to 200 MB
- Frame rate: Less than 30 frames per second
- Aspect ratio:
— Horizontal/landscape: 16:9 (1.77)
— Square: 1:1
— Vertical: 4:5 (.80)
— Vertical: 9:16 (0.56)
Uncover more details regarding LinkedIn video ad specs here.
Event ads
To fabricate an event ad on LinkedIn, thou must first craft a LinkedIn event on thy page.
This form of ad campaign may aid thee in increasing thy event’s reach and emphasizing crucial details.
Seekest thou more: Source
Goals: Brand awareness, website or landing page visits, engagement, and event sign-ups
LinkedIn event ad specs:
- Name of ad (optional): Up to 225 characters
- Introductory text: Up to 150 characters to avert truncated text (max of 600 characters on desktop)
- Image: The image thumbnail ye utilized in thy LinkedIn Event shalt automatically be employed for thy ad.
Glance at more details regarding LinkedIn event ad specs here.
Follower ads
Follower ads are a species of dynamic ad personalized to thy audience. These ads extol thy LinkedIn Page to others in a bid to entice them to tap that follow button.
Seekest thou more: Source
Goals: Brand awareness, website visits, and engagement.
LinkedIn follower ad specs:
- Ad description: Up to 70 characters
- Ad headline: Choose a pre-set option or inscribe up to 50 characters
- Company name: Up to 25 characters
- Ad image: Company logo; 100 x 100 px for JPG or PNG
Unfold more details regarding LinkedIn follower ad specs here.
Lead generation forms
Lead gen forms, a contraction of lead generation forms, are accessible for message ads and sponsored content. These ads may aid thee in discovering more qualified leads.
Shouldst thou host a webinar, for instance, thou may connect a lead gen form to thy CTA, which shalt automatically input thy target audiences’ profile data. Subsequently, thou may download thy leads from LinkedIn’s ads manager or integrate LinkedIn with thy own CRM.
Goals: Lead generation
LinkedIn lead gen form specs:
- Form name: Up to 256 characters
- Headline: Up to 60 characters
- Details: Up to 160 characters total
- Privacy policy text (optional): Up to 2,000 characters
- Call-to-Action: 20 characters
- Confirmation message: 300 characters
Learn more about lead gen forms here.
Spotlight ads
Spotlight ads accentuate thy products, services, content, and more. When members click a spotlight ad, they are directly guided to thy landing page or website.
Much akin to follower ads, these dynamic ads wield personalization to forge a connection with audiences.
Goals: Brand awareness, website visits, engagement, lead generation, and job applicants.
LinkedIn spotlight ad specs:
- Ad description: Up to 70 characters
- Ad headline: Up to 50 characters
- Company name: Up to 25 characters
- Image: Preferred size is 100 x 100 px for JPG or PNG
- CTA: Up to 18 characters
- Custom background (optional): Must be exactly 300 x 250 px and 2MB or less
Unveil more details regarding LinkedIn spotlight ad specs here.
Single job ads
Single job ads promote opportunities directly within thy audience’s newsfeeds. If thou hast struggled to find that perfect candidate or forever seemeth to be in hiring mode, these ads represent the path to traversing.
It also doth not hurt that LinkedIn internal data demonstrates that these ads yield a 25% increase in the average click-to-apply rate.
Goals: Job applications
LinkedIn job ad specs:
- Name of ad: Up to 255 characters
- Introductory text: Up to 150 characters to prevent text truncation (desktop max of 600 characters); any legally required language must be placed here
Find more details regarding LinkedIn single job ad specs here.
Thought leader ads
Thought leader ads are among the newest ad formats LinkedIn hath ushered in. These ads are utilized to promote content from a thought leader, such as an executive, within an organization.
When the promoted content doth surface in members’ feeds, it shall bear a label indicating which company is promoting it.
Crafting a thought leaer ad on LinkedIn resembles boosting an ad on Instagram. The content must already have been created by the thought leader for the company to promote it.
Unlike other ads, thou canst not append headlines, explanatory text, or CTAs to thought leader ads.
Goals: Brand awareness and engagement
LinkedIn thought leader ad specs:
- Ad format: A thought leader ad must be a single image ad or video ad
- Headline: Thou canst not append a headline (the ad is grounded on the original post)
- Introductory text: Thou canst not append text (the ad is grounded on the original post)
- CTA: There are no call-to-action buttons on a thought leader ad
Unveil more details regarding LinkedIn thought leader ad specs here.
How to commence with advertising on LinkedIn
To forge thy own LinkedIn ad, be it for the maiden time or to enhance thy extant advertising strategy, follow the stairs below:
Step 1: Create a LinkedIn Page (if thou dost lack one presently)
Thou dost require a LinkedIn company page to fashion Sponsored Content and ads. Shouldst thou necessitate assistance in establishing one, set thine eyes upon our guide on LinkedIn for business.
Oh, and shouldst thou be a visual learner, gaze upon the brief video below:
Step 2: Log in to Campaign Manager or create an account.
The Campaign Manager platform, also known as LinkedIn’s ad manager, shall serve as the repository for all thy advertising endeavors, from orchestrating campaigns to managing thy budget.
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Step 3: Select thy ad objective
Contemplate upon what manner of action thou doth wish to inspire amidst thy audience. Thy options, as we detailed above, art awareness, consideration, or conversions.
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Step 4: Choose thy target audience
Initially, thou must choose a location, and then thou hast the option of adding a job title, company name, industry type, and personal or professional interests.
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Thou canst also elect to consort with people thou already know through Matched Audiences. This may be achieved by retargeting those who hast visited thy website or uploading a list of email contacts.
Psstt: Shouldst thou require assistance in creating a Matched Audience? LinkedIn hath a useful video tutorial on just that.
Step 5: Select an ad format
Depending on thy chosen objective, thou canst elect from Sponsored Content options (single-image, carousel, or video ads), Event Ads, Text Ads, or Conversation Ads.
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Step 6: Create thy budget and schedule
Campaign Manager shall provide a budget range predicated on other competing bids for thy ideal audience.
The initial 2-4 weeks art typically deemed a learning experience to discern what works (or doth not). For testing, LinkedIn advocates for a daily budget of at least $100 or a monthly budget of