There are loads of different LinkedIn ad formats you can choose from when setting up a campaign – 11 if you want to be precise! But knowing which format to use and when can be challenging. Many people default to single image ads. But they’re missing out! In this post, we’ll do a deep dive into the formats and explore how to align them to your campaign objectives. We’ll give you some insights into what’s working for us and provide some tips and best practices.
Understanding LinkedIn Ad Formats
Overview of Available LinkedIn Ad Formats
Marketing on LinkedIn is not a “one size fits all” approach. Different ad types and formats will work best depending on your objectives. The most common ad formats we see used include single image ads, video ads, message/conversation ads and thought leader ads. We’re also seeing document ads gain more traction.
Matching Ad Formats to Campaign Objectives
It’s really important that you choose an ad format that fits your campaign objective. And LinkedIn is pretty good at helping here with this handy overview of ad formats and objectives. Aiming to get your brand in front of as many eyes as possible? Video ads, thought leader ads and boosted posts can work very well. If you’re aiming for more bottom-of-funnel, conversation ads and lead gen ads can be effective.
Strategy for Selecting LinkedIn Ad Formats
Analyzing Campaign Goals and Audience Needs
It should be obvious but the first step to nailing your strategy is to get a good understanding of what you want to achieve and your audience preferences. Do you want to boost brand awareness, drive traffic to your website, ramp up event registrations, generate leads?
Depending on what you want, there are different ad formats you could try. Most people tend to stick to single image ads. It’s easy. But they’re missing a trick. If your primary goal is awareness, you’ll want to focus on ad formats that are designed to capture attention fast – so think video and boosted company page posts. On the flip side, if you need leads, sponsored content using a lead gen form can get great results.
Your audience’s preferences will also play a role. Are they more likely to engage with video or more traditional content? Do they tend to consume long-form content or bite-size pieces? Audience demographics like job roles, industries, and seniority levels can also influence ad format choice. Senior decision-makers may respond better to thought leadership pieces, while entry-level people may prefer shorter, educational video content.
You know what I’m going to say right? Test! Try different formats and see what works best for you.
LinkedIn Ad Formats and the Marketing Funnel
To get the most out of your LinkedIn ads, you must think about where your audience sits in the marketing funnel. Get the ad format right and you can really help guide people from awareness down to conversion. Get it wrong and you’ve lost them.
Top of Funnel (Awareness): It’s all about increasing visibility, building awareness of your brand. Video ads and boosted posts or thought leadership ads tend to work well here. These formats allow you to show off your brand’s personality, tell a story, or share insights. We like video ads for their retargeting options too!
Middle of Funnel (Consideration): Your audience has some level of awareness of your brand. This is the time to provide more information and build trust. Single image ads and document ads are great for this stage, as they allow you to deliver more detailed content – eBooks, whitepapers, case studies, reports. These formats are great for providing information your audience needs to make informed decisions.
Bottom of Funnel (Conversion): And now it’s time to drive some action. Ad formats that use lead gen forms and message ads work well. Lead gen forms make it super easy to collect user information in-platform. Message ads are a great way for getting attention and prompting immediate action.
Deep Dive into Specific LinkedIn Ad Formats
Sponsored Content: When and How to Use
- Sponsored Content means you can reach and engage with people using the LinkedIn news feed. This is great because it looks natural and is less intrusive. The most popular ad format here is Single Image ads. Just be mindful of ad sizing. If you’re going for landscape, these look tiny on mobile – and most people are accessing LinkedIn on a mobile device. Remember that vertical images will only get served on mobile. We love the square aspect ratio because it will be seen on both desktop and mobile.
Using Sponsored Messages for Direct Engagement
- Sponsored Messaging is great for building relationships with your audience. This option gives you two types of ad – conversation and message. Message ads comprise just one message with a single CTA. They’re great for sparking immediate action. Conversation ads allow people to self-serve and choose a CTA that aligns with what they need. If you’re looking to drive brand awareness, share blog posts, podcasts and thought leader content. If you’re aiming to convert prospects, share demos, tutorials or free trials.
- Top Tip – consider who the message is coming from too. Ads that come from a LinkedIn member perform better than ads sent by the company page. Make sure the person you use to send the messages has an active profile with a photo.
Dynamic Ads: Personalization and Relevance
- Dynamic ads are personalized ads that can be used across the whole funnel. The ones we use most are Follower and Spotlight ads. They’re nice because they use the recipient’s profile data – so profile photo, name, company name, job title.You’ve also got the option to fully customize the call-to-action button when using spotlight ads. Super handy if you want to A/B test copy and different landing page URLs.
- A few things to note though – they are only available on desktop, displaying on the right side bar. And, while they’re good for driving awareness, click through rates tend to be super low.
Document Ads: Storytelling and Product Showcasing
- Document Ads let you share your content directly in the feed, making it easy for people to view and download without leaving the platform. They’re a good choice for sharing insights and thought leadership pieces. For document ads that wow, start with an attention-grabbing cover page. Limit your preview pages to around 3-4, using them to really hook the reader in. So think content like helpful stats and personalized industry insights. Stuff that will resonate with your audience and make them want to learn more!
Video Ads: Capturing Attention with Dynamic Content
- People spend more and more time watching video – up to 2 hours per day in some cases! So it’s no wonder video ads are a popular format on LinkedIn. They’re a great way for capturing attention, telling stories and engaging your audience. You can use them across the funnel, and the best bit? Retarget video watchers depending on the percentage of the video they watched. Some things to keep in mind though – most people consume video with the sound off so make sure you’re using captions. And those first ten seconds really count – capture attention immediately to keep people engaged and watching more. The sweet spot for length tends to be videos under 30 seconds.
Text Ads: Cost-Effective and Targeted Reach
- Text Ads are straightforward ads displayed on the right-hand side or top of the LinkedIn desktop feed. Unlike Sponsored Content, they’re only available on desktop, but they’re more cost-effective with a low cost per impression and often a higher frequency. We definitely feel they have a place to play in the brand awareness stage. You may not get the clicks but your ads will be serving to keep your brand top of mind.
Event Ads: Promoting Events and Webinars
- Event Ads let you promote events, webinars, classes or workshops directly from your company page to your audience. We love this format for several reasons – providing social proof, further organic reach, overall engagement and the ability to collect leads. One massive pro to event ads is that when someone signs up to your event, it triggers organic notifications within their network. Basically spreading the word for free and increasing your event’s reach and engagement. Another nice feature is that when the ad shows up in someone’s feed, it updates the number of attendees in real time – further increasing that social proof.
Lead Gen Forms: Simplifying Lead Collection
- Lead Gen Forms make collecting leads in-platform simple. And they can be used with loads of ad formats. When someone clicks your call-to-action, the form auto-fills with their LinkedIn profile info, meaning minimal effort required to submit details to you. There are a few things to be mindful of, and, as always, test out different options. For example, should you request a valid work email or not? If you opt for the work email you’re likely to get better business contacts, but on the flip side, this can lead to friction and put people off. Test it!
Best Practices for LinkedIn Ad Format Selection
Balancing Creativity and Practicality
- How do you create your ads to fit your creative ideas and budget, while aiming for the best return on investment! When choosing your ad format, try to hit that sweet spot between creativity and practicality. Do you have the resources for video ads? Or does it make more sense to start with single image? Make sure you’ve researched what works best for your target audience too before you begin the creative process. And set a clear budget to monitor the cost-effectiveness of each format.
A/B Testing with Different Ad Formats
- A/B testing is crucial for figuring out what actually works! Experiment with different formats – single image ads, video ads, dynamic ads etc – to see which ones deliver the best results. Once you have some data to work with, you can then optimize and pivot if needed.
Conclusion
Picking the right LinkedIn ad formats is key to hitting your campaign goals and engaging your audience. Just make sure your ads match what you want to achieve, fit your audience’s interests, and strike a good balance between creativity and budget. Nail all those points and you’re on the path to creating great campaigns.
LinkedIn provides a really good overview of ad formats and objectives which is certainly worth bookmarking! But typically, for brand awareness, we love single image ads and video. For lead generation, single image, conversation and document ads work well with the in-platform lead generation forms.
No, LinkedIn campaigns allow you to use only one ad format and the formats available are determined by the campaign’s objective. But you can test multiple ad variations within a single campaign to see which ones perform best. And we definitely recommend doing that!
The ad format you choose can definitely have an impact on performance. We typically run campaigns where we test different ad formats – and then run with the top performing ones. And if we’re getting great cost per leads and a fantastic click through rate, we do more of what works!
When switching ad formats, think back to your campaign objectives and the audience’s response to previous formats. Make sure the format you want to try aligns with your goals and offers a fresh approach to maintain engagement. Once live, monitor performance closely to make sure you’re seeing the results you want to.
Key performance metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and cost-per-click (CPC) are a great place to start but also think about lead quality if you’re collecting leads. Sometimes it’s as simple as asking the client what quality looks like. Other clients may hook leads up to a CRM for more visibility on their journey from prospect to customer.
Key performance metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and cost-per-click (CPC) are a great place to start but also think about lead quality if you’re collecting leads. Sometimes it’s as simple as asking the client what quality looks like. Other clients may hook leads up to a CRM for more visibility on their journey from prospect to customer.
