Linkedin is not just about recruiting. It is also the perfect space for your business to market your brand and generate leads. Linkedin offers a suite of tools and features to help your brand reach your target audience. Among them, Linkedin Ads is the most effective. 

It is seen that Linkedin Ads increase the purchase intent by 33%. So you don’t want to miss out on this opportunity. 

Learn how you can create your first LinkedIn Ads Campaign and understand all the basics of it in this blog. Here, we will walk you through:

• Types of Linkedin Ads
• Different Linkedin Ads Formats
• Step by Step Guide to Create a LinkedIn Ads Campaign

Types of Linkedin Ads

1. Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content appears in the feed of users among other organic posts. These Ads are similar to the promoted posts we find on other social media channels. It can be of different formats like:

• Single Image Ads
• Video Ads
• Carousel Ads

This type of Linkedin Ad is great for engagement and increasing your visibility. It encourages interactions like likes, shares, comments or visits to websites. So if you want your target audience to click on your content, you can opt for Sponsored Content Ad. 

2. Text Ads

Text Ads can be seen on the top right side of the Linkedin feed. If you are looking to generate leads from Linkedin Ads you can use Text Ads. They are very simple to create.

These are pay per click(PPC) or click per impression (CPM) Ads. For the best results, you can include a CTA like ‘Sign Up, ‘Register Now’ etc. Including an image is also a great way to drive engagement.

3. Dynamic Ads

Dynamic Ads shows up on the right side of the Linkedin desktop feed. It is a more personalized form of Ad. This Ad uses the personal data of the member like profile photo, job title, company name. 

It comes in 3 Ad formats:

1. Followers Ad
2. Spotlight Ad
3. Jobs Ad

You’ll learn about the ad formats in the coming section.

4. Message Ads

Message Ads will be delivered directly to the user’s inbox. For initiating conversations with your target audience this is the best type of ad you can go for.

There will be a CTA button and a sponsored tag in the Ad. This ad will stay in the inbox of the users even after the recipient opens the message. Message Ads drive better response results and action. You can check out our templates for drafting your message ads.

LinkedIn Ads formats 

Linkedin provides 10 Ad formats. You can use different Ad formats in different types of Ads. We will look at each one of them in detail with Linkedin Ad examples and specs for each format. You can check for more specifications at Linkedin Ads Guide.

1. Sponsored Content Ad Formats

Single image ads 

Single Image Ads is a type of Sponsored Content that features a single image. This ad helps in brand awareness, website visits, engagement, conversion and lead generation. 

Specifications

• Linkedin ads image size: 5 MB
• Resolution:  maximum image size is 7680 x 7680 pixels.
• Supported file type: JPG, PNG, GIF
• Headline: Up to 200 characters
• Description: Up to 300 characters
• Introductory text: Up to 150 characters

Video ads 

Video Ads feature a video.  They will be more visually appealing and it works well for increasing video views and website visits.

Specifications:

• File type: MP4
• Supported sound format: AAC or MPEG4
• Recommended frame rate: 30 frames per second
• Headline: Up to 70 characters
• Introductory text: Up to150 characters

Carousel Ads  

Carousel Ad features 2 or more images. It can include from 2 to 10 cards. If you want to share your brand stories or showcase your products, Carousel Ads is the best option.

Specifications:

• File Type: JPG or PNG
• Ratio: 1:1
• Dimension : at least 1080 x 1080 pixels.
• Introductory text: 255 characters
• Maximum File Size: 10 MB

Event ads 

Event ads are great for promoting your event and getting registrations. It comes with a call to action button.

Specification:

• Ratio: 4:1
• Event Name: Up to 255 characters
• Introductory Text: 600 characters

2. Sponsored Messaging Ad Formats

Conversation ads

Conversation ads are Sponsored Messaging Ads that prompts the user to take specific actions through Call-to-action buttons. This Ad works best for webinar registration, event sign-ups, website visits etc. 

Specifications: 

• Banner File Type: JPG or PNG
• Image Size: 300 x 250 pixels
• File Size: 2MB
• Message Text: Up to 500 characters 
• Call-to-Action: Up to 25 characters

Message Ads 

The Message ads let you send immediate messages to users. It gets delivered to the user’s inbox. The user can reply to the message or take action by clicking on the call to action button. 

Specifications: 

3. Lead Gen Ads

LinkedIn Lead Gen ads look like Sponsored Content. When users click on the ad, they’ll be redirected to a lead form page. The forms will be pre-filled with the available personal data of the users. To get highly qualified leads, Lead Gen forms work the best.

Specifications: 

• Form Name: Up to 256 characters
• Form fields: Maximum of 12
• Call-to-Action: Up to 20 characters
• Offer Headline:  Up to 60 characters

Dynamic and Text Ads Formats

Text ads 

Text Ads show up on the right side of the Linkedin desktop feed. It is very short and easy to set up. 

Specifications:

• File Type of Logo: JPG or PNG
• File Size of Logo: 2MB
• Logo Image Dimension: 100×100 pixels
• Headline: Up to  25 characters
• Description: Up to 75 characters

Spotlight ads 

A spotlight ad is a type of dynamic Ad. It appears on the right sidebar of the Linkedin feed. Spotlight Light Ads include your logo, and the personal data of the user including profile picture, name, job title etc.

Specification:

• Company logo size: 100 x 100 pixels
• Logo File Size: maximum 2MB
• Headline: Up to 5 characters
• Description: Up to 70 characters
• Call to action: Up to 18 characters

Follower ads 

This type of Dynamic Ad helps you acquire followers for your page. The call to action will be a follow button.

• Company logo size: 100 x 100 pixels
• Logo File Size: maximum 2MB
• Headline: Up to 50 characters
• Description: Up to 70 characters
• Call to action: Up to 25 characters

How to create a LinkedIn Ads Campaign

To create your first Linkedin Ad campaign you can follow these steps:

Create a Linkedin Page

To create sponsored content you need to have a Linkedin page. If you don’t have one, you can check out our instructions for creating a Linkedin page. 

2. Log in to Linkedin Ads Manager/Campaign Manager

Visit the Linkedin Advertising page and click on ‘Create Ad. You will be taken to the Linkedin Ads Manager. In the dashboard click on the ‘Create Ad’ button. Now you can start setting up your Linkedin Ad Campaign.

3. Choose your objective

Your objective is what actions you want people to take on seeing your Ad. There are three objectives that Linkedin provides:

1. Awareness-brand awareness
2. Consideration- website visits, engagement, video views
3. Conversion- Lead generation, Website conversions, job application

So, if you want people to visit your website through your Ad, choose the Consideration objective. Whereas, if you want people to log in to your website, choose the Conversion objective.

4. Set Your Target Audience

The next step is to build your target audience. You can set the target audience based on job title, company name, interests, geographic location etc.

You can also set it up based on your own data using ‘Matched Audience’.You can include your email contacts or retarget using ‘Matched Audience’. According to Linkedin, it is best to keep your target audience to at least 50,000 for Sponsored Content and 15,000 if it is for Message Ads.

5. Select your Linkedin Ads format

Depending on the objective you have chosen, you’ll be able to choose from various Linkedin Ads formats which are Sponsored Content Ads, Text and Dynamic Ads, Message Ads.

6. Set your budget and schedule

Based on your marketing strategy, set a budget for your Linkedin Ad Campaign. It is better to start with a low budget if you are a beginner. Test the ad for a couple of weeks and start building your strategy and then control your costs. 

For bidding, there are three options:

1. Automate Bid- Linkedin determines the amount for maximising the campaign objective.
2. CPC (Cost per Click)- Charged for each click on your ad.
3. CPM (Cost per Impression)- Charged for every 1000 impressions(views).

7. Create your Ad

It is in this step where you can start building your Ad which includes adding images, headlines, descriptions, destination URLs, etc The fields will be based on the type of Ad you have chosen. 

To start off, click on Create Ad and then fill in the fields. After you have set up your Ad, click on ‘Create’ and you will be redirected to the previous Campaign Manager page. If you want you can create multiple ads. 

8. Add Payment Information

Before you run your Ad, add the billing information. Enter your debit or credit card and click Save. Your campaign will then be reviewed and will be ready to launch.

Now that you know about Linkedin Ads and how to create your Linkedin Ad Campaign, you can start launching your first Ad.  Once you start generating leads from Linkedin Ads use a business management tool like Zenys to manage your contacts from Linkedin and win more sales. Zenys lets you upload contacts, track them, create sales, schedule tasks and automate your complete sales process. Sign up for free and manage your business.