LinkedIn Ads: A Complete Guide For Beginners

If you're new to LinkedIn Ads and not sure where to begin, you're in the right place. This article with provide you with a complete guide to set up your first campaign and understand the best strategies for success. Let’s get started!

What are LinkedIn Ads?

LinkedIn ads are paid promotions run on LinkedIn. They are a great way for businesses to increase brand visibility, generate leads, drive traffic, or share content.?

Whether your objective is lead generation, job applications, or website visits, you can use LinkedIn ads to ensure your message reaches the right people.

There are four main types of LinkedIn ad formats that you can choose from:

1. Sponsored Content

Sponsored content is native ads appearing on users’ feeds and is clearly labeled as “promoted”. It includes several ad format options such as Single Image Ads, Video Ads, Carousel Ads, Event Ads, etc.

This type of LinkedIn ad has the highest average cost-per-click (CPC) so proceed with caution and make sure the content you’re promoting is well thought out.

2. Text Ads

Want to keep your ads simple but still effective? Try out LinkedIn Text Ads for desktops!

Text ads are made up of just a simple headline, description, and optional small image. They show up on the right-hand sidebar or at the top of the page on LinkedIn.

3. Message Ads

If you want to boost event registrations, product demos, or time-sensitive offers, you can use Message Ads.

Message ads are private messages sent to your target audience’s LinkedIn inbox. The ad can be displayed on all platforms. The personalized messaging will increase interaction with the ad, and with a good ad copy, it will lead to a conversion or a click.

4. Dynamic Ads

Dynamic ads are personalized ads that allow you to tailor your campaign to build brand awareness, convert prospects, or drive traffic.

Dynamic Ads are available in three formats, namely Follower Ads, Spotlight Ads, and Job Ads, These ads are only available on the LinkedIn desktop platform.?

How to set up LinkedIn Ad

Creating a LinkedIn ad is simple but will make a big impact on your business. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you set up your first campaign and start reaching your ideal audience.

Step #1: Create your LinkedIn ad campaign

If you want to set up an ad campaign on LinkedIn, look at the top-right corner of the site and click on "For Business." From there, select the "Advertise on LinkedIn" option. Make sure your ads are linked to your company's LinkedIn account - it’s an important step!??

Once that’s done, you can jump into building your campaign. Go to the “Campaign Groups” section and hit the “Create” button to get started.

Step #2: Select your marketing goal

Your objective is simply the action you want people to take when they see your ads. Picking the right one helps you stay focused on clear goals and ensures you get the best results for your budget.??

There are three main types of objectives you can choose from:??

• Awareness: Focus on boosting your brand visibility.??
• Consideration: Drive actions like website visits, post engagement, or video views.??
• Conversion: Encourage results like lead generation, website sign-ups, or attracting job applicants.??

When setting up your campaign, you can also pick ad formats, features, and bidding options that align with your chosen objective.

Step #3: Pick your targeting?

Targeting is key to making your advertising campaign a success. When you target the right audience, you’ll see better engagement and, in the end, more conversions.??

LinkedIn offers powerful tools to help you narrow down your audience. You can choose from over 20 categories, like company name, company size, job titles, skills, and even member interests.??

Want even more control? You can bring your own data using LinkedIn’s Matched Audiences feature. This lets you do things like retarget people who’ve interacted with your brand, target specific contacts, or focus on accounts that matter most to your business.

Step #4: Decide on ad types

Once you've set up your audience, the next step is picking an ad format for your campaign. The options you’ll see will depend on the objective you choose.?

You can go with Sponsored Content, Message Ads, Dynamic Ads, Text Ads, or even a combination of these formats to best suit your campaign goals.

Step #5: Determine your budget and timeline

To set up budgeting options for LinkedIn Ads, start by enabling Budget Optimization. Next, choose your budget type like either a daily or lifetime budget, and input the desired amount, such as $100 daily.?

For the bidding strategy, select Maximum delivery to achieve optimal results by fully utilizing your budget. Finally, configure your campaign schedule by opting to run it continuously from a specific start date or setting a custom start and end date to suit your campaign goals.

Step #6: Set up ad creative

Your ad creative plays a big role in catching people's attention and persuading them to engage with your brand. To get the best results, it’s a good idea to create 4 to 5 different ads within a campaign. This not only boosts your campaign’s visibility but also gives LinkedIn more chances to optimize for the top-performing ad.??

When designing your LinkedIn ads, focus on four key elements: the visuals you use, the message in your copy, the format of the ad, and the testing process to see what works best.

Step #7: Measure and optimize your campaign

Once your LinkedIn ads are running, it’s time to check how they’re doing. Head over to Campaign Manager and pick the campaigns you want to review.

Select each campaign to get a closer look at how each ad is performing. Keep an eye on key data like impressions, clicks, social interactions, and your budget progress.

LinkedIn Ads Best Practices

To get the most out of your LinkedIn Ads, it’s important to follow some key best practices. These strategies will help ensure your campaigns are effective, engaging, and deliver results.

1. Think carefully about the customer journey

When you’re new to LinkedIn advertising, it can be tempting to try out every feature the platform offers. But here’s the thing: that’s not the best approach. Different ad types work best at different points in your customer’s journey.

Take Sponsored InMail, for instance. This feature lets you send messages straight to someone’s inbox on LinkedIn. However, using Sponsored InMail as your very first interaction with a prospect is not a great idea because most people aren’t thrilled about receiving messages from strangers at companies they’ve never heard of.

2. Maintain the correct LinkedIn ad specs

When creating visuals for your ads, it's important to stick to LinkedIn ad specs and sizes.

For example, with single image ads, the file should be 5MB or less with headlines under 70 characters and descriptions under 100 characters.?

For video ads, you should use videos under 15 seconds for better engagement. The file size then should be between 75KB and 200MB.

3. Avoid hyper-targeting

Starting with too narrow targeting options can hurt your early campaigns, so it’s best not to not add more than 2-3 targeting facets. To make sure you’re reaching enough people, aim for an audience size of at least 50,000 for Sponsored Content and Text Ads, and at least 15,000 for Message Ads.?

As you target your audience, the Campaign Manager will give you an estimate of your reach and suggest a range. This way, you can cast a broader net at the beginning. Once you’ve tested your ads, you’ll get a better idea of which content and targeting work best for your business.

Wrap Up

LinkedIn Ads can be a powerful tool for reaching the right audience and growing your business, but getting started doesn’t have to be overwhelming. By following the right steps - choosing the right ad format, targeting the right people, and using the right visuals - you’ll be on your way to running successful campaigns.?

Don’t forget to monitor your results, test what works, and adjust as needed. With a little time and effort, you’ll be able to make LinkedIn Ads work for you.