Ultimate LinkedIn Ads Guide 2021: Types, Examples, Costs

Determine where you want to track conversions
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Add LinkedIn’s Insight Tag to your site Sure, those numbers sound impressive, but how can your business leverage LinkedIn ads to lock in leads and generate increased revenue? In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know including ad audiences, formats, costs, best practices, and more. 

Table of contents

1. Ad objective
2. Target audience
3. Ad format
4. Ad placement
5. Ad budget and schedule
6. Conversion tracking
7. Best practices
8. LinkedIn ad examples

1. Determine your ad objective

Conversation ads allow users to “choose their own adventure” within the ad experience. These ads will still go directly to the user’s inbox with designated content, but you also have the opportunity to add in call to action buttons during the messaging journey (i.e. Learn More or Register Now). These ads are highly engaging and give you the opportunity to target consumers with a variety of content depending on which offer they select throughout the messaging process. 

Once you’ve selected your ad objective, targeting, type, and placement, it’s time to set up your ad budget and schedule in order to launch your campaign. LinkedIn advertising costs are similar to other platforms in that the cost is determined by placing bids for your ads to win various placements. Think of a bid as what you’re willing to pay for a user to complete a desired action (ie: clicking, following, etc.). Your bid then competes with other companies or advertisers who are aiming to reach the same target audience. The following bids are offered on LinkedIn:

When targeting users based on job experience, you have the option to dig into specifics like job title, job function, seniority level, skills, and years of experience. By specifically targeting professional attributes, you’ll have the ability to better reach your ideal audience.
Tip: Don’t forget to factor in the time it takes for LinkedIn to review and approve your ad in accordance with their advertising policies. Ads are typically approved within 24 hours. 
Tip: Don’t forget to factor in the time it takes for LinkedIn to review and approve your ad in accordance with their advertising policies. Ads are typically approved within 24 hours. 

3. Choose your ad type and format

Tip: Don’t forget to factor in the time it takes for LinkedIn to review and approve your ad in accordance with their advertising policies. Ads are typically approved within 24 hours. 

Right-rail

“One thing that differentiates LinkedIn users against users on other platforms is user intention. Most users come to LinkedIn for a specific purpose. Whether it be looking for a  new opportunity, consuming content around their profession, or engaging with other professionals, you can expect users to be intentional with their time on LinkedIn. By serving ads with this in mind, you can develop powerful ads that resonate strongly with your target audience.”

Follower Ads

“One thing that differentiates LinkedIn users against users on other platforms is user intention. Most users come to LinkedIn for a specific purpose. Whether it be looking for a  new opportunity, consuming content around their profession, or engaging with other professionals, you can expect users to be intentional with their time on LinkedIn. By serving ads with this in mind, you can develop powerful ads that resonate strongly with your target audience.”

Lead Gen Forms

Follower ads encourage users to follow your LinkedIn page so they can stay up to date on your latest content and company happenings. These dynamic ads are also tailored to your audience through targeting. These ads take personalization up a notch by including the targeted user’s LinkedIn profile picture next to your company’s logo. The ad also incorporates the user’s first name to grab their attention even further.
Setting up a conversion action gives you the ability to tell LinkedIn what you want to count as a conversion.

4. Determine your ad placement

Source: LinkedIn
Once you’ve selected your ad objective, it’s time to consider audience targeting options. Audience targeting is a crucial part of setting your ads up for success because if you target the right consumers, your likelihood of generating high-quality leads and better overall ROI increases dramatically. 

5. Set up your ad budget and schedule

“In comparison to other platforms, LinkedIn provides the most in-depth demographic information which allows us to optimize based on who we’re reaching and can help us easily dictate whether we’re reaching our target audience or not.”

• Maximum delivery – If you’re just starting out, LinkedIn recommends using maximum delivery bidding where their system does the hard work for you. A maximum delivery bid aims to give you the best results within your designated budget. When selecting this option, LinkedIn will use historical campaign data to set the proper bid for your ad automatically. 
• Target cost bidding – Target cost bidding is offered for CPC (cost per click), CPM (cost per impression), and CPV (cost per view). This option is also automated and allows you to select a specified target cost per result. According to LinkedIn, the daily average cost per result will meet your specified target cost value, or up to 30% higher. It’s important to note that target cost bidding is not available for lead generation, website conversions, or job applicant objectives.
• Manual bidding – Manual bidding gives you the most control over your bid value, and the cost will not exceed that value. This option is available for all ad formats, campaign objectives, and optimization goals. 

According to LinkedIn, the minimum daily spend for any ad format on the platform is . The minimum lifetime budget for new, inactive campaigns is 0, and once the campaign launches, the minimum lifetime budget adjusts to the minimum daily budget of multiplied by total days scheduled.  
It’s just as important to understand what resonates with your target audiences as it is to learn what doesn’t so don’t forget to test your LinkedIn ads to see how they are performing.

How much does it cost to advertise on LinkedIn?

Carousel ads allow you to tell a more in-depth brand story. With carousel ads, you can create a swipeable series of “cards” that house different images and content. These ads are more interactive for users and succeed in visual storytelling. LinkedIn recommends using a minimum of two cards and a maximum of ten cards when creating a carousel. These types of LinkedIn ads appear in a user’s feed and can be accessed on either mobile or desktop devices. 

6. Set up conversion tracking

Tip: We’ve covered a variety of LinkedIn ad formats and as ad specifications vary, we recommend checking out the platform’s most up-to-date guidance on specs so you can find the format and type that best fits your needs. 
This javascript code allows you to easily track website conversions from your ad campaigns. The Insight Tag is simple to install and won’t slow down your site’s speed.

Source: LinkedIn
This feature is currently available for single image and video ad formats. According to LinkedIn, displaying ads on the LinkedIn Audience Network gives you 25% more reach with your targeted audience. Why not spread your campaign to reach an even bigger audience? 
LinkedIn advertising gives the following three options when selecting an objective so you can better reach those goals and KPIs.
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– Taylor McCarthy, Paid Social Strategist at Tinuiti
Spotlight ads are dynamic ads that appear on a LinkedIn user’s desktop. These ads are specifically tailored to users based on targeting information like company or title. The goal of a spotlight ad is to direct users to your website or a designated landing page. 
Within Campaign Manager, you will be able to track conversion results on one easy-to-access platform. From there, you’ll be able to better gauge your campaign’s overall performance and determine if you need to tweak any aspects of your LinkedIn advertising efforts.
In this LinkedIn advertising guide, we’ve covered it all from ad audiences to best practices, but if you’d like even more information and expertise, we encourage you to consider utilizing Tinuiti’s paid social services to take your LinkedIn advertising up a notch. If you’re curious but don’t know where to start, contact us today – we’d love to hear from you.
Lead gen forms is an ad format you should definitely consider if you’re looking to collect high-quality leads through LinkedIn. Once a user clicks your ad, they’ll immediately see a pre-filled lead form that pulls information from their LinkedIn profile. This form makes life easier for both the user and your business. Once the consumer submits the lead, they’ll see a “thank you” page where you can include an additional link to the content or landing page of your choice. 

Best practices for LinkedIn advertising

With so many users, it can be overwhelming when deciding who to target your ads to, but luckily LinkedIn provides a wide range of options to best fit your specific audience. As opposed to other platforms, LinkedIn allows marketers to dive a little deeper into professional backgrounds as well as the following targeting options:

1. Set your tracking up for success

When advertising on LinkedIn, you’ll also have the ability to target users based on company attributes like company name, industry, followers, growth rate, and size.

2. Utilize exclusions and block lists

Source: LinkedIn

3. Always test and learn

Last but not least, LinkedIn also gives marketers the ability to target by age and gender.

LinkedIn ad examples

While setting up conversion tracking is optional on LinkedIn, it’s highly recommended as you can track the true ROI and impact of your campaign and advertisements. When you track conversions, you will have the ability to see what’s working and what can be optimized to better reach your target audience. This reporting can help you better understand what actions consumers are taking in relation to your ads. 
In each one of these LinkedIn ad examples, AppFolio’s messaging is clear, concise, and is highly directed to their target audience. Each example utilizes eye-catching imagery and incorporates strong call-to-actions directing users to learn more about their all-in-one association management solution or to watch a relevant webinar covering the future of real estate.
When creating an advertising campaign on LinkedIn, the first step is choosing your objective. Think of this as setting an overall goal for your ads. What action do you want consumers to take after seeing an ad? 
Conversion tracking takes just a few minutes to set up and requires minimal maintenance. To get started, LinkedIn recommends following these five quick steps.
Source: LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a thriving platform with more than 774 million active members across 200+ countries and territories. The channel is growing in popularity and marketers have taken notice considering LinkedIn’s advertising business has grown more than 5x over the past 5 years. 

Key Takeaways

Once you’ve determined your ad objective and selected your targeting options, it’s time to choose your LinkedIn ad type and format. There are a variety of ad types available within the platform and LinkedIn will recommend ad formats based on the ad objective and audience targeting you previously selected. There are four types of LinkedIn ads including sponsored content, sponsored messaging, right-rail, and lead gen forms. Different formats fall under each category and we’ll break them all down for you so you can find the perfect ad type for your specific business needs. 

Don’t forget to utilize exclusions and block lists to ensure further accuracy in targeting as well as in brand safety to ensure your content isn’t being showcased on pages that are irrelevant or unsafe to the brand. 

If you’re looking to take customization and targeting even further with your LinkedIn paid ads, taking advantage of their Matched Audiences feature is a great place to start. According to LinkedIn’s definition, “Matched Audiences is a set of targeting capabilities that empowers you to reach your target audience, including people you already know by using existing and past customer data.” With Matched Audiences, you have the power to reach these consumers with website retargeting, retargeting by engagement, contact targeting, and company list targeting. 
When adding Matched Audiences to your LinkedIn ad formula, you’ll be better equipped to nurture potential customers and to better reach a more relevant and engaged audience.