LinkedIn Ad Formats: How to Choose the Best One for Your Campaign

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Petr Mochalov

LinkedIn has become an essential platform for B2B marketers, offering a variety of ad formats designed to reach professionals and decision-makers. 

But with so many options, how do you choose the right one for your campaign? 

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll delve into LinkedIn's diverse ad formats, uncovering detailed insights and actionable best practices. 

Whether you're looking to increase brand visibility, generate quality leads, or drive traffic to your website, mastering LinkedIn's ad formats can give you a competitive edge in the market.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

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Overview of LinkedIn Ad Formats

Selecting the right ad format depends on your marketing objectives and target audience.

Let’s explore each primary LinkedIn ad format in detail, and reference this article for all ad specs:

Single Image Ads

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Single Image Ads are a staple of LinkedIn advertising.

These ads feature one static image and appear directly in the LinkedIn feed, making them highly visible and engaging.

  • High engagement with minimal content.
  • Simple to create and easy to manage.
Two LinkedIn single image ads: Walnut ad shows a chick before and after product use; UserGems ad highlights tracking valuable buyers
Pro tip: Use images and copy that resonate with your target audience. The best-performing ones often use your Ideal Customer Profile's (ICP) language or even direct words. Remember, in B2B, we are still advertising to people, not to robots! 😃

Video Ads

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Video Ads are perfect for storytelling and driving engagement.

They allow you to share dynamic content that captures attention and conveys your message effectively.

  • Excellent for storytelling and capturing attention.
  • Engaging format that can explain complex ideas
LinkedIn video ad format for AdConversion promoting video on building a 7-figure ad agency with no fixed contracts or ad spend fees
Pro tip: Video ads excel at both brand building and showcasing testimonials. They are particularly effective for demonstrating product functionality. Make sure to add subtitles, the videos usually autoplay on mute.

Carousel Ads

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Carousel Ads allow you to showcase multiple images or videos in a single ad unit, each with its link.

This format is ideal for highlighting different aspects of a product or telling a story more interactively.

  • Interactive format that encourages engagement.
  • Multiple visuals to showcase different products or features.
LinkedIn carousel ad format by ActiveCampaign highlighting customer growth testimonials and promoting a free 14-day trial.
Pro tip: Carousel ads can be used for explaining the product, showcasing use cases and features, or explaining customer success stories in the feed. Ensure you have a consistent flow across all cards.

Thought Leader Ads

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Thought Leader Ads are a powerful way to build brand credibility and engage your audience by leveraging the influence of key figures within your organization.

These ads allow you to sponsor posts from your company's thought leaders, positioning them—and by extension, your company—as industry experts.

  • Build Credibility: Sponsoring posts from thought leaders enhances your brand's authority and trustworthiness.
  • Engagement: These ads typically receive higher engagement rates as audiences are more likely to interact with content from recognized industry experts.‍
  • Content Variety: Showcase a variety of content, from personal insights to industry analysis, that resonates with your audience.
Two LinkedIn Thought Leader ad formats: ActiveCampaign promotes CRM integration advice; Opteo highlights AI and automation for PPC agency growth.

3 tips for implementing thought leader ads:

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  • Authenticity: Ensure the content from thought leaders is authentic and reflects their genuine perspectives.
  • Consistency: Regularly publish thought leadership content to maintain engagement and visibility.‍
  • Interactive Content: Use content that encourages interaction, such as questions or calls to action, to drive higher engagement rates.

For more insights refer to 14 Powerful LinkedIn Thought Leader Ad Strategies Worth Testing. 

Text Ads

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Text Ads are simple yet effective.

They appear on the right-hand sidebar of LinkedIn and are great for driving traffic to your website or landing page.

  • Cost-effective and easy to set up.
  • Ideal for driving traffic to your website.
linkedin text ads featuring Lokalise and Grammarly ads
Pro tip: Text ads are very effective, allowing you to stay top of mind at a low cost in front of your target audience. Also, they always help to keep your logo in your ICP’s LinkedIn Feed.

Conversation Ads

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Conversation Ads offer an interactive way to engage your audience by allowing recipients to choose their own path through multiple call-to-action buttons.

This format fosters engagement and ensures high visibility in LinkedIn Messaging inboxes.

  • Highly engaging format that fosters engagement.
  • High visibility in LinkedIn Messaging inboxes.
  • Great for generating leads
linkedin conversation ad format featuring Mutiny and Udemy Business ads
Pro tip: Create engaging and relevant conversation flows tailored to your audience's needs and interests. The message subject can be a game changer for open rates! Also, try incentivized ads, sometimes they can work miraculously 🚀

Message Ads

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Message Ads are direct messages sent to LinkedIn members’ inboxes, making them highly personal and effective for driving immediate action.

  • High visibility in LinkedIn Messaging inboxes.
  • Personalized and direct communication.

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linkedin message ad format
Pro tip: Craft personalized messages that speak directly to your target audience’s pain points and offer clear, actionable solutions. Keep the tone to the one that your target audience is using.

Spotlight Ads

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Spotlight Ads are personalized ads that appear on the right-hand side of the LinkedIn feed.

These ads use the viewer's LinkedIn profile data, such as their photo, company name, and job title, to dynamically personalize the ad content.

  • Lower CPM and High Ad Recall
  • Personalized Ad Content

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Check out LinkedIn Spotlight Ads In 2024: Are They Worth The Investment? to dive deeper into this ad format.

linkedin spotlight ad format featuring AdConversion ad

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Pro tip: Spotlight ads are particularly effective for remarketing, allowing you to stay top of mind at a low cost in front of audiences that already know and trust your brand​.

Follower Ads

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Follower Ads help increase the number of followers for your LinkedIn page, promoting your company to a wider audience.

  • Effective in promoting LinkedIn pages to acquire followers.
  • Increases organic reach on LinkedIn.
linkedin follower ad format featuring AdConversion ad
Pro tip: Highlight the unique value your LinkedIn page offers to followers. Use eye-catching visuals and compelling copy that resonate with your target audience.

Document Ads

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Document Ads allow you to share in-depth content directly within the LinkedIn feed.

You can share whitepapers, e-books, or case studies that members can view and download without leaving LinkedIn.

  • Share in-depth content directly within the LinkedIn feed.
  • Options to gate content with a Lead Gen Form to capture leads or share freely to build brand awareness.
linkedin document ad format featuring Walnut ad
Pro tip: Offer valuable content that addresses your audience's challenges or interests. Use a strong call-to-action to encourage downloads and interaction with your documents. Some say they prefer Document Ads to Carousel Ads because you can build retargeting audiences for Document ads.

Lead Gen Forms

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Lead Gen Forms are a versatile tool that can be used with various ad formats to capture quality leads directly on LinkedIn. These forms are pre-filled with LinkedIn profile data, making it easy for users to submit their information.

  • Captures quality leads with pre-filled forms.
  • Provides a seamless user experience.
  • Can be used for booking demos, downloading guides and templates, event registrations
linkedin lead generation form
Pro tip: Minimize the number of fields in your form to reduce friction. Use pre-filled form fields to make it easier for users to submit their information quickly. Don’t use “work mobile” or “work email” because they are usually not pre-filled.

Connected TV Ads

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Connected TV Ads allow you to reach professional audiences through streaming content.

These ads appear on connected TV platforms and are ideal for reaching a hard-to-reach professional audience in a large-screen environment.

  • Reach professional audiences through streaming content.
  • High visibility on large screens.
linkedin connected tv ad format

For detailed ad specifications and additional tips, check out 50+ Ad Specs for The Top 10 Ad Platforms.

How to Choose the Right Ad Format

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Choosing the right LinkedIn ad format is crucial for achieving your marketing goals. Here’s a guide to help you align your campaign objectives with the most effective ad formats and measure their performance.

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 What's Your Primary Campaign Goal?

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First, identify your primary campaign goal. Are you aiming to capture demand, create demand, accelerate open cases, or brand awareness?

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Campaign Goal Objective Recommended Ad Formats
Capturing Demand Get leads, demos, and sign-ups. Single Image Ads, Lead Gen Forms, Conversation Ads, Message Ads
Creating Demand Raise awareness about a problem, introduce your solutions, and explain how you can solve the problem. Single Image Ads, Video Ads, Thought Leader Ads, Carousel Ads
Accelerating Open Cases Run campaigns for objection handling, showcase case studies, testimonials, and social proof. Document Ads, Carousel Ads, Spotlight Ads
Brand Awareness Make sure that you stay on top of the mind of your Target audience. Deliver your messaging and key value proposition in the feed. Single Image Ads, Video Ads, Thought Leader Ads, Text + Spotlight ads

How to Measure Performance of Each Ad Format

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Effectively measuring the performance of your ad campaigns is key to optimizing and achieving your marketing goals. 

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Here are the KPIs and bidding recommendations for each ad format:

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Ad Format Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Bidding Recommendations
Lead Gen Forms Cost per lead (CPL), conversion rate % Manual Bidding: Start with bids above LinkedIn's minimum threshold to gather data quickly. Adjust daily based on performance.
Conversation Ads Open rate, click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate Manual Bidding or Maximum Delivery: Start with a low bid and adjust based on performance.
Message Ads Open rate, CTR Cost per send to maximize message delivery: Begin with a $1-2 bid and adjust according to campaign pacing.
Single Image Ads CTR, engagement rate Manual Bidding for cost control and optimizing clicks: Regularly check and adjust bids to avoid overbidding or underbidding according to your daily budget.
Video Ads Video completion rate, engagement rate Cost per view (CPV) or Maximum Delivery: Start with the lowest feasible CPV and adjust based on initial performance.
Thought Leader Ads Engagement rate, follower growth CPC or CPM bidding for engagement or reach: Focus on content that has already shown high engagement.
Document Ads CTR, download rate Manual bidding for leads and engagement: Use the engagement objective for the best results.
Carousel Ads CTR, engagement rate per card Manual bidding for engagement: Ensure each card in the carousel tells a consistent story.
Spotlight Ads CTR, conversion rate Manual bidding for engagement: Keep bids low to prevent high CPC prices.
Text Ads CTR, CPC Manual bidding for cost efficiency: Keep bids low to prevent high CPC prices.

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By aligning your ad formats with your campaign goals and following these tips for measuring performance, you can create more effective LinkedIn ad campaigns that drive results and maximize your ROI. 


You can read more about Objectives and Bid strategies here.

Hope you found this article helpful! Connect with me on LinkedIn, and reach out with any questions.

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Petr Mochalov
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