Understanding LinkedIn Ad Formats for B2B Advertising

Thinking about running a LinkedIn campaign?

LinkedIn is an excellent platform for B2B marketers. Its USP, of course, is the ability of the Ads platform to precisely target based on the audience’s professional traits and characteristics, in addition to the usual location-based targeting that every platform provides.

One thing to keep in mind is that the high level of precision of the LinkedIn Ads platform comes at a cost, meaning that paid LinkedIn ad traffic is often more expensive than traffic from other platforms such as Google Ads or Facebook. So thinking your campaigns through is critical if you don’t want to waste dollarydoos.

At Rocket, we run hundreds of LinkedIn campaigns every year for our clients, as their marketing agency. We often get asked what kind of ads one can actually run on LinkedIn. So, here is a quick snapshot to get you started. 

What are the Best LinkedIn Ad Formats for B2B Advertising?

1. Sponsored Content

Sponsored content ads are probably the most common and the simplest type of ad format on LinkedIn.

Similar to a newsfeed ad that you may encounter on Facebook, this is an advertising format where ads are shown on a LinkedIn user’s feed alongside other organic posts.

Built for reach and visibility, these are great for brand awareness for yourself or your business page, creating engagement with followers and content amplification. 

Sponsored content ads come in three flavours: 

• Single Image Ads: Simple & easy, you just have to upload a single image and text to accompany it.
• Carousel Ads: Interactive & engaging, you can provide multiple images to showcase multiple offerings or messages that are displayed as a series of swipeable cards. 
• Video Ads: Engaging & informative, you can upload a video along with text to share success stories, explain complex offerings and create brand awareness.
  

^{Source: https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/native-advertising}

2. Sponsored InMail

Sponsored InMail (also referred to as Message Ads) is another feature that sets LinkedIn apart from other platforms. 

For the uninitiated, a Sponsored InMail ad is an email that you can send directly to your audience’s LinkedIn inbox.

This combines the precise targeting abilities of LinkedIn with the effectiveness of the humble email. This format allows you to have a more nuanced conversation with your prospects in an uncluttered environment. No more worrying about character limits or ‘noise’ from other posts or ads.

The biggest benefit of working with Sponsored InMails is that you get multiple chances of gaining your target market’s attention. They not only get a direct message in their LinkedIn InMail inbox, they also get a notification on their normal LinkedIn browser and an email with the message to their inbox that is connected to their LinkedIn Account. It’s really hard to ignore an InMail.

^{Source: https://business.linkedin.com/content/dam/me/business/en-us/marketing-solutions/resources/pdfs/Message-ads-02.pdf}

3. Text Ads

LinkedIn Text Ads are a simple, easy-to-use format that allows you to create quickly, without the need for providing any images.

These ads appear on the right-hand side or top of the LinkedIn desktop feed and can be used to drive traffic to your website or landing page. 

The ads can appear in a variety of sizes and all you need to do is provide a headline, a description and a URL. You can even include an image or profile image if you want to.

^{Source: https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/success/best-practices/text-ads-tips}

4. Dynamic Ads

LinkedIn’s dynamic ads allow you to engage prospects by creating a personalised experience for them. 

Each audience member sees an ad that is customised based on their profile data, which includes their photo, company name or job title. 

With the high level of automation involved, you can launch campaigns and scale them quickly, while capturing your prospect’s attention through a hyper-personalised ad.

These are great for creating brand awareness, generating traffic & leads and content amplification & sharing.

Dynamic ads also come in several flavours:

Spotlight Ads: You can use this ad format to showcase a product, service, event or content, and drive traffic to your website or landing page. 

Follower Ads: This format allows you to promote your LinkedIn or Showcase page, grow your influence and expand your audience by encouraging users to follow your LinkedIn page.

^{Source: https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/dynamic-ads}

Job Ads: These may not be relevant for you if you’re a b2b advertiser, but with Job Ads, you show personalised ads to top talent and encourage them to apply for roles at your organisation.

Other Impactful LinkedIn Ad Formats to Consider for Your Next Digital Marketing Campaign

5. Lead Gen Forms

Another interesting ad format is the Lead Gen Forms. 

This format is designed to cut to the chase, and capture leads quickly using pre-filled forms – not unlike lead forms on Google and lead ads on Facebook.

Lead gen forms can be added to your sponsored content & message ads, and the forms are pre-filled with information from their LinkedIn profile.

^{Source: https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/native-advertising/lead-gen-ads}

6. Conversation Ads (Beta)

And finally, the newest ad format, Conversation Ads. 

The idea is to engage your audience by creating multiple conversation paths, allowing them to choose their own journey through multiple CTA buttons and even lead gen forms.

The idea here is versatility. With Conversation Ads, you can achieve multiple goals such as driving awareness, promoting content or generating leads with a single interactive experience.

These are the main ad formats available on LinkedIn at the moment, but interesting new ad formats are introduced all the time.

If you are considering advertising on LinkedIn, and need support or advice setting up your campaigns, then get in touch. Our expert digital marketing team at Rocket is always keen to help businesses grow and loves solving business problems. 

Send us your details or call us on 1300 059 620.