LinkedIn Ad Types: A B2B Marketer's Guide

B2B brands on LinkedIn have a wide range of ad types and targeting options at their disposal. It's no wonder that 80% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn ads to connect with their target audience. However, having a vast selection comes with one downside: the inability to determine the best LinkedIn ad types for your particular marketing goals. 

This blog will walk you through all the LinkedIn ad types to help you determine which one is right for your campaigns.

Event Ads

Events such as webinars and conferences are a tried-and-true lead-generation tactic. However, they must be promoted adequately to create awareness. A LinkedIn event ad focuses primarily on encouraging the target audience to register and attend an event. 

LinkedIn event ads use compelling messages to build anticipation and excitement. You can use them to highlight sessions, speakers, teasers, and networking opportunities. You can also use them to improve your B2B retargeting ads for your website visitors.

Follower Ads

Building loyal followers on LinkedIn comes with many perks, including greater organic reach. Getting there, however, isn't a meager feat. Creating valuable content, expanding the brand's network, and building trust takes weeks, months, or even years. A follower ad engages with your target audience and amplifies content reach. You can use it to establish trust and credibility by providing trustworthy information. It persuades the target audience to follow your brand and engage with your social shares.

Single Image Ads

On LinkedIn, a single-image ad is sponsored content consisting of only one informational picture and limited supporting text. Single-image ads go directly to the audience members' feeds to enhance awareness. An ideal LinkedIn image ad has a maximum size of of 4320x4320 and a minimum size of 360x360 pixels. A single-image ad is best used for targeted, simple messaging.

Conversation Ads

Conversation ads are native ads served to the target audience through direct LinkedIn messaging. If you have been active on LinkedIn, you may have even received some of these before. They are mainly used to drive engagement to quality leads through personalized content. An ideal conversation ad comprises up to 8,000 characters. However, keeping the characters below 500 helps businesses drive about 46% higher engagement.

Lead Gen Forms

Brands on LinkedIn collect qualified leads in various ways. One such way is by creating templated forms called lead gen forms. These forms appear within other LinkedIn Ad types, including conversation and single-image ads. They contain blank fields qualified leads can auto-populate with their contact details. 

Document Ads

Document ads are part of the sponsored content on LinkedIn. These ads are served directly to the audience's LinkedIn feed and appear as a scrollable carousel of pages. An ideal document ad should not exceed 100 MB file size. However, it can be as large as 300 pages. Popular document ads come in PPT, PDF, DOCX, DOC files, and PPTX. You can use these ads to promote ebooks, whitepapers, and more.

Text Ads

A LinkedIn text ad is unique since it only contains an image, a brief text, and a headline. When browsing, these ads appear on the right or top of the LinkedIn desktop feed. Businesses use text ads to target audiences based on specific criteria such as job titles. They also consider company size, location, and industry type.

Spotlight Ads

A spotlight ad is a dynamic and personalized LinkedIn ad that takes the qualified lead to a particular website or landing page. An ideal spotlight ad should be 300x150 pixels and 120 characters. About 50 characters make up the primary CTA, usually below the image. Conversely, 70 characters count toward personalized texts, usually at the top of the picture.

LinkedIn Ad Types: Bottomline

LinkedIn has 1 billion+ active members, and each user consumes ads differently. Not only do you need to create ads that are optimized to fit smaller screen sizes, but these ads must also be user-friendly and optimized for quick sessions. 

For expert help navigating your LinkedIn ad strategy, contact us or download our free guide 5 Signs Your Paid Media Campaigns Are Mismanaged.