The Complete Guide to Linkedin Advertising in 2023

Adopting Linkedin advertising into your ad campaigns is something you should think about if you haven't already. 

Naturally, you have run numerous ads on Facebook and Google. But sticking to these two platforms won't be enough if you wish to increase your lead generation.

There are approximately 740 million users on LinkedIn, with 25% of those holding decision-making positions, making it a compelling platform to reach your target audience. 

There are also 55,000,000 companies listed on Linked in as of 2021.

So, any members of your target audience are in a position to determine what purchases their companies make. As a result, generating the right leads can lead to higher conversion rates and sales revenue.

In 2016, 65% of businesses acquired new customers using paid ads on LinkedIn. Additionally, the platform generates 277% more leads than Facebook. Linkedin is the second most popular platform among B2B marketers, only behind Facebook.

With all this in mind, you can no longer ignore LinkedIn advertising. You can learn how to get more leads from LinkedIn by reading our LinkedIn ad guide. We will explain in detail several aspects of Linkedin advertising, including:

• Available types of Linkedin ads
• Linkedin ad dimensions and specifications
• Conversion tracking

How to Get Started with Linkedin Ads

Below are the steps to get started with Linkedin advertising setup:

Using the Campaign Manager

The first step toward Linkedin Advertising is to sign in to LinkedIn Campaign Manager. You will be able to manage your LinkedIn advertising campaigns here. 

If you do not already have a LinkedIn account, you should create one before using Campaign Manager. Creating a LinkedIn account only takes a few seconds.

Choose your currency and enter your account name. 

If you are running advertisements on behalf of a business, you should link the campaign to a LinkedIn page.

Next, you will have to create a Campaign Group to have your campaigns more organized, based on objectives, budget, and location. You can also set a maximum budget for a campaign group.

Ad objective selection

LinkedIn advertising objectives vary depending on the sales funnel stage you are targeting – awareness, consideration, and conversions. 

Therefore, you can choose the most relevant goal for a given LinkedIn ads campaign:

• Do you wish to increase business awareness?
• You may want to increase the number of website visitors, audience engagement, or video views. 
• Alternatively, you may wish to generate more leads, website conversions, or even job applications for your business.

Audience Targeting

It is impossible to run an effective ad without targeting the right audience.

When placing LinkedIn ads, you can target users based on location, industry, company size, education, job function, or skills.

You can also streamline the targeting process by selecting multiple attributes simultaneously. Additionally, you can exclude audiences with specific characteristics that don't apply to your business.

If you want your ad campaign to expand and engage more people, enable audience expansion before you save it. Linkedin audience targeting can be parametrized in the following areas:

• Company
• Education
• Demographic
• Job experience
• Interest

Now let's examine these parameters step by step.

Company

LinkedIn advertising offers a superior targeting option than other platforms because members are generally more likely to keep their employment information updated than members on other platforms.

Although targeting a specific company may not be the best choice for your strategy, you can still use this targeting option to narrow down your target audience.

Company connections: LinkedIn allows you to target first-degree connections of companies with over 500 employees.

Company followers: This selection will let you reach your company page followers.

Industries: Using the primary industry listed on a company's page, LinkedIn members who work in that industry can be found.

Names: Reach out to employees based on their company names.

Size: You can reach employees who work at companies of a specific size.

Education

LinkedIn Ads enable you to target members based on their degrees, fields of study, and educational institutions.

Demographic

You can segment your audience according to age or gender based on their profiles.

Job experience

Like targeting by company, building an audience based on jobs is done best on LinkedIn.

Functions or skills: You can build audiences based on their job responsibilities or skills listed in their profiles. It is also possible to garner skills through endorsements from connections.

Seniorities, titles, or experience: Target LinkedIn members with a certain level of seniority, a particular job title, or a certain amount of experience. 

Interests

Using a user interest approach, you can include people with interests aligned with your business and users who belong to groups based on their interests, like branding or digital advertising.

Linkedin Ad Types Specs and Sizes

The specs vary for each LinkedIn ad type and ad format. Here are the basics:

Sponsored Content Ad specs and sizes

Sponsored content ads are native ads appearing on Linkedin members' news feeds, blending in with user posts.

Single image ads

Below you will find the specs for single image ads:

Image specifications

• File types supported: JPG, PNG, or GIF
  • When uploaded, animated GIF images are converted to static GIF images.
• Maximum file size: 5 MB
• Max image dimensions: 7680 x 4320 pixels
• Image aspect ratios:
  • Horizontal/landscape: 1.91:1
    • Minimum dimensions: 640 x 360 pixels
    • Maximum dimensions: 7680 x 4320 pixels
  • Square: 1:1
    • Minimum image size: 360 x 360 pixels
    • Maximum: image size: 4320 x 4320 pixels
  • Vertical: 1:1.91
    • Minimum: 360 x 640 pixels
    • Maximum: 2340 x 4320 pixels

Ad text specifications

• Ad name (optional): Use up to 255 characters.
• You may use up to 150 characters in the introduction to avoid truncation (600 characters maximum). 
  • The introductory text must include any legally essential language.
  • URLs longer than 23 characters will be converted to short links.
• Headline: Use up to 70 characters to avoid truncation (200 characters maximum).
• Description: Please use approximately 100 characters (300 characters maximum) to avoid truncation. 
  • The character limit may differ for ads appearing on third-party apps and sites through LinkedIn Audience Network.
  • LinkedIn's mobile and desktop applications rarely display description text in their latest versions. A description may appear if your image is less than 200 pixels wide or your ad is displayed beyond the feed, through LinkedIn's Audience Network.
• Call-to-action (optional): Select from the available options.

You can check out the full LinkedIn ad specs for single image ads to learn more.

Carousel ads

Below you will find the specs and allowed dimensions and sizes for carousel ads:

• Ad name (optional): The name of your carousel ad may contain up to 255 characters.
• Introductory text: Limit your text to 150 characters to prevent truncation on some devices (maximum of 255 characters)
• Cards: Between 2 and 10.
• Individual card requirements:
  • File size limit: 10 MB
  • Max dimensions: 4320×4320 pixels
  • Optimal image dimensions: 1080x1080px with a 1:1 aspect ratio
  • The images will be scaled to a resolution of 312 x 312 pixels
  • Rich media formats supported.
  • Headline text for each image card is a maximum of two lines before being truncated.
• Character limits:
  • The destination URL must contain the prefix “http://” or “https://”. The destination link may contain up to 2,000 characters.
  • 45-character limit for carousel ads that direct to a destination URL.
  • 30-character limit for carousel ads with a Lead Gen Form CTA.

You can read the full LinkedIn ad specs for carousel ads to learn more.

Video ads

Below are the specifications required for video ads:

• Ad (optional): Use 255 characters to name your video ad.
• Introductory text (optional): Use up to 600 characters for your intro text.
• Video length: from three seconds to thirty minutes (Tip: most successful videos are less than 15 seconds long).
• Size: between 75 KB and 200 MB
• Format: MP4
• Video codecs: H.264 or VP8
• FPS: less than 30
• Video files must meet height, width, and aspect ratio specifications. A video's aspect ratio can be calculated by dividing its width by its height.
  • Width limits: 640-1920 pixels
  • Height limits: 360-1920 pixels.
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.778-0.5652.
• Note: Videos in vertical aspect ratio will only be served to mobile devices with a vertical video player, specifically versions of the app greater than Android 0.406.59 or iOS 9.14.268.
• The audio format should be either AAC or MPEG4
• Audio sample rate: less than 64KHz
• Captions for videos must be provided in SRT format
• (Optional) Video thumbnail:
  • JPG or PNG format
  • File size limit: 2 MB
  • A video thumbnail and video should have the same aspect ratio and resolution.
• Avoid truncation on most devices by using up to 70 characters (maximum 200 characters).
• URL prefix: All destination URLs must begin with https:// or http://. The destination link can be as long as 2,000 characters.
• You may choose from several different calls to action (CTAs).

Message ads – Sponsored InMail specs

Through message ads, you can create and send direct messages to decision-makers via LinkedIn Messaging (Sponsored InMail).

The following specifications are the requirements for message ads:

• 255 characters and spaces are allowed in the ad name
• Choose a sender from the list or add your own.
• Up to 60 characters, including spaces and punctuation, may be used for the subject.
• Use up to 1,500 characters, including spaces and punctuation, as a best practice.
• Using up to three clickable links is a best practice
• The message should not exceed 70 characters, including spaces and punctuation
• You can enter up to 2,500 symbols and punctuation characters in the custom terms & conditions
• CTA (call to action) button copy: Up to 20 characters, including spaces
• Link to landing page URL with a hyperlink or CTA:
  • URLs must begin with “http://” or “https://” and not less than 100 characters long.
• Banner image size: 300 x 250
• Banner file type: JPG, GIF (non-animated), or PNG (no flash)
• Image maximum file size: 2MB
• Click-through URL

Ads with text specs

Below you will find the specs for text ads:

• Advertisement images should have a resolution of 100×100 pixels.
• The image should be in JPG or PNG format
• The file size cannot exceed 2MB
• Do not exceed 25 characters in headlines
• Don't exceed 75 characters in your description

It is important to note that text ads come in five different sizes and specifications. 

In addition, there are a variety of LinkedIn ad sizes and specifications for dynamic ads, such as follower and spotlight ads, that are tailored to individual users based on the format you choose.

LinkedIn advertising costs

LinkedIn advertising costs will vary depending on your business and your goals. These factors determine the types and formats of ads you choose for your campaigns and the budgets you set.

However, LinkedIn advertising does require a minimum that all advertisers must spend:

1. $10 daily budget per campaign.
2. The minimum campaign budget should be $10.
3. A $2 minimum bid for CPC or CPM on Text Ad campaigns.

Conclusion

To conclude, LinkedIn advertising offers plenty of opportunities to connect with the right audience and grow your business with the right approach. But it can get overwhelming when you're just starting. 

Make the most of the above steps to build a winning LinkedIn advertising strategy and generate valuable leads.