You might have a LinkedIn profile for your business. You might even have connections with valuable leads that you hope will be attracted to your brand’s products or services. But, how can you increase the likelihood of them converting, if they haven’t already?

Well, it’s all down to your LinkedIn ads – how you write them, present them, and provoke interest in your prospective audience with them. However, ensuring you develop the best LinkedIn ad practices can be difficult if you’ve little experience in making them…

Luckily for you, at StraightIn, we know what makes a LinkedIn ad work best. That’s why we’ve highlighted our top five LinkedIn ads best practices to help you get the results you need. Read on to find out what they are, the different types, and the CTR rate you should be aiming for…

What are the different types of LinkedIn ad formats?

LinkedIn ads come in a variety of formats so as to provide marketers with the chance to tailor their content to their objectives. The four main types of ad formats include:

Sponsored content

Sponsored content means any LinkedIn ads that are delivered to the feeds of your target audience. 

They appear in the feed and blend in with organic posts, and can be viewed on a variety of devices, such as mobiles, tablets, or laptops. 

Sponsored messaging

Also known as InMail, LinkedIn’s sponsored messaging formats allow businesses to send personalised messages to the inbox of their target audience on the platform. 

There are two different types of sponsored messaging formats: message ads, which are created with personal one-to-one engagement in mind, and conversation ads, which are designed to encourage participation from recipients. 

Dynamic ads

Dynamic ads on LinkedIn provide a way for businesses to specifically appeal to industry leaders and other members of their target audience to drive quality engagement and traffic growth. 

They do this via right-rail ads which are automatically personalised to each individual being targeted. For example, they might advertise an offer for a subscription they might be interested in – based on the information their profile supplied. 

Text ads

Text ads appear on the right-hand side of your Linkedin newsfeed, and only include a headline, brief text, or an image. 

They’re available in a variety of sizes and ratios, and are the fastest way to increase brand recognition and awareness on the platform. 

The 5 best ad practices for LinkedIn

Now we’ve discussed the different ad formats LinkedIn is home to, let’s explore five of the best ad practices you can adopt to support your campaigns…

1. It all starts with a great ad…

First things first – the best ad practices start with a compelling ad that drives the viewer to take action. But that doesn’t mean your ads have to be loaded in copy. In fact, research shows that landing pages with less than 100 words converted 50% better than those with 500 words. 

Instead, consider the following factors when creating your ads:

  • Ad copy: Your audience will likely not keep their attention on your ads for very long. So keep your copy short and sweet. Identify your target audience’s problems and express how you can help solve them. 
  • Attention-grabbing visuals: Think about what visuals will appeal most to your audience. Visual content is appealing as it can demonstrate what your product/service can achieve. 
  • Device accessibility: Ensure your ads are accessible and can be viewed the same on a number of different devices, such as mobile devices, computers, and laptops.

2. Remarket and retarget

Just because you’ve reached out to prospects and had little success doesn’t mean they have no interest in converting. Sometimes, you just need to try a different approach. 

LinkedIn helps facilitate this with its Retarget by section. This allows you to reach users who have interacted with your brand in one way or another, so you can persuade them to convert. For example, these could be users who:

  • Have visited specific pages on your website
  • Have interacted with specific ads of yours

3. Competitor analysis 

Competitor analysis is essential in any form of marketing, especially strategies involving LinkedIn. To do so, evaluate the current ad practices of your competitors. 

Think about what their ads contain that yours don’t, as well as anything you can add to showcase your business’s value over your competitors. 

For example, use an in-house statistic to show your products/services’ success. Or, you could use quotes from your testimonials so prospects see the value of your products/services in real-time. 

4. Consider budget allocation

Budget allocation is a necessary evil when it comes to LinkedIn ads marketing. For example, it can help you ensure you stay within your financial limits and that overspending is avoided. 

LinkedIn encourages marketers on their website to aim for a 70:30 split of their budget, with 70% being spent on ad spend – so bear this in mind. Before you start any campaigns, ensure you set your KPIs so you can see what works and what doesn’t for next time.

5. Test, test…and test again

Finally, ensure you test your campaigns to figure out what achieves the best success. You can also get a better idea of your audience and what appeals to them too. 

Ensure you measure your performance so you can identify data-driven insights about the effect on specific metrics. 

LinkedIn Ads Best Practices: Other FAQs 

What is a good CTR for LinkedIn ads?

A good CTR to aim for in relation to LinkedIn ads is known to be around 0.8-1%. Obviously, this will vary depending on your industry and audience, but this is an above-average figure to aim for that can help facilitate success.

What is the best practice for LinkedIn ad images?

The dimensions of your LinkedIn ad images depend on the ad format you choose. In general, aim to embed larger images over standard thumbnails, and keep image size around 1200 x 627 pixels. 

Drive growth, conversions, and sales with a LinkedIn marketing strategy from StraightIn…

Your business might be in tip-top shape, with a seamless mode of operations, a great team of staff, and products/services that are high-quality. But, this can all seem pointless if you can’t attract your target audience to your brand…

That’s where the experts at StraightIn can help. 

Our team has vast amounts of experience working with small-to-large businesses on their LinkedIn marketing strategies. No matter their objectives, products, or services, we’ve created a LinkedIn marketing strategy that gets the results they’re looking for, and more. 

Our services include Outreach Marketing, LinkedIn Advertising, Content Marketing, and Personal Branding. Get in touch with us today to find out more about how we can help you. Call 0161 518 4740, or email grow@straight-in.co.uk.