Types of LinkedIn Ads

Sponsored Content

Exhibit 24.9   Sponsored content.

Sponsored Content is posted onto members’ LinkedIn feed (Exhibit 24.9), allowing advertisers to target audiences beyond their organic reach. Marked “promoted”, this is a form of native advertising — it is intrinsic to the browsing experience and does not interrupt the stream of content.

Advertisers can choose from four sponsored content formats — image, video, carousel and event. As can be seen from exhibits 24.4 and 24.9, these formats support call-to-action buttons linking users to sites where they can act on their interests.

Sponsored Messaging

Exhibit 24.10   Sponsored message ad.

LinkedIn sponsored messaging ads come in two formats — message ad (earlier referred to as InMail) and conversation ad. This form of advertising directly engages with prospects on LinkedIn by delivering targeted, personalized messages, such as the “Would you like to explore opportunities in Robotics?” message ad shown in Exhibit 24.10, to target members’ message boxes. This boosts conversions, provided the products and services are well targeted.

With message ads, advertisers can display a targeted message with a single call-to-action button, whereas with conversation ads, they can set up multiple call-to-action buttons that link to landing pages, open a Lead Gen Form, or further engage with a follow-up message.

Sponsored messaging can be intrusive and should therefore be used sparingly and only where appropriate. It is effective when personalized such as for invitations to events and conferences.

Message ads and conversation ads are both charged on a cost-per-send or a cost-per-displayed basis.

Text Ads

Exhibit 24.11   Anatomy of a text ad.

Text ads are a cost-effective form of display advertising on LinkedIn, with costs ranging from USD 2 to over USD 5 depending on several factors. Advertisers can use text ads to finely target audiences based on demographics such as company, job title, function, seniority, school, skills, age, gender, and more.

The ads appear on the sidebar or at the top. As depicted in the ad development interface, Exhibit 24.11, these ads comprise of the following elements:

• Headline. This is limited to 25 characters, so it needs to be succinct and forceful.
• Ad copy. Limited to 75 characters.
• Destination URL.
• Image. As this is a thumbnail, it should not contain much detail.

Dynamic Ads

Exhibit 24.12   Dynamic ad with insertion of image from member’s profiles.

Dynamic ads (Exhibit 24.12) are display ads that allow the advertiser to dynamically insert images from LinkedIn members’ profiles. By personalizing the content in this manner, these ads tend to be more engaging.

Lead Gen Form

Exhibit 24.13   Lead generation form.

Advertisers can enable LinkedIn’s Lead Gen Form (Exhibit 24.13) to collect qualified leads pulling LinkedIn profile data (like job title, company name, and contact details) into a form that members can submit with a couple of clicks. To view how to create an ad with a Lead Gen Form see this video.