LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional social network with over 722 million members worldwide. As one of the major social media platforms, LinkedIn offers a powerful opportunity for businesses to reach and engage with professionals and decision makers through advertising. One of the key ad formats available on LinkedIn is video ads. In this article, we’ll explore the option of using video in LinkedIn ads and look at the benefits this format can provide.
What are LinkedIn video ads?
LinkedIn video ads allow advertisers to showcase video content natively within the LinkedIn feed and sidebar ads. Some key features of LinkedIn video ads include:
- In-Feed Video Ads – Appear in the LinkedIn feed like organic posts with an associated “Sponsored” label.
- Sponsored Video – Appear in the right column sidebar, can be targeted to relevant audiences based on profile data.
- Video lengths between 3 seconds to 10 minutes.
- Play automatically with sound off, viewers can turn sound on.
- Videos hosted on external sites, with URLs entered when creating the ads.
LinkedIn video ads work on both desktop and mobile. On mobile, the video takes up the full screen when clicked to play. This provides an immersive experience for viewers.
What are the benefits of using video in LinkedIn ads?
There are several potential benefits to using video in your LinkedIn ad campaigns:
Increased engagement
Video is inherently an engaging format that can grab attention as users scroll through their feeds. In fact, video ads on LinkedIn have up to 50% completion rates, keeping viewers interested.
Communicates key messages
A short, captivating video can quickly communicate your brand story or key product/service benefits. Important messages can be conveyed through creative visuals and storytelling.
Higher click-through rates
LinkedIn reports that video ads achieve click-through rates 2-3x higher compared to non-video ad formats. The eye-catching motion of video helps drive curiosity and interest.
Improved brand awareness
Video provides sight, sound and motion to make a memorable impact on audiences. This can greatly strengthen brand awareness and recall.
Informs and educates
Video excels at informing, teaching, demonstrating and explaining concepts to viewers – great for thought leadership content.
More versatile targeting
You can target LinkedIn video ads by job role, company, industry, interests, location and more. This allows precise alignment with your audience.
Measurable results
LinkedIn provides robust video ad analytics to see views, completion rate, clicks, CTR, impressions and more. You can optimize based on performance.
What are the LinkedIn video ad formats?
There are two main types of video ad units available on LinkedIn:
In-Feed Video Ads
These are video ads that appear directly in the LinkedIn feed, similar to organic posts. They look like a native piece of feed content. In-feed video ads can be up to 10 minutes long, but ads shorter than 1 minute tend to see better engagement.
Sponsored Video
These are video ads that appear in the right side column of LinkedIn pages – similar to a 300×250 display ad. Sponsored video ads are contextual and can be precisely targeted. Like In-Feed video ads, lengths up to 10 minutes are supported.
What are the LinkedIn video ad specs?
When creating video ads for LinkedIn, it’s important to follow the recommended specifications:
File Types
Supported video file formats include: .MP4, .MOV, .WMV
Aspect Ratio
16:9 aspect ratio is recommended for the best fit across devices
Resolution & Frame Rate
Minimum resolution of 720p (1280 x 720 pixels)
Maximum resolution of 1080p (1920 x 1080 pixels)
Frame Rate of 30fps
Bit Rate Recommendation
Standard Bit Rate Range: 600 Kbps – 2500 Kbps
File Size
Maximum file size: 200MB
Length
In-feed video ads: 3 seconds to 10 minutes
Sponsored video ads: 3 seconds to 10 minutes
Following these specs will help ensure your video ads play smoothly and look great on LinkedIn. Testing different lengths and creative approaches is recommended.
How do you create LinkedIn video ads?
To run LinkedIn video ads, you first need to create a LinkedIn ad campaign and design the video creative assets. Here are the key steps:
1. Upload Videos to External Hosting Sites
LinkedIn requires uploading your video files to an external hosting platform like YouTube or Vimeo. You’ll insert the video URLs later.
2. Set Up Your LinkedIn Campaigns
In LinkedIn Campaign Manager, create new campaign sets, ad groups, and campaigns based on your goals, audiences and budget. Select “Video” for the ad format.
3. Create Ad Copy & Assets
Write compelling ad headlines, descriptions and display URLs. Design eye-catching thumbnails and utilize your brand assets.
4. Input Video URLs & Finalize Ads
Insert the links to your hosted video files. Preview and finalize the ads – check for errors before launching.
5. Target & Activate Your Campaigns
Use LinkedIn’s targeting tools to select demographics, interests, company roles and more. Activate your campaigns and monitor performance.
What are some best practices for LinkedIn video ads?
To maximize the impact of your LinkedIn video ads, keep these proven tips in mind:
- Hook viewers quickly within the first 3-5 seconds with compelling visuals or interesting motion.
- Utilize on-screen text, graphics and calls-to-action to direct attention.
- Showcase company culture and real employees for an authentic look.
- Educate audiences and provide value with “how-to” explainer videos.
- Leverage professional voiceover artists and high-quality video production.
- Test different video creative – try upbeat lifestyle visuals vs product demos.
- Keep it short and concise – test 15-30 second ads vs longer videos.
Optimizing based on performance data will help refine your video ads over time.
What options are available for targeting LinkedIn video ads?
LinkedIn provides extensive targeting capabilities to reach your ideal audiences with video ads:
- Job Title – Target by job title or seniority level.
- Company – Reach employees of specific companies you want to engage.
- Industry – Target your ads by industry vertical or category.
- Interests – Select business interests like project management or leadership.
- Location – Target ads geographically by country, state or city.
- Age & Gender – Reach desired demographics based on age range and gender.
- Devices – Select desktop only, mobile only or all devices.
Advanced targeting options are also available, including job skills, groups, language, company size and more.
What are some examples of effective LinkedIn video ad campaigns?
Here are a few real-world examples of LinkedIn video ad campaigns that delivered great results:
Mailchimp
- Goal: Generate high-quality leads
- Ad: Short animated videos showcasing key features
- Results: 60% lower CPL and 2x more leads vs previous ads
Mighty Networks
- Goal: Increase brand awareness
- Ad: Fun, lively videos highlighting company culture
- Results: Over 8 million LinkedIn feed impressions
Webflow
- Goal: Drive demos for website builder platform
- Ad: Product tutorial and demo videos
- Results: 45% increase in demo requests
These examples showcase the strong ROI possible with quality LinkedIn video ad campaigns.
Are there any limitations or pitfalls to be aware of?
While video ads present a big opportunity on LinkedIn, there are a few potential limitations to keep in mind as well:
- Maximum file size of 200MB could restrict use of very high-res 4K video.
- 10 minute max length may be too long for the typically short LinkedIn user attention span.
- LinkedIn feed video ads are “audio off” by default requiring users to actively turn sound on.
- Users can easily scroll past video ads in their feed without engaging.
- Need to ensure ads are not too overtly promotional or “salesy” for the LinkedIn audience.
- Reporting and analytics has less granular data compared to YouTube or Facebook.
Testing different creative approaches, keeping videos concise, and not overly pitching products can help maximize performance and results.
Conclusion
In summary, video ads present an impactful and effective ad format for LinkedIn’s professional audience. When aligned to appropriate campaign objectives, targeted thoughtfully and designed creatively – LinkedIn video ads can drive strong user engagement and interest at scale. Keeping videos short, conveying value, and leveraging LinkedIn’s robust targeting tools are keys to unlocking success. While limitations exist, the high visibility and storytelling power of video make it a format worth exploring for many LinkedIn advertising goals.
