Running LinkedIn ads can be an effective way to generate leads and increase brand awareness. However, determining the optimal ad duration is key to getting the most value from your ad spend. Here are some tips on how long you should run LinkedIn ads.
Why Run LinkedIn Ads?
LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 660 million users worldwide. This makes it a prime platform for B2B companies looking to connect with their target audience. Here are some of the main benefits of running LinkedIn ads:
- Targeting capabilities – LinkedIn’s detailed user data allows you to target ads based on job title, industry, skills, groups, and more.
- High conversion rates – LinkedIn members are there to network and further their careers, making them more receptive to relevant offerings.
- Boost brand awareness – Sponsored content and Sponsored InMail allow you to organically insert your brand into the LinkedIn feed.
- Generate high-quality leads – LinkedIn’s professional audience tends to convert at higher rates compared to other social platforms.
Factors That Determine Optimal Ad Duration
There is no one-size-fits-all answer when it comes to the ideal LinkedIn ad duration. The best duration depends on factors like your campaign objective, target audience, and budget. Here are some of the key factors to consider:
- Campaign objective – Are you focused on clicks, conversions, or brand awareness? Brand awareness campaigns often require longer run times to increase exposure. Conversion-focused campaigns can be shorter to maximize conversion volume within a budget.
- Budget – Daily or lifetime budget caps will impact optimal duration. With a larger budget, you can run ads longer and maximize reach. Smaller budgets may limit you to shorter duration campaigns.
- Landing page – Do you have enough unique content to keep driving traffic without redundancy? If your landing page has limited content, a shorter duration may work better.
- Testing – Run A/B tests with different durations to see what performs best. You can start with shorter runs and increase over time.
- Audience size – Larger target audiences may require longer runs to fully saturate. More niche audiences can be effectively reached in a shorter window.
- Industry – Consider average sales cycles. Longer cycles, like high-value B2B products, may need longer nurturing through extended ad runs.
Recommended LinkedIn Ad Durations
Based on best practices, here are some recommended LinkedIn ad durations to consider by objective:
Objective | Recommended Duration |
---|---|
Brand awareness | 2-4 weeks |
Website clicks | 1-2 weeks |
Lead generation | 2-3 weeks |
Video views | 3-4 weeks |
Let’s explore each of these in more detail:
Brand Awareness Campaigns
For brand awareness campaigns, you want to maximize exposure time in front of your audience. This type of passive marketing requires time to sink in with users. Industry experts often recommend running brand awareness campaigns for 2-4 weeks or longer.
Extended runs allow you to fully saturate your audience and create an impact through repeated exposure. This increases memorability and has greater long-term effects on perception. Brand awareness campaigns are also less vulnerable to ad fatigue since they focus on softer metrics like impressions rather than direct conversions.
Website Clicks Campaigns
For campaigns focused on driving website clicks, shorter durations of 1-2 weeks are recommended. The goal here is to rapidly drive traffic within a limited budget. This objective is more conversion-focused than brand building.
In this case, you want to maximize click volume quickly before ad fatigue sets in. Stretching out the campaign too long can lessen its effectiveness as users get tired of seeing the same ad repeatedly. Testing different creative also becomes critical for continuing to generate interest.
Lead Generation Campaigns
Lead gen campaigns aim to acquire qualified visitors to convert into sales leads. This objective requires enough time to convince LinkedIn users to engage but not so long that momentum is lost.
Industry experts generally recommend lead gen ad campaigns run for 2-3 weeks. This provides a balance between generating conversions and managing budget efficiency. Make sure to closely monitor conversion rates and adjust targeting or creative if you see lead volume decreasing over time.
Video Views Campaigns
Video content tends to have higher engagement on LinkedIn compared to static posts. But capturing viewers’ attention requires giving videos enough exposure time. For this reason, plan video view campaigns for 3-4 weeks or longer.
The first week is focused on getting the video content in front of users. Weeks 2-3 are critical for driving views through organic sharing. Extended 4 weeks campaigns maximize overall reach as different parts of your audience discover the video each week it’s live.
Best Practices for LinkedIn Ad Duration
Here are some additional best practices to help optimize the duration of your LinkedIn ad campaigns:
- Set lifetime budgets instead of daily – This gives you more flexibility to pause/adjust campaigns.
- Use duration targeting options – LinkedIn lets you specify start and end dates or set a lifetime duration cap.
- Test different durations – Start with smaller durations and increase gradually to find the sweet spot.
- Monitor performance daily – Pause poor performing ads quickly to maximize budget.
- Change up creatives – Refreshing ad copy/visuals help combat ad fatigue over long runs.
- Use conversion tracking – Know when lead volume starts declining as an indicator to pause.
- Schedule end dates – Use end dates to enforce limits on brand awareness campaigns.
- Follow 80/20 rule – Run new campaigns 20% of the time to find better targeting.
Conclusion
Determining the ideal LinkedIn ad duration depends on your campaign goals, budget, target audience, and other factors. As a general rule, brand awareness campaigns should run for 2-4 weeks, click campaigns 1-2 weeks, lead generation 2-3 weeks, and video view campaigns 3-4 weeks.
Remember to track performance daily, refresh creatives, and test different durations. With the right balance, your LinkedIn ads can continue driving results month after month. Just be sure to limit overly long durations to avoid wasting budget as users tune out your ads.