Determining the optimal number of LinkedIn ads to include in a campaign is an important consideration when developing an effective LinkedIn advertising strategy. The right number of ads allows you to fully leverage LinkedIn’s massive audience of over 722 million professionals, while avoiding ad fatigue and budget waste from having too many similar ads competing against each other.
What factors determine the ideal number of LinkedIn ads per campaign?
There are several key factors that influence the ideal number of LinkedIn ads to include in a campaign:
- Campaign objective – Campaigns focused on awareness and reach may benefit from more ads to expose your brand to a wider audience. Campaigns optimized for conversions may only need a few highly targeted ads.
- Ad variations – Having multiple versions of an ad with different creative, offers, etc. necessitates more ads to test performance.
- Audience targeting – More specific targeting requires more ads to fully reach that narrowed audience vs broader targeting.
- Budget – Your budget must be allocated across all ads in the campaign, so a larger budget can support more ads.
- Landing pages – You need enough ads to direct traffic to each relevant landing page you want to test.
Considering these strategic factors will guide you in determining the ideal number of ads for each unique campaign.
What is the recommended number of LinkedIn ads per campaign?
Most LinkedIn advertising experts recommend testing 3-5 ads per campaign as a starting point. Here are the reasons this range is ideal:
- Allows adequate testing – 3-5 ads are enough to test different creative styles, offers, and messaging while generating statistically significant performance data.
- Prevents overload – Any more than 5 ads at a time risks confusing your audience and oversaturating them with your brand.
- Focuses budget – This ad volume concentrates your spend on your top performing creative, instead of spreading budget too thin.
- Simplifies optimization – You can more easily analyze results and optimize your campaign when juggling fewer ads.
For most brands, implementing 3-5 ads per LinkedIn campaign is sufficient to see strong results. You can always add more ads later once you identify what resonates most with your audience.
When would you implement more than 5 LinkedIn ads in a campaign?
In certain situations, using more than 5 LinkedIn ads in a campaign may be beneficial:
- Extensive A/B testing – If thoroughly testing multiple variables like imagery, ad copy, Calls-to-Action, etc., more ads will be required.
- Broad targeting – Targeting a wider demographic or multiple personas necessitates broader creative and messaging.
- Large budget – A sizable budget may warrant more ads to maximize reach.
- New campaign – Early on, it can be helpful to test more ads until you identify high performers.
- Varied offerings – Companies with diverse products/services may require more ads to address each one.
The table below provides examples of scenarios where using more than 5 LinkedIn ads could be appropriate:
| Campaign Objective | Target Audience | Potential Ad Count |
|---|---|---|
| Increase brand awareness | All LinkedIn members in the US | 8-10 Ads |
| Generate leads for an ebook | Directors at retail companies | 5-7 Ads |
| Drive registrations for a live webinar event | Engineers and IT professionals | 6-8 Ads |
| Promote multiple new products | Existing customers | 8-10 Ads |
The optimal ad count always depends on the specifics of each campaign. Use the factors we’ve discussed to determine how many ads are right for your goals and audience.
What are the downsides of having too many LinkedIn ads in a campaign?
While more LinkedIn ads can help you test different creative and reach a wider audience, having too many ads in one campaign can backfire. Here are some of the disadvantages of overdoing it on your ad count:
- Ad Fatigue – Flooding your audience with 8, 10, or more versions of your ads can overwhelm LinkedIn members and cause them to tune out your messaging entirely.
- Budget Dilution – Spreading your budget across too many ads will limit the reach and frequency of each one, diluting their potential impact.
- Data Diffusion – An excessive number of ads makes it much harder to analyze the performance trends and optimization opportunities for your campaign.
- Audience Overlap – Too many similar ads compete for the same audience, driving up costs as you bid against yourself.
- Complex Management – An overabundance of ads complicates day-to-day monitoring, optimization, reporting, and other management workflows.
Each additional ad you add beyond the ideal 3-5 per campaign brings diminishing returns and higher risks. Keeping your ad count focused allows you to maximize the return from your investment.
How should you organize multiple LinkedIn ads within a campaign?
When including multiple ads in a LinkedIn campaign, you need to structure them in a strategic way to avoid overlapping efforts and facilitate optimization. Here are some best practices for organizing your LinkedIn ads:
- Separate distinctive creatives – Place highly unique ads with different imagery, copy, etc into their own ad groups.
- Consolidate similar creatives – Keep ads with the same offer and general creative together in one ad group.
- Align with conversion goals – Group ads that share the same target conversion event like contacting sales or downloading an assets.
- Use naming conventions – Name your ad groups clearly based on common attributes like audience, product, promotions, etc.
- Sequence for persona journeys – Structure ad groups to reflect the different stages of your customer personas’ purchase journeys.
Thoughtful ad group architecture will streamline analysis, allow you to bid and budget at the group level, aid in conversion tracking, and optimize your LinkedIn campaigns overall. Take the time to organize your expanded ad count effectively.
Best Practices for Managing Multiple LinkedIn Ads
When juggling multiple LinkedIn ads within a campaign, be sure to follow these management best practices for continued success:
- Monitor performance daily – Check in frequently on metrics for each ad and ad group to identify trends.
- Enable Conversion Tracking – Measure conversions accurately to determine each ad’s ROI.
- Pause lower performers – Remove consistently underperforming ads to focus budget on your top ads.
- Conduct A/B testing – Run controlled tests between ad variations to identify the highest performing creative and messaging.
- Analyze via segments – Breakdown your data by categories like audience, company size, industry etc to gain more insights.
- Automate workflows– Use LinkedIn’s automated rules to pause/adjust low performing ads to simplify management.
Again, keep your total ad volume in check to allow for proper management. Monitoring just 3-5 ads at a time is much more feasible than 10+.
Conclusion
Finding the optimal LinkedIn ad count is crucial to running effective and profitable campaigns. Most experts recommend 3-5 ads per campaign to start in order to thoroughly test different options without oversaturating your audience. More than 5 ads may be warranted in certain situations based on your specific objectives and strategy. Just be cautious of spreading yourself too thin. With the right number of creatives, you can achieve maximum exposure and conversions across LinkedIn’s massive B2B audience.
