LinkedIn news feed advertising refers to sponsored content that appears in the LinkedIn feed. It allows businesses to promote their content to LinkedIn users based on demographic, interest, and professional targeting options. News feed ads appear right in the feed and look similar to organic posts, except with a “Sponsored” label.
What are the benefits of LinkedIn news feed advertising?
There are several key benefits to LinkedIn news feed advertising:
- Highly targeted – You can target your ads by location, industry, job title, interests, skills, age, and more. This allows you to reach your ideal audience.
- Appears in the feed – Your ads appear directly in the LinkedIn feed, allowing you to catch users’ attention as they scroll through content.
- Looks like organic content – News feed ads have a similar visual design to organic posts, leading to higher engagement rates.
- Flexible campaign objectives – You can create ads to drive traffic to your site, promote content, collect leads, and more.
- Detailed analytics – LinkedIn provides robust analytics on impressions, clicks, engagement, lead quality, and more.
What types of content work best for LinkedIn news feed ads?
The most effective content varies based on your goals, but these types often perform well:
- Thought leadership content – Posts, articles, infographics, and videos positioned around topics your audience cares about.
- Behind-the-scenes content – Photos, videos, and stories that give an insider view of your company.
- Job listings – You can promote open positions at your company.
- Events and webinars – Promote upcoming events, classes, and webinars.
- Ebooks and whitepapers – Offer educational long-form content in exchange for lead generation.
The key is to provide value and align your content closely with your target audience’s interests.
How do you create a LinkedIn news feed ad campaign?
Here are the key steps to creating a LinkedIn news feed ad campaign:
- Set campaign objectives – Define the purpose of your campaign such as website visits, content views, lead generation, etc.
- Choose target audience – Use LinkedIn’s detailed targeting options to reach your ideal audience.
- Create ad content – Develop ad creative that aligns with best practices and provides value.
- Set bidding and budget – Configure your bid strategy and daily/monthly budget.
- Write compelling ad copy – Draft catchy, relevant ad text to promote your content.
- Place pixel and apply tracking – Add the LinkedIn Insight Tag to your website and enable conversion tracking.
- Monitor and optimize – Analyze performance data to identify opportunities to test and refine your campaign.
What types of targeting options are available?
LinkedIn provides robust targeting capabilities to reach specific segments. Key options include:
- Job title
- Job function
- Company
- Industry
- Seniority level
- Groups and interests
- Skills
- Location
- Age
- Gender
You can target by any one of these factors or combine several of them to hone in on your ideal audience. Location is the only required targeting dimension.
What are some best practices for optimizing LinkedIn ads?
Some topoptimization tips include:
- A/B test ad variations – Test different ad copy, imagery, call-to-action, etc.
- Adjust targeting – Narrow or expand your target audience to hone in on high-converting segments.
- Monitor conversion tracking – Review which visitor segments are converting and double down on those targets.
- Analyze engagement metrics – Assess clicks, CTR, comments, likes, shares, etc. to gauge post resonance.
- Check placement performance – See which ad placements (feed vs. right column) perform better.
- Update creative frequently – Continually test new ad content to keep campaigns fresh.
What options are available for bidding and budgeting?
LinkedIn advertising offers the following bidding and budgeting configurations:
- Cost per click (CPC) – You pay each time someone clicks your ad.
- Cost per impression (CPM) – You pay each time your ad is displayed.
- Daily budget – Set the maximum you want to spend per day.
- Lifetime budget – Establish a maximum budget for the full campaign duration.
- Automatic and manual bidding – Choose manual control or let LinkedIn’s algorithm set bids.
Start with automatic bidding and a daily budget, then refine based on performance data. LinkedIn recommends a minimum daily budget of $10.
How much do LinkedIn news feed ads cost?
LinkedIn advertising costs vary based on factors like:
- Competition – Higher competition for your target audience drives bids up.
- Targeting – Narrow targeting tends to cost more.
- Industry – Certain industries like tech and finance see higher costs.
- Time of year – January and September/October tend to have higher costs.
- Location – Targeting specific countries can impact costs.
Average CPCs range from $1-$3 for broader targeting to $3-$5+ for more focused audiences. Average CPMs fall between $10-$20.
How does the LinkedIn advertising auction work?
LinkedIn utilizes a generalized second-price auction model. Here’s how it works:
- Advertisers bid on ad placements targeting specific users.
- When a user fits the targeting criteria, LinkedIn runs an auction.
- The highest bidder wins, but pays just slightly above the second-highest bid.
- This continues each time the ad is eligible to be shown.
The advantage is you pay just above the minimum needed to maintain your ad position. Automatic bidding aims to get you this optimal price.
What type of content/media can you use in LinkedIn ads?
LinkedIn supports the following content and media types in news feed ads:
- Images – JPG, PNG, BMP (minimum dimensions 600x315px)
- Videos – Up to 10MB in size, aspect ratio between 1.91:1 – 4:5
- Carousels – Combine 2-10 cards with image/video
- Documents – Word, Excel, PowerPoint documents
- GIFs – Up to 10MB in size
Video ads must be hosted on YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, or LinkedIn’s native video platform. Images and videos should be high quality and align with the ad’s objectives.
What types of calls-to-action (CTAs) can you use in the ads?
LinkedIn allows the following call-to-action types:
- Apply now
- Register now
- Sign up
- Buy now
- Start now
- Learn more
- View now
- Download
- Watch video
- Contact us
CTAs should clearly communicate the next step you want the viewer to take. Align the CTA with your campaign objective and ad creative.
What ad formats are available?
LinkedIn provides these primary ad formats and placements:
- Single image ads
- Carousel ads
- Single video ads
- Sponsored content
- Message ads
- Conversation ads
Ads can appear in the LinkedIn feed or in the right side column. Mobile feeds only show two placements – main feed or bottom of feed.
How do you measure LinkedIn advertising results?
Key metrics to track LinkedIn advertising results include:
- Impressions – Number of times ads are displayed.
- Clicks – Clicks on the ad to your site or sponsored content.
- CTR – Click-through-rate, or clicks divided by impressions.
- CPM – Cost-per-thousand impressions.
- CPC – Cost-per-click.
- Leads – Number of leads generated.
- Conversions – Site actions from your LinkedIn visitor segment.
- Engagement – Comments, likes, shares, follows.
- Return on ad spend (ROAS) – Revenue generated from ads divided by cost.
Monitor these metrics to assess campaign reach, engagement, conversions, and return on investment.
What are some LinkedIn advertising best practices?
Top LinkedIn advertising best practices include:
- Target a specific audience based on robust professional data.
- Align ad objectives with your audience’s buyer journey stage.
- Use highly relevant, non-promotional ad creative.
- Write compelling copy highlighting audience value.
- Incorporate vibrant imagery and video.
- Drive visitors to targeted landing pages.
- Continually A/B test new creatives and offers.
- Leverage LinkedIn’s conversion tracking.
- Analyze performance data to refine campaigns.
- Coordinate with organic LinkedIn activities.
What types of businesses benefit most from LinkedIn advertising?
These business categories typically see strong results from LinkedIn ads:
- B2B companies – Reach a professional audience for lead gen.
- Recruiting firms – Promote openings to passive job seekers.
- Professional services – Connect with clients in specific industries.
- SMBs – Grow brand awareness and website traffic.
- SaaS and tech – Showcase products to tech-savvy users.
- Financial services – Establish thought leadership and generate leads.
- Higher education – Attract prospective students.
Any business targeting working professionals can benefit, but the above categories have proven success.
Conclusion
LinkedIn news feed advertising provides a powerful way for brands to engage professional audiences by sharing valuable, relevant content directly in the LinkedIn feed. With precise targeting options, compelling creative formats, and robust analytics, LinkedIn ads can drive brand awareness, leads, and customers from the world’s largest professional network. Following LinkedIn’s best practices can help craft high-performing campaigns that deliver results.