LinkedIn video ads are a type of advertisement used on the LinkedIn platform to promote brands, products, or services. They allow businesses to share video content natively within the LinkedIn feed and capture the attention of professional audiences.
How do LinkedIn video ads work?
LinkedIn video ads appear in the LinkedIn feed, both on desktop and mobile. They auto-play without sound when scrolling. If interested, the viewer can click to expand the video player and turn sound on. This catchy silent preview aims to capture attention and inspire viewers to engage further.
Video ads on LinkedIn can be delivered as Sponsored Content or Direct Sponsored Content. Sponsored Content appears in the main feed and Direct Sponsored Content shows up in the messaging inbox. Both are labelled as “Sponsored” and function similarly. Key differences are that Direct Sponsored Content allows more targeting and sits privately in the inbox area.
What are the benefits of LinkedIn video ads?
There are several key benefits to running LinkedIn video ads, including:
- Captures attention – Video is inherently engaging and eye-catching in the LinkedIn feed.
- Communicates visually – Videos can demonstrate products and explain concepts dynamically.
- Drives stronger engagement – Videos see higher click-through and interaction rates versus static posts.
- Expands reach – Videos boost content sharing and amplification via social actions.
- Enhances brand-building – Video ads showcase brands personality and storytelling.
- Informs and educates – Videos can teach and share information persuasively.
In summary, LinkedIn video ads provide an impactful, engaging format to connect with professional audiences. They can inspire and prompt actions that drive brand and performance marketing goals.
What are some best practices for LinkedIn video ads?
Here are some best practices to follow when creating LinkedIn video ads:
- Keep it short and succinct – Videos under 30 seconds perform best.
- Lead with value – Communicate the core benefit in the first 3-5 seconds.
- Include a strong call-to-action – Give viewers a specific prompt to click or act.
- Prioritize visuals – Use dynamic video content focused on visuals and simple text.
- Spotlight people – Show real employees, customers, or stakeholders.
- Leverage auto-play – Design for silent auto-play initially without sound.
- Use captions – Enhance accessibility and comprehension.
- Align to audience – Tailor videos to the LinkedIn audience mindset.
Taking a strategic, best practice approach to creative, targeting, bidding, and measurement will drive optimal results from LinkedIn video ad campaigns.
What types of content work best for LinkedIn video ads?
Certain types of video content tend to resonate well and achieve high performance on LinkedIn. Top performing content themes include:
- Thought leadership content – Expert perspectives on industry trends and insights.
- Behind-the-scenes content – Showcase of company culture, products, or employees.
- Customer testimonials – Real customer reviews and success stories.
- Explainer and how-to content – Educational videos walking through products or processes.
- Case studies – Stories of specific uses and applications of products/services.
- Listicles – Videos highlighting tips, tricks, hacks, or best practices.
- Promotional content – Overviews of products, services, offers, or events.
Video ads should aim to provide value, insight, intrigue or entertainment. Factual or emotional messaging aligned to audience interests tends to achieve strongest engagement.
What are the LinkedIn video ad formats?
LinkedIn offers the following primary video ad formats:
- Sponsored Video – In-feed video ads up to 10 minutes long. Appear in feed on desktop and mobile.
- Sponsored Content Video – Video ads published as native sponsored posts. Up to 10 minutes long.
- Message Ads – Video ads up to 3 minutes long that appear in the LinkedIn messaging inbox area.
- Dynamic Ads – Automated customized video ads powered by audience data.
- Carousel Ads – Ads with 2-10 image/video cards users can horizontally scroll through.
Marketers can also sponsor existing video posts from LinkedIn Pages organically into feeds as sponsored content. This amplifies existing video assets.
What are the LinkedIn video ad specs and requirements?
LinkedIn video ads need to meet the following key requirements:
- Aspect ratio: 16:9 or 9:16 (vertical)
- File format: .MP4 or .MOV
- Max file size: 10GB
- Dimensions: 600×338 to 3840×2160 (landscape), 600×1066 to 1080×1920 (vertical)
- Max length: 10 minutes (Sponsored Video), 3 minutes (Message Ads)
- Frame rate: 30fps
- Audio: Stereo or dual mono, 192kbps
- Max animation length: 30 seconds
For optimal delivery, aim for short form video ads between 15-30 seconds long. Smaller file sizes also tend to achieve higher completion rates. Providing captions and avoiding screens with flashing is recommended.
What are the LinkedIn video ad targeting options?
LinkedIn offers robust targeting capabilities to reach specific audiences with video ads. Key targeting dimensions include:
- Location – Target by country, region, zip code and more.
- Company – Target by company name, industry, size and more.
- Job title & function – Target by job title, seniority, and functional role.
- Groups – Target based on LinkedIn Groups and Group members.
- Interests – Target by LinkedIn member interests.
- Demographics – Target by criteria like age, gender and education.
Additional targeting like connection targeting, member targeting, and lookalike audiences are also available. Robust targeting allows crafted messaging to audiences most likely to engage.
What are the LinkedIn video ad placement options?
LinkedIn offers flexibility with video ad placement. Ads can be served in these core placements:
- Feed – Appears in the main LinkedIn feed.
- Messaging – Appears in the LinkedIn messaging inbox area.
- Right rail – Displays on the right column of desktop.
- Text ad slots – Runs video ads within text ad placements.
Feed delivery generally sees strongest engagement and metrics. Messaging placement offers a more private, yet still interruptive, viewing experience. Right rail and text ad slots provide additional visibility, albeit typically with lighter engagement levels.
What are the LinkedIn video ad bidding and budget options?
LinkedIn provides two primary bidding options for video ads:
- CPM bidding – Bid based on cost per 1,000 impressions. Impression volume goals.
- CPV bidding – Bid based on cost per video view. View volume goals.
Minimum daily budgets start around $10 per day. Marketers define target audiences, placements, and budgets. LinkedIn’s optimization then allocates budgets to best-performing content and audiences.
What types of metrics and insights are available for LinkedIn video ads?
LinkedIn provides robust video ad reporting and analytics. Key metrics available include:
- Impressions
- Video views
- View rate
- Click-through rate
- Engagement rate
- Video completes
- Lead generation
- Website visits
- Conversions
Performance can be analyzed by video creative, audience segment, placement type, and other criteria. Detailed metrics inform optimization for improved results over time.
What are some examples of effective LinkedIn video ad campaigns?
Here are a few examples of impactful LinkedIn video ad campaigns:
- SAP generated 5,200 leads with an animated video ad series explaining their products.
- Moz grew brand awareness by 19% with an educational “Whiteboard Friday” video campaign.
- IBM drove a 33% lower cost per lead with a video campaign focused on AI and automation.
- Adobe achieved a 16% click-through rate and 45% lower CPA using LinkedIn Matched Audiences to retarget video ads.
Top brands have leveraged LinkedIn video ads successfully to generate leads, awareness, website traffic, and sales. Aligning campaign objectives to audience interests and platform strengths is key.
What are some tips for optimizing LinkedIn video ad performance?
To continually improve LinkedIn video ad results, brands should:
- A/B test different video creatives and content.
- Analyze performance by audience and placement.
- Refine targeting based on highest-converting segments.
- Adjust bids and budgets according to results.
- Remake lower-performing videos.
- Shorten videos that see high drop-off rates.
- Ensure strong thumbnail images and first 3-7 seconds.
- Align video content to target audience priorities.
Ongoing optimization and improvement is key to driving LinkedIn video ad success over the long-term.
Conclusion
LinkedIn video ads represent a highly engaging, native format for reaching professional audiences. They capture attention in-feed and offer flexibility across objectives from brand-building to lead generation. Following LinkedIn’s best practices for video content, formatting, targeting, and placements will allow marketers to achieve success. Robust analytics and testing fuels optimization. Partnering creative storytelling with audience insights makes LinkedIn video ads a powerful addition for savvy B2B marketers.
