LinkedIn is one of the most popular social media platforms for professionals and businesses. With over 740 million members worldwide, it offers a huge potential audience for advertising. But with so many different ad formats available on LinkedIn, it can be hard to know which one performs the best.
In this article, we’ll look at the different ad formats offered by LinkedIn and evaluate their performance based on key metrics like click-through rate (CTR), cost per click (CPC), and conversion rate. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each format can help advertisers choose the right type of ad for their goals and budget.
LinkedIn Sponsored Content
Sponsored Content ads appear in the LinkedIn feed like regular posts. They allow advertisers to publish content directly to LinkedIn members. These native ad units blend seamlessly into the member’s feed.
Some key advantages of Sponsored Content include:
- High visibility – Appears directly in the LinkedIn feed so likely to be seen by a large audience.
- Trust and relevance – Feels less like an ad to users so may generate more interest.
- Good click-through rates – Reported average CTR of 0.5-2%.
Potential disadvantages:
- Low conversion rates – Users less primed to take action like filling out a form.
- Costly – Minimum daily budget of $50.
Overall, Sponsored Content is a good choice for building brand awareness and associate your brand with high-quality content. But lead generation may be challenging.
Sponsored InMail
Sponsored InMail ads let advertisers reach LinkedIn members via personalized messages in their inbox. These ads have the look and feel of regular LinkedIn messages.
Benefits of Sponsored InMail include:
- Personalization – Messages can include the member’s name and company.
- High open rates – Reported average open rate of over 50%.
- Lead generation – Users often reply, making it easy to continue engagement.
Potential drawbacks:
- Low volume – Limit of 100 messages per day.
- High cost – Estimated average cost per InMail is $10.
- Lower response rates recently – Open and response rates declining.
Sponsored InMail is best suited for targeted outreach to key prospects but less ideal for broad awareness campaigns.
Text Ads
Text ads on LinkedIn are similar to text ads on Google. They consist of a short title, description, and display URL. Text ads appear on the right rail of LinkedIn pages.
Benefits of text ads:
- Low cost per click – Avg. CPC around $2-$3
- Flexibility – Available on self-service platform with no minimum budget.
- Simplicity – Easy to create and optimize for keywords.
Drawbacks of text ads:
- Lower visibility – Right rail placement means less exposure.
- Lower CTR – Avg. CTR of 0.1% or less.
- Less Trust – Users tend to ignore side rail ads.
Text ads work well for cost-conscious advertisers who want to test LinkedIn ads without a big budget commitment.
Dynamic Ads
Dynamic ads on LinkedIn automatically pull content from a company’s website or blog to create customized ads. They come in two formats:
- Follower Ads – Target followers of specific companies.
- Matched Audience Ads – Target members similar to current followers.
Benefits of dynamic ads:
- Customized and relevant – Pulls real-time content for each viewer.
- Improved CTR – Reported 2-4X higher CTR than Sponsored Content.
- Time savings – Ads are generated automatically.
Potential limitations:
- Less control – Can’t hand pick content for ads.
- Narrower targeting – Focused on existing followers and lookalike audiences.
Dynamic ads excel when you want relevant and highly customized ads but don’t need precise targeting or messaging control.
Sponsored Video
Sponsored video ads enable advertisers to promote videos to LinkedIn users. Videos play automatically in the feed when sound is on.
Some benefits of sponsored videos:
- Attention-grabbing – Video content can spark interest.
- Lead capturing – Call-to-action overlays make lead gen easy.
- Brand building – Help showcase products, services, culture, etc.
Limitations of video ads:
- Production effort – Creating videos with impact takes significant time/resources.
- Low completion rates – Avg video completion rate around 20-25%.
- Low volume – Only 3 videos in feed per week per member.
Sponsored video works best for showcasing your brand visually to make an impact when users have sound enabled.
Message Ads
Message ads are the newest ad unit introduced by LinkedIn. They appear in the LinkedIn messaging inbox, so they have a more personalized feel.
Benefits of message ads include:
- Private environment – Users may be more open to ads in inbox vs. feed.
- Enhanced targeting – Can target by job title, company, etc.
- New placement – Opportunity to reach users in an untapped area.
Potential weaknesses:
- Unproven – As a new format, less historical data exists.
- Oversaturation – Could annoyance users if overused.
- Limited launch – Only available to select advertisers during initial rollout.
Message ads have promise to reach users in a new context, but advertisers should test them cautiously at first.
Conclusion
Based on available data and benchmarks, here is a summary of the best performing LinkedIn ad formats:
Ad Format | Key Strength |
---|---|
Sponsored Content | Brand awareness |
Sponsored InMail | Lead generation |
Dynamic Ads | Click-through rate |
Text Ads | Cost per click |
Sponsored Video | Brand building |
There is no definitively “best” LinkedIn ad format overall. The right choice depends on your specific goals and constraints.
Sponsored Content stands out for brand awareness goals. It provides strong visibility coupled with native formatting that feels organic to users.
For lead generation, Sponsored InMail is likely the best fit. The highly targeted, personalized messages help drive responses and engagement.
If click-through rate is the key objective, then newer formats like Dynamic Ads tend to outperform. By customizing ad content in real-time, Dynamic Ads achieve higher relevance for each user.
For advertisers concerned primarily with cost, Text Ads offer the most economical way to get started and test LinkedIn ads.
And for showcasing brands visually, Sponsored Video leverages the power of visual storytelling.
Beyond these top options, Message Ads show early promise to reach LinkedIn users in new ways. And carousel ads enable showcasing multiple visuals within one ad unit.
In summary, advertisers aiming for LinkedIn success need to align ad formats with their specific goals. While Sponsored Content, Sponsored InMail and Dynamic Ads emerge as top performers, the best LinkedIn ad approach depends on the context and objectives for your brand.