Best Creative Practices when building LinkedIn Ads

Advertising on LinkedIn is a powerful tool for acquiring B2B leads. Utilizing the correct creative techniques moves the needle more than the average user realizes when it comes to generating high-quality, high-intent leads. Today we’ll cover some fundamental LinkedIn best practices when it comes to creative, and some other neat tips & tricks to become an expert at LinkedIn Ads. Let’s get started:

Impactful Imagery is Key

The power of images lies at the very core of human nature. We’re designed to notice, remember, learn from, and respond emotionally to visuals. Did you know that people tend to only remember 10% of information three days after hearing it, and by adding a picture you can improve recall to 65%? Captivating imagery is so crucial on social platforms, where you’re ultimately trying to disrupt the newsfeed and capture a user’s attention.

Sponsored Content Best Practices

Keep your ad copy succinct. Headlines under 150 characters and descriptions under 70 characters lead to more engagement. People have short attention spans, they don’t want to read a novel when viewing an ad.

Ensure you’re using larger images, 1200 x 627 pixels is recommended. Content with larger visuals tends to receive 35% higher click-through rates. Test the effectiveness of utilizing brighter imagery, as these visuals will stand out more against the bland background of the LinkedIn newsfeed.

Include multiple variations of your ads and keep your ads fresh to avoid ad fatigue and ensure your frequencies are not sky-high. Include somewhere between two to four ads in each campaign and pause the lowest performing ad every one to two weeks. Over time, this will improve your ad relevance score, which will help you win more bids in the LinkedIn auction. Your ad relevance score is based on engagement metrics such as clicks, comments, and shares. If you have a high ad relevance score, you have a higher chance of beating out your competition in the auction, even if your competitor places a higher bid.

Sponsored Messaging Best Practices

Select a C-level executive as your sender. LinkedIn finds that individuals such as the CEO, CMO, etc. tend to receive a higher open rate when compared to other employees within the company. A user receiving a Sponsored Message from one of these senders tends to find the message more reputable, authentic, and valuable. Make sure the sender’s profile image is a high-quality image of their face. Users are more likely to ignore messages from users with a company logo as their profile image or those that do not have a profile image altogether.

Take advantage of LinkedIn’s personalization features. Use LinkedIn macros like first name, job title, and company name to seamlessly personalize your ad to each recipient. These macros allow your ad to reach another level of relevance when being served and let the user know why you’re reaching out to them.

Ensure you’re checking all of the optional checkboxes when creating your ad, like including a banner image in your Message ads. Although they are optional and are only viewable to recipients viewing the message on desktop, the space is prime real estate to ensure your brand is top of mind. On top of that, if you don’t upload a banner image, another brand’s image can show up in this placement.

Keep your campaigns running all week. Trying to serve Message ads on only the weekends or weekdays doesn’t pan out as well as some people might think. Not only is it difficult to manage, but LinkedIn finds that Message ads tend to see the highest open rates on Tuesdays and they tend to receive the most clicks on weekends.

Remember that ad copy is key with these ads since the only image you can attach to the ad is visible on desktop. It’s important to craft a message that is direct and interactive. Be concise, personal, and relevant and if possible, use bullet points rather than dense copy. LinkedIn finds that body text under 500 characters drives a 46% higher CTR on average. The utilization of hyperlinks can improve CTR by 21%, as users now have multiple pathways to reach your site.

Video Ads

Video is a powerful tool on any platform, but it can be especially useful on LinkedIn. Video is great for top-of-funnel, brand awareness and it really maximizes the number of eyeballs viewing your ad. Serve short video clips rather than lengthy testimonials. Keep videos under 30 seconds in length and show what you want your audience to see in the first 10 seconds of your video. Videos under 30 seconds report a 200% lift in completion rate. This reinforces the idea of humans having short attention spans. Upload a .srt video caption file with your video. You have to remember a large portion of your audience will watch the video with the sound off. It also allows users who are hard of hearing to consume your video content and fully understand the message you’re trying to convey.

Closing Thoughts

Keep these best practices in mind the next time you create a LinkedIn campaign, and you should see an improvement in overall performance.

Check out these other related articles for additional tips and tricks when it comes to creative best practices on social platforms!