LinkedIn Ad Specs: Your Business Guide to LinkedIn Advertising

It is no longer a secret that one of the best places to market an idea is LinkedIn. With the platform’s user group composed largely of professionals, it seems like the best place to create awareness about your business. Stats show that LinkedIn generates about 277% more leads than Twitter and Facebook. This is probably because the so-called professionals are the ones that sit on boards saddles with decision-making responsibilities.

The fact that LinkedIn seems to generate more leads than its social media counterparts does not mean it is an easy platform to advertise on. Like every other social media platform LinkedIn has its ad specs which must be adhered to. In this post, we will look at the different types of ad specs on LinkedIn. Let’s get started.

Different LinkedIn Ad Specs

Knowing how ads work on LinkedIn is key to getting the best of ads on this platform. One of the most important aspects is LinkedIn ad specs. In this section, we will look at the different ad types on LinkedIn along with the expected specs for the best results.

LinkedIn Sponsored Content

This kind of ad makes it possible for you to share messages with people that aren’t following you on LinkedIn. Such content appears on the feeds of users along with content that their connections share. It is also known as “native advertising” because the ad is very similar to a regular post. Probably the only difference is that it has a “sponsored content” label.

Here are the ad specs for sponsored content on LinkedIn:

• Maximum weight of the image upload: 5MB.
• Recommended ratio: 1.91:1 (1200 pixels x 627 pixels).
• Supported image types: PNG, GIF, JPG.
• The URL supplied will scrape in the image and title automatically. However, you can always upload the images manually.
• Image pixels should be above 200 pixels.
• Any image with less than 200 pixels will stand beside the post as a thumbnail.Any image with less than 200 pixels will stand beside the post as a thumbnail.

LinkedIn Dynamic Ads

These ads make use of the information of LinkedIn members to personalize the ads they see. Dynamic ads always appear on the right of the member’s feed and they come in two versions. The ads are either spotlight ads or follow company ads.

Spotlight ads are for custom CTAs. They present you with the possibility of linking your landing page to the ad. Follow company ads, on the other hand, help to increase the followers of the advertiser on LinkedIn. Check out the LinkedIn ad specs for the spotlight and follow company ads below:

For spotlight ads:

• Minimum image or logo size: 100 pixels x 100 pixels.
• Primary CTA beneath images: 50 characters maximum (including spaces).
• Secondary CTA above images: 70 characters maximum (including spaces).
• Optional custom background image: 300 pixels x 250 pixels.

For company ads:

• Minimum logo size: 100 pixels x 100 pixels.
• Primary CTA beneath images: 50 characters maximum (including spaces).
• Secondary CTA above images: 70 characters maximum (including spaces).
• Company name: 25 characters maximum (including spaces).
• CTA button: You choose any of “visit careers” or “visit company.”

LinkedIn Sponsored InMail

This type of ad makes it possible to communicate with your target audience using the private messaging system on LinkedIn. The idea is to send messages to users of LinkedIn whether they are following you or not.

This tool is perfect if you are looking for ways to boost conversions by delivering personalized messages. It is also great for sending messages to people you regard as your most valuable customers. Let’s look at the LinkedIn ad specs for sponsored InMail ads.

• Banner ad: 300 pixels x 250 pixels.
• File type: PNG (no flash) or GIF (non-animated), and JPEG.
• Maximum file size: 40KB.
• Body copy: 1000 characters maximum (including spaces).

LinkedIn Text ads

You will notice these ads on the right side or top of your feed. Sometimes, these ads feature a small image. More than anything else, text ads are very easy to create on LinkedIn. They promise quality results since they allow a/b testing. If you are looking for a great way to promote offers and drive leads on LinkedIn, then consider LinkedIn Text ads. Check out the ad specs for text ads below:

• They come in a variety of sizes: 17 pixels x 700 pixels, 496 pixels x 80 pixels, and 300 pixels x 250 pixels. You also have 728 pixels by 90 pixels, and 160 pixels x 600 pixels.
• Images are optional but the recommended size is: 50 pixels x 50 pixels.
• Headline: 25 characters maximum (including spaces).
• Description: 75 characters maximum (including spaces).

LinkedIn Display Ads

These ads only appear on the right-side of the LinkedIn desktop feed. They are perfect for driving leads and establishing a company’s LinkedIn presence. Display ads are also great when you need a way to increase brand awareness on LinkedIn. Check out the LinkedIn ad specs for display ads below:

• Image sizes: 300 pixels x 250 pixels.
• File types: HTML5 and must be third-party served JPG, PNG, or GIF.
• Animation limit: 15 seconds for an autoplay video else, 30 seconds.
• Image size: HTML5 (200KB), others (40KB).

Setting Up Your LinkedIn Ad

Congratulations! Now, you know the different ad types available on LinkedIn and their specs. Let’s take it further by showing you how to set up ads on this platform.

Step 1: Create an account on Campaign manager then sign in. LinkedIn suggests that you add a name and include the following pieces of information:

• Business product or line.
• Region
• Unique campaign ID matching other channels.
• Reference to the title of your marketing campaign.
• Type of campaign e.g. whitepaper, webinar, etc.
• The date range for your campaign.

Step 2: Select the ad objective.

Step 3: Set up the parameters for your audience targeting. Based on the suggestions by LinkedIn, you should begin with an audience size that is more than 50,000 members. If it is a Sponsored InMail ad, target above 15,000 members. Ensure to do the following:

• Pick a permanent or most recent location.
• Select the locations that you want to exclude or include.
• Choose the language of the target audience.
• Add your audience attributes such as demographics, job experience, company, and interests.
• To broaden your audience use “or.”
• To narrow down the audience use “and.”
• Always enable “audience expansion.”

Step 4: Choose the ad format that best suits your purposes.

Step 5: If it is available, we suggest that you enable the “LinkedIn Audience Network.”

Step 6: Set the campaign schedule and your budget. You can decide on a daily budget or a total budget. For a bid type campaign, choose either “cost-per-impression” or “cost-per-click” depending on your campaign goals.

Step 7: Create a conversion. This step is optional but it helps you to track the actions that people take when they view your ad. LinkedIn recommends that you install the Insight Tag to do this.

Step 8: Set up the ad. You can always preview how the ad will look while creating it.

Step 9: Review the ad and launch the campaign. LinkedIn reviews every ad before it goes up. This could take up to 24 hours or longer.

Step 10: Optimize the performance of your campaign. Track metrics so that you can make adjustments where necessary.

Conclusion

In this post, we have shown you the LinkedIn ad specs for different kinds of LinkedIn ads. We have also shown you how to set up your ads in the easiest way.