Determining the optimal number of ad creatives to run on LinkedIn is an important consideration when developing an advertising strategy on the platform. Running multiple creatives allows you to test different messages, images, calls-to-action, and targeting options to see which resonate best with your target audience. However, running too many creatives can also lead to budget fragmentation and make it difficult to achieve the necessary scale to drive results.
When deciding how many creatives to run, there are a few key factors to consider:
Campaign Objective
What are you trying to achieve with your LinkedIn ads? If your goal is driving traffic or leads, you may want to start with 3-5 ad variations to test different hooks. For awareness campaigns, you can likely get by with fewer creatives as you are focused more on reach than direct response.
Ad Budget
Your ad budget will impact the number of creatives you can effectively test. With a larger budget, you have more room to experiment with different options. However, on a limited budget you’ll want to be more selective in the variations you run to avoid spreading your spend too thin. As a general rule, you’ll want at least $2,500 in spend allocated to each creative.
Audience Size
The broader your target audience, the more ad variations you should test to appeal to their diverse interests. For a highly targeted niche audience, 1-2 strong performing creatives may be sufficient.
Campaign Duration
Are you running ads for a short-term campaign or an ongoing always-on strategy? For short campaigns under 2 months, you may only be able to effectively test 1-2 creatives given the limited time frame. Ongoing campaigns can support testing 5+ creatives over time.
Creative Type
LinkedIn supports multiple ad formats including text, image, video, and carousel. Testing different creative types as well as variations within each can help determine what resonates best. Consider testing 2-3 text ads, 2-3 image ads, and 2-3 video ads.
Testing Capabilities
To effectively test multiple creatives, leverage LinkedIn’s A/B testing features to find the best performers. Test ad variations against each other simultaneously while keeping targeting and budgets equal. Use statistical significance to identify winners.
How Many Creatives Should You Start With?
When first launching LinkedIn ads, we recommend starting with 3-4 ad variations to allow for sufficient testing without fragmentation. This gives you flexibility to try different messaging angles and visual styles while keeping the campaign focused enough to learn what works.
Over time as you analyze performance trends and expand targeting, you can gradually increase the number of creatives up to 10+ to continue optimizing results. Avoid changing all creatives at once – phase new options in gradually while pausing poor performers.
Aim to always have 3-5 currently active variations to maintain testing momentum. Archive creatives that consistently underperform so they do not drag down the overall campaign.
Here are some recommendations based on common campaign objectives:
Campaign Objective | Starting # of Creatives |
Demand Generation | 4-5 |
Lead Generation | 3-4 |
Account-Based Marketing | 2-3 |
Traffic Building | 5+ |
Brand Awareness | 2-3 |
Best Practices For Managing Multiple Creatives
When running multiple creatives, follow these best practices to maintain organization and drive optimal results:
Use a Naming Convention
Establish a naming convention that allows you to easily identify what the ad is testing – for example “Ad Copy Test 1”, “Image Style A”, “Video #1” etc. Organize creatives into ad groups based on the element being tested.
Provide Equal Budget Distribution
When running A/B split tests, evenly distribute budget across ad variations and make sure targeting settings mirror each other. Unequal budgets will skew results. Use LinkedIn’s built-in A/B testing feature when possible.
Analyze Performance Trends
Check your ads frequently and look for statistically significant winners/losers that are consistently above/below average. Don’t stop testing too early – allow time for each variation to accumulate enough impressions to gauge performance accurately.
Pause Low Performers
Promptly pause creatives that consistently underperform so they do not drag down the results of better performing variations. Let your winners take over a larger share of budget.
Limit Changes to One Variable
When testing new creatives, edit just one element at a time such as image, headline or call-to-action. Changing too many aspects prevents you from isolating what impacted the results.
Test One Audience at a Time
Target new creatives to one audience segment first before expanding to additional segments. See how broad you can scale a winning variation before needing to customize messaging.
Overlap Campaigns Initially
When launching a new campaign, run it alongside your existing campaign for the first 2 weeks. This ensures continuous coverage and allows you to learn before shifting budget.
Monitor Ad Fatigue
Rotate in fresh creatives as needed to avoid ad fatigue among persistent audiences. Look for declining CTRs as an indicator it’s time to update messaging.
Optimizing Campaigns With Multiple Creatives
Once you’ve identified your top performing creatives through testing, there are further steps you can take to continue optimization:
Consolidate Around Winners
Shift the majority of your budget to the 1-2 ads that are clearly outperforming. These will give you the best return on your investment.
Enhance Targeting
Layer on additional demographic, interest, and remarketing targets to display your winning creatives to high-potential segments.
Adjust Bids
Use automatic bid strategies or manually increase bids on well-performing creatives to get them more visibility and impact. Reduce bids on underperformers.
Refine Messaging
Identify elements resonating in your top creatives (headlines, emotion, tone, etc) and incorporate them into future creative tests.
Expand Ad Groups
Take proven creatives and test them across new ad groups focused on different parts of the funnel (awareness -> consideration -> conversion).
Test New Placements
Once you have effective messaging, try placing your ads on additional high value LinkedIn placements (e.g. Sponsored Content).
Integrate With Other Channels
Reinforce LinkedIn performance creatives by coordinating them with ads on Google, Facebook, retargeting platforms, and paid social.
Conclusion
Determining the ideal number of creatives to test and run on LinkedIn depends on your budget, audience, objectives and time frame. While there is no single correct answer, aim to start with 3-5 ad variations and expand from there based on performance.
Maintain a structured testing methodology and analyze results frequently to identify and double down on your top creative. With an optimized set of high-converting ads, you will be positioned to get the most value from your LinkedIn advertising investment and exceed your business goals.