LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional social networking platform with over 800 million users worldwide. For businesses and marketers, LinkedIn provides a unique opportunity to connect with professionals and target B2B audiences. LinkedIn offers two main types of advertising options: LinkedIn Sponsored Content and LinkedIn Text Ads.
LinkedIn Sponsored Content
LinkedIn Sponsored Content allows businesses to publish branded posts and appear directly in the LinkedIn feed of your target audience. This is similar to creating a post on your company’s LinkedIn page, except you can choose to boost the post’s reach by paying to “sponsor” it and have it served to a wider relevant audience beyond just your followers. There are three key formats for LinkedIn Sponsored Content:
- Sponsored Content: Custom branded posts that appear in the LinkedIn feed
- Sponsored InMail: Personalized direct messages sent to select members
- Partner Content: Posts from influencers and publishers amplified to reach more professionals
With LinkedIn Sponsored Content, you have granular targeting options to ensure your posts reach your ideal audience based on location, job role, industry, interests, skills, company size, and more. You can drive a range of objectives with Sponsored Content such as brand awareness, thought leadership, website traffic, lead generation, and employee recruitment. Some key benefits of LinkedIn Sponsored Content include:
- Appears in the natural LinkedIn feed which drives high engagement
- Flexible and inexpensive cost per click pricing model
- Detailed targeting and audience insights
- Content stays on profile and continues working for your brand
- Options for one-time or always-on campaigns
Use Cases for LinkedIn Sponsored Content
Here are some of the most popular use cases for LinkedIn Sponsored Content campaigns:
- Thought leadership content – Position executives and employees as industry experts
- Whitepapers and ebooks – Promote and distribute educational collateral
- Case studies and customer success stories – Highlight client wins and ROI delivered
- Recruitment campaigns – Attract and engage passive jobseekers
- Product launches and updates – Educate your audience on new offerings
- Event promotion – Drive registrations and turnout for webinars or live events
- Company news and announcements – Share news, awards and milestones
The native format of Sponsored Content provides a major advantage over disruptive ads on LinkedIn. By creating value and engaging your audience directly within their feed, you can drive tangible results while also building relationships and brand affinity. This makes Sponsored Content ideal for brands focused on thought leadership, lead generation and recruitment.
LinkedIn Text Ads
LinkedIn Text Ads enable advertisers to display shortened copy and clickable headline ads across LinkedIn. The ads are highly visible on the top, right and bottom of both desktop and mobile. There are two main types of LinkedIn Text Ads:
- Sponsored Content ads – Appear in the LinkedIn feed alongside organic posts
- Text ads – Appear on the right rail on desktop and within the feed on mobile
With LinkedIn Text Ads, advertisers bid for clicks and impressions on a cost per click (CPC) and cost per impression (CPM) basis respectively. You can target your audience similar to Sponsored Content based on professional information and demographics. However, Text Ads are designed for shorter marketing messages focused on promoting brands, offers, downloads and conversions. Here are some benefits of LinkedIn Text Ads:
- Cost-effective way to reach a broad professional audience
- Ability to test multiple ads and headlines
- Designed for performance marketing goals and direct-response
- Pricing model optimizes for conversions or traffic
- Feeds into other integrated campaigns and tactics
Use Cases for LinkedIn Text Ads
Here are some of the most popular uses of LinkedIn Text Ads among B2B marketers and advertisers today:
- Website traffic campaigns – Drive visitors to blog, products or landing pages
- Webinar registration – Promote sign-ups for live and on-demand webinars
- Whitepaper downloads – Increase downloads of gated collateral and content
- Product demos – Encourage product trials and software demonstrations
- Event registration – Increase sign-ups and attendance for events
- Video views – Amplify viewership for branded video content
- Lead generation – Capture buyer contact info and sales leads
The direct-response focus of Text Ads lends itself well to marketers looking to generate inbound leads, recruit site visitors, increase conversions and download key content assets. While Sponsored Content builds brand and relationships, Text Ads help drive conversions through clear calls-to-action.
Comparing LinkedIn’s Ad Options
When considering which LinkedIn ad format is right for your goals, here is a helpful comparison of the two main options:
Ad Format | LinkedIn Sponsored Content | LinkedIn Text Ads |
---|---|---|
Objective | Brand building, thought leadership, engagement | Traffic, conversions, lead gen |
Placement | Native in LinkedIn feed | Right rail, top of feed |
Best for | Long-form content, gated assets | Short text & calls to action |
Metrics | Impressions, engagement, clicks | Clicks, conversions, cost per lead |
Billing | Cost per click (CPC) | CPC + cost per impression (CPM) |
In summary, Sponsored Content is better for branded messages and nurturing prospects, while Text Ads are ideal for lower-funnel conversion goals. Most B2B marketers find success using both ad formats as part of an integrated LinkedIn advertising strategy.
Best Practices for LinkedIn Ads
Here are some top tips to maximize the impact of your LinkedIn advertising campaigns, regardless of which ad format you choose:
- Target your ads based on member demographics, interests, company details and more
- Test different headlines, calls to action and visuals
- Keep text short, clear and focused on the desired action
- Align your ad objectives with LinkedIn’s optimized bidding
- Monitor performance and optimize for key metrics
- Use compelling creative and visuals that stand out
- Combine both Sponsored Content and Text Ads
- Integrate with customized website tracking and landing pages
It’s also important to ensure your ads and landing pages provide a seamless user experience. Quality score factors like relevance and creativity of your ads will help lower your costs and increase engagement over the long-term.
The Value of LinkedIn Advertising
In closing, LinkedIn advertising provides unmatched access to engage professional audiences where they actively consume content daily. With accurate targeting and compelling creative, both Sponsored Content and Text Ads present high value opportunities to connect with your B2B buyers. As part of an integrated marketing strategy, LinkedIn ads can drive brand awareness, leads and pipeline across multiple stages of the purchase process.
With the right objectives, audience targeting, messaging and optimization, LinkedIn advertising can deliver significant ROI and become an essential element of your digital marketing mix.