LinkedIn Ads Manager: The Definitive Guide

If you’ve only been advertising on Facebook, Instagram, and.or Twitter you really need to consider delving into the world of LinkedIn Ads. For that purpose, I have written this definitive guide to the LinkedIn Ads Manager and LinkedIn Ads in general.

Most people think LinkedIn is only a professional networking platform, but that’s simply not true. Today, marketers do not use it only to develop professional connections, but they find that LinkedIn is a perfect place to create and promote valuable content. As per research, now LinkedIn has become the top advertising channel for B2B marketers and an increasing number of B2C marketers are taking advantage of the platform as well.

Marketing on LinkedIn is no different when compared to other social channels. You only need to start your marketing campaign by setting up your goals. You only need to set your goal and ask yourself what you are hoping to get from this marketing campaign. Many people do not show a lot of attention to LinkedIn for marketing and advertising as compared to Twitter and Facebook. According to aged yet still relevant research, it is found that LinkedIn generates more visitors to customers with a rate of 2.74% that is 3 times higher than Twitter and Facebook.

Importance Of Linkedin Ad Campaigns

You all know LinkedIn is a valuable networking tool and connect you with professionals across industries. Now, this platform plays a pivotal role in the lead generation process. There are now more than 740+ million active users on LinkedIn. And, about 94% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn to share content, and it is one of the best sites to drive more traffic through both organic posting as well as promoted LinkedIn Ads campaigns.

However, creating LinkedIn ads might be the number one choice for some businesses that lack organic promotion capabilities. This. is because LinkedIn Ads campaigns can help you:

• increase brand awareness
• generate proficient leads
• engage your audience
• build brand value

Further Reading: LinkedIn Lead Generation: 20 Strategies That Work in 2025

8 Linkedin Ads Types

When you decide to start advertising on LinkedIn, first you should know the different LinkedIn Ads Types. Once you fix your ad type, it will become easier to achieve your goals and objectives. Let’s get into it!

1. Single Image Ads 

Single image ads are usually known as sponsored content. It includes an ad copy with just one image. These ads appear on the user’s home feed. The single image LinkedIn ads get more views and blend with an organic post.  

These ads can be used for any type of promotional event and webinars. You can even introduce newly launched products and services. The aim of these ads is to increase brand awareness, website conversions, and website visits. These ads look like a regular post, but the difference is these ads are paid for promotional purposes. 

Note that in most cases the image comes from the featured image of the link being shared but you can also post a separate image and custom link here if you choose to do so.

2. Video Ads

Videos are one of the best ways to grab the user’s attention. Using Video Ads to promote your brand on LinkedIn is one of the effective ways to generate leads. With video ads, you have the opportunity to highlight your customer experience and give insight into your company culture.

Moreover, you have the opportunity to discuss your brand products appropriately. It even allows you to focus on your brand’s story. Make sure you plan your video specs before uploading on LinkedIn. You can even read different LinkedIn guides to craft captivating videos.

3. Carousel Ads

This ad style on LinkedIn uses a swipeable array of cards to showcase your brand story, products, and services. The Carousel Ads give you the opportunity to share insight and help to engage readers by showing them strong visuals.

You can add two to ten images in a row to draw visitors’ attention. Visitors are usually attracted to these images and love to swipe them, helping increase engagement for your content.

4. Event Ads

Event Ads generally used once to promote the new events that your company offers. This ad type appears in the LinkedIn home feed that provides necessary information about the event, such as; time, date, and location and are based on your creation of a LinkedIn Event.

5. Message Ads

LinkedIn Message Ads are a unique way to begin a conversation with a prospect by literally showing up in their InBox as a sponsored InMail. These ads work best for lead generation when you are able to offer some sort of lead magnet or incentive for the readers to engage with you. You can also utilize lead generation forms that LinkedIn provides you together with these types of ads.

Further Reading: What is a LinkedIn InMail and How to Leverage Them

6. Conversation Ads

Same as Message Ads, Conversations Ads are also sent directly to the user’s Inbox. These LinkedIn ad types allow people to choose their aspects on their own. It allows them to click on the response button to engage prospects.

These ads are the perfect way to engage more customers. They are even considered as the most interactive ad format to display brand products, drive new leads, and engage older ones.

7. Document Ads

These are one of LinkedIn’s newest ad formats, and they take advantage of the popularity of those PDF-type carousel posts that are prominent in the LinkedIn feed these days. However, rather than uploading multiple photos, you upload a PDF document, often in square shape, to share.

These Document Ads are brilliant in generating leads because they come with an “Unlock document” button to force people to input their information into a Lead Generation Form in order to see the entire document.

Needless to say if you are trying to generate leads on LinkedIn, this type of ad might just be the most effective type.

8. Thought Leader Ads

Another new type of LinkedIn ad is the Thought Leader Ad, a combination of employee advocacy, employer branding, and leveraging UGC from your employees, or employee-generated content.

This type of ad is meant for companies who want to promote their thought leadership not through their own content but the content of their employees, normally their executives. It requires you to request and gain permission from your employee inside the LinkedIn Campaign Manager, and once you do you can “boost” any of their posts from your corporate account through this type of ad. Pretty cool.

How To Create LinkedIn Ads For Your Business in 9 Easy Steps

Once you decide to integrate the LinkedIn ad campaign to promote your brand services, you will first need to sign into the LinkedIn Ads Manager account. If you don’t have your account, you need to create it.

So, follow the steps discussed below;  

Step #1: Create A Linkedin Ads Manager Account 

To sign in to LinkedIn, you need to create a LinkedIn ad account. Once you create your identity LinkedIn ads manager campaigns account, then you have the authority to perform all your advertising activity efficiently. This activity enables you to set up your ad account, manage your budget, and run marketing campaigns efficiently.

Step #2: Consider Your Ad Objective 

The next stage you need to take into consideration is to decide what your objectives and aims are. At this phase, you have to think about what type of actions you can take to inspire your targeted audience. Once you set the objectives, it helps LinkedIn to understand what ad format will be perfect for your needs. Bear in mind, the ads’ objectives are categorized into three that include a consideration, conversions, and awareness.

Step #3: Define Target Audience 

The most important thing for a LinkedIn ad campaign is to define who your target audience is and where they locate. Choosing a location is best for your ad campaign. It helps you to refine your audience by company name, industry type, job title, professional and personal interest.

Step #4: Select Your Ad Format 

Make sure the ad format you choose depends on the objective you focused on. Once you develop an understanding of your objectives, you need to pick a single image, video ads, text ads, message ads, carousel ads, event ads, and conversational ads. Each type is discussed above.  

Step #5: Set Your Budget 

After completing the above steps, the LinkedIn Ads Manager campaign account provides you with a budget range for the ad format selection and target audience. This might be based on other competing bids that are perfect for your target audience.

However, this process takes 2 to 4 weeks to get the complete experience and figure out what things work. Usually, LinkedIn suggests a daily budget of $100, and $5000 for a monthly budget. You can definitely start with a lower budget, but like any other social media advertising platform, the more iterations that LinkedIn can display your ad and see who engages with your ad in what way, the better they will be able to serve them for future audiences.

Step #6: Set the Ad Campaign Time 

The next step is to choose how long your ads campaign should run. You have to choose in between two options. One is to opt for the fixed start-up to the end. The second is to select the continuous campaign until you manually end it. For this, you can view the LinkedIn guidelines.

Step #7: Start Your Ad Creation Process

Whether you choose text ads or sponsored content, the LinkedIn app manager shows the previews. These previews will give an idea about the final look of your ad.  

Step #8: Confirm Payment

Make sure that you enter complete payment information before your ad is ready to meet with the target audience. Once you are done with this, then you are ready to launch your ads across the globe.

Step #9: Monitor Your Ad Performance

When you log into the Campaign Manager, you will see the reporting dashboard of your LinkedIn ads. On this, you are able to review the performance of your metrics, check demographics, and access the charts. This is the place where you go for conversion tracking.

Further Reading: 11 LinkedIn Analytics to Better Measure Your LinkedIn ROI

Why Linkedin Marketing is More Valuable Than Other Social Channels

After emails and telephone, LinkedIn is the most reliable way to help your sales reps connect with the right prospects.

Many people think LinkedIn Ads are more expensive compared to other channels such as Facebook and Instagram. But LinkedIn marketing is highly cost-effective.

4 Creative Ways to Use Linkedin for Advertising Campaigns

If you are looking for ways to create a creative LinkedIn advertising strategy, then combine the tips mentioned below;

1. Find targeted customers

Marketing on LinkedIn is not too different from other social channels. You have to begin by setting your goals. Make sure you use suitable metrics to measure your marketing campaigns. You can use the SMART strategy to create effective marketing goals. They even help you to run successful ads.

• S – Specific
• M – Measurable
• A – Achievable
• R – Realistic
• T – Timely

Finding target customers helps to outline the marketing goals, so you can make the right efforts and focus on your objectives. This will help you to create interactive content. If you are looking for ways to create a creative LinkedIn advertising strategy, then combine the tips mentioned below;

2. Work With Influencers

If you want to tap into influencer marketing, then LinkedIn is the right place for it. You can reach the right influencers and share your brand voice through them. There are a number of LinkedIn Voices that are gaining more worth and convenience to create.

When you work with an expert or influencers, it helps to widen your audience. The followers of an influencer regularly watch the live streams and posts will help to grow your brand.

Further Reading: Who are LinkedIn Influencers – and How to Become One

3. Share Customer Success Stories 

Sharing customer stories is one of the best ways to develop the brand image in the mind of targeted customers. It is considered an effective tool to create awareness and highlight the customer response. Inspirational stories add more value to your marketing tactics

When you create consistent testimonials, it gives authority to strengthen the brand credibility and develop trust. Moreover, you can also share the customer’s story in the form of video ads or with a mini-blog post. Bear in mind, effective communication is an amazing way to increase your audience.

4. Post actionable content 

When creating ads for marketing, you can add infographics, images, and stats to value your content. These things prove that your content is reliable and help to develop better insight into it. This is a great way to indulge leads into your brand.

However, when you create articles, videos, and blogs use captivating elements that surely grab the visitor’s attention. It encourages them to read your article. The actionable content can convert your prospects into regular customers.  Suppose you don’t have the brand data; you can create a short eBook to guide your leads.

Further Reading: LinkedIn Lead Generation: 20 Strategies That Work in 2025

The Final Word on LinkedIn Ads

LinkedIn advertising allows brands to approach the right audience and increase the customer retention rate. With LinkedIn ads, you can nurture more valuable customers and build a better brand identity.

Author Bio

Tabish Khalid works as the Digital Marketer for eWorldTrade. He develops and implements digital strategies for eWorldTrade, along with aligning business goals with digital marketing activities. He actively contributes articles related to b2b, digital marketing, and content marketing.

Hero photo by Gabriel Varaljay on Unsplash