LinkedIn Ads offers 12 different ad types, but which one(s) are the most effective? Which should you be using?

As we prepare to enter 2024, here are the ad types we recommend LinkedIn advertisers consider including in their mix next year.

Let’s hit it!

BEST LINKEDIN AD TYPES TO BE USING IN 2024

VIDEO ADS

Video has become one of the most popular methods for content marketing and consumption.

In fact, research shows that 82% of all consumer traffic will be accredited to video by 2025.

Not only that, but 88% of marketers have reported an improvement in ROI thanks to video.

It’s clear that this content format isn’t going to slow down next year and the same is true for its paid counterpart.

LinkedIn Video Ads have grown increasingly popular in recent years and it’s easy to see why.

Video is, by far, the best way to convey emotion.

It can allow businesses to explain products and processes clearly, build trust and authority on relevant topics, and do so in an entertaining or engaging way.

Video views retargeting from Video Ads is also one of the fastest ways to build a retargeting audience on LinkedIn.

Needless to say, this is definitely an ad type you’ll want to invest in come next year.

Here are 7 best practices for LinkedIn Video Ads to help get you started.

SINGLE IMAGE ADS

Single Image Ads are one of the simplest ad types, which also makes them one of the most popular.

Even when video content is short and DIY style (picture just recording yourself from the camera on your phone), imagery is still easier and faster to produce in most cases.

Single Image Ads also occupy space in the LinkedIn news feed, making them feel more organic.

And like video view retargeting, Single Image Ad retargeting can be one of the fastest methods for building a retargeting audience on the platform.

If you’re looking for a simple ad type to help you just get started on LinkedIn Ads, with the option to accelerate the time it takes to graduate your prospects to the next stage of the customer journey, then you can’t go wrong with Single Image Ads.

TEXT ADS

Text Ads are a great supplemental ad type—meaning, you may not want to run these on their own, but they work great when running in tandem with other ad types, like Single Image or Video Ads.

What Text Ads excel at is generating impressions.

That’s because they occupy the space over in the right rail when on desktop (they do not display on mobile), so they’re displayed frequently.

When run under the Website Visits Objective (versus Brand Awareness or Website Conversions), they’re also dirt cheap.

You’ll spend next to nothing and generate thousands of impressions because they’re rarely clicked on.

The point of Text Ads, then, is to be used in a brand awareness play.

So if you want to give your audience some extra brand exposure at an extremely low cost, definitely be sure to include Text Ads in the mix.

THOUGHT LEADER ADS

Though this is still a relatively new ad type, what we’ve seen from Thought Leader Ads so far is enough reason for us to recommend them as part of your LinkedIn Ads strategy.

The benefit of Thought Leader Ads is that they act as a boosted post, but are written and published by employees within your organization.

In short, instead of a post being promoted by a faceless brand, it’s being sponsored by an individual.

This makes the advertiser behind Thought Leader Ads feel much more approachable than the company itself.

We’ve seen this lead to higher engagement rates on Thought Leader Ads than on company page-boosted posts.

So if you want an ad type that helps you build trust with your audience and gives you an opportunity to promote your employees’ personal brands, then Thought Leader Ads may be a good fit for you.

DOCUMENT ADS

Document Ads have a very special use case, in our experience, but can be extremely effective.

This ad type excels under the Lead Generation objective.

Where so many nowadays are skeptical and wary about gated content, Document Ads help soften the blow and warm your audience up to your content offers.

The reason for this is because Document Ads allow you to share a preview of your content.

This might be a few pages of the entire document.

The rest is then only viewable after a user submits their information via a LinkedIn Lead Gen Form.

That said, Document Ads don’t have to be gated. There is an ungated option under other objectives, like Brand Awareness and Engagement, to just display the whole piece of content in-feed.

This opens up the possibility of a demand generation play and, now with the option to retarget by any interaction with your Document Ads, puts it on par with Video and Single Image Ads as far as retargeting capabilities.

So, if you want to use content to generate leads or create demand in-feed, Document Ads are a great tool under your toolbelt.

AD TYPES YOU’LL LIKELY WANT TO AVOID

CAROUSEL ADS

We’ve only seen a handful of cases where Carousel Ads proved effective.

The biggest downside to this ad type is that it’s not worth the amount of time invested to get them up and running.

For example, instead of creating just one image, like you would for Single Image Ads, you now have to create multiple images.

This gets even trickier when it comes to optimization.

If your Carousel Ads aren’t performing well, it becomes difficult to narrow down which of your images, if any, could be the cause of poor performance.

That said, if you have a really creative use for Carousel Ads, there’s a possibility they can perform well.

In one instance, we worked with a client that used Carousel Ads to tell a story.

Each card in the carousel acted as a panel in a comic book.

If you don’t have any creative use-cases like this, though, we wouldn’t recommend using Carousel Ads.

MESSAGE ADS

Message Ads are one of the most expensive ad types LinkedIn has to offer.

One of the reasons for this is because advertisers need to help prospects overcome more barriers than usual in order to convert.

For example, with Single Image Ads, an advertiser only needs to influence their audience to consume the messaging of the ad, then take action.

But with Message Ads, an advertiser needs to influence their audience to first open the message, then consume it, and then take action.

Not only that, but LinkedIn charges per Message Ad sent.

So there’s no guarantee that your prospects will even read your message, but you’re still charged for sending it.

Costs per send are relatively cheap (less than $1, on average), but costs can add up pretty quick, with very little return.

For more on Message Ads and how to potentially use them effectively, check out this episode of The LinkedIn Ads Show.

But in general, this isn’t one we would recommend.

NOW WHAT?

With an understanding now of which LinkedIn Ad types are most effective and how they should be used, we hope this guide is helpful to you as you prepare your LinkedIn Ads strategy for the coming year.

If you’re looking for additional resources to help you prep, check out this breakdown of the lowest-cost LinkedIn Ad formats.

And if you want to maximize your return by minimizing waste within your LinkedIn Ads account, consider booking a discovery call with us at B2Linked.

We’d absolutely love the chance to get to work with you!

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