When it comes to LinkedIn advertising, there are several ad types to choose from. Each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Given all the options, businesses who are new to the platform can oftentimes feel overwhelmed about what ad format would work best with their company.
This is a natural response as online advertising is often a daunting undertaking. This is what this post aims to simplify. It will examine LinkedIn dynamic ads, their different types, some best practices and when businesses should consider incorporating them into their marketing strategies.
What Are LinkedIn Dynamic Ads?
LinkedIn dynamic ads are personalised advertisements that use a user’s profile data like username and image to convey a company’s message. Due to this personalised nature, they are more relevant to the potential prospect and have a higher chance of quickly grabbing their attention.
The way it works is that you first need to create a template. The dynamic ad then gathers a user’s name and image from their LinkedIn profile and applies it to the ad template you created. The final result is an ad that feels tailored specifically to the individual viewer, making it more engaging and relevant.
This level of personalisation helps to build a stronger connection with your target audience, ultimately increasing the likelihood of receiving more clicks and conversions. Unlike other LinkedIn ads such as sponsored content, dynamic ads only work on desktop devices.
They don’t display directly in the prospect’s feed but are instead shown in the right-hand corner next to the user’s feed. The idea behind this specific ad placement is that it is in a highly visible place without being intrusive. It creates a balance between grabbing the user’s attention and maintaining a great user experience. This allows viewers to focus on the content within their news feed while still being subtly exposed to a personalized ad.
The 3 Types of LinkedIn Dynamic Ads
When creating a LinkedIn dynamic ad, there are a few options to choose from. While all of them are somewhat similar in their design, each one of them works well with a specific objective. Keep in mind all the details of the advertising specifications as some of them can be quite restrictive with the amount of characters you are allowed to use. Here is a quick overview:
1. Follower Ads
As the name would imply, this dynamic ad format type works well for quickly growing a following on a company LinkedIn page. Follower ads encourage users to follow a company page and contain the user’s profile picture as well as your brand’s logo. The ad also includes an ad headline, company name, description and a “Follow” button that serves as a call to action (CTA).
Specs of a follower ad:
- Brand logo (100 x 100 px either as a JPG or PNG file no larger than 2MB)
- Headline (50 characters including spaces)
- Description (70 characters including spaces)
- Company name (25 characters including spaces)
2. Spotlight Ads
Another common dynamic ad type is spotlight ads. While they are a little bit on the aggressive side, spotlight ads are great at increasing brand awareness and sending traffic to a website or landing page. They contain most of the same components as a follower ad but they have a dedicated call to action section and provide you with the choice of adding an optional background image.
Specs of a spotlight ad:
- Company logo (100 x 100 px either as a JPG/PNG no larger than 2MB)
- Optional background ad image (300 x 250 px)
- Ad headline (50 characters)
- Ad description (70 Characters)
- Company name (25 Characters)
- CTA (18 Characters)
One quick thing to note, while you can add a background image to a spotlight ad, this is not recommended as this will remove the user’s profile photo and description. Which in reality takes away the component that makes a spotlight ad unique.
3. Content Ads
The last one on the list is LinkedIn Dynamic content ads. This dynamic ad is different from the other two mentioned on the list. It is part of LinkedIn’s premium ad offering and only advertisers with a LinkedIn Managed Account can use it. Content ads are designed to generate leads or promote downloadable content — ebooks, whitepapers, etc.
Specs of a dynamic content ad:
- Optional company logo (100 x 100px)
- Company name (25 characters)
- Optional company page follower count
- Document name (50 characters)
- Download doc ( PDF up to 10MB)
- Optional doc preview (5 preview pages maximum (81 x104px page size))
- CTA (75 characters)
- Privacy policy (2000 characters)
Benefits That LinkedIn Dynamic Ads Provide Businesses
There are several advantages that LinkedIn Dynamic ads can provide businesses with. Below is a quick rundown of some of them:
- Personalised and relevant ads: As LinkedIn dynamic ads automatically pull user profile information to create the advertisement, they are more personalised and relevant to the prospect.
- Flexible formats: There are three dynamic ad formats that businesses can choose from. Each of them is well suited for specific marketing goals like increasing brand awareness or lead generation.
- Automated and enhanced customisation: LinkedIn Dynamic ads eliminate the need to manually create multiple ad variations. Making it a quick and easy process that targets individual users showing them a highly personalised ad.
5 Best Practices For Getting The Most Out of Dynamic Ads
No one starts a dynamic ad campaign or any campaign for that matter with the intention of it failing. However, sometimes businesses pursue something that holds a lot of promise, but they go about it the wrong way. Follow these best practices below to ensure your campaign gets off to a great start.
1. Clearly Define Your Marketing Objective
As dynamic ads work well for specific marketing goals you want to ensure you clearly define what your campaign objectives are. This will ensure you don’t focus on a dynamic ad that does not support your marketing goal. Doing all of this will help you get the best results and provide valuable insight into whether you are using the right ad format.
2. Make Headlines and Descriptions As Clear As Possible
As mentioned earlier, LinkedIn dynamic ads only allow you to use a certain amount of characters. Thus it is crucial you use your words in an effective manner. Remember that characters also include spaces and not only letters.
Try to avoid using unnecessary information in your ad copy and only include the most important details. A good strategy is to focus on the benefits that the ad has to offer. Try to clearly emphasize this in your description and headline if possible.
3. Use Strong CTAs
If you have looked at marketing best practices before or have run a few ad campaigns in the past, you will know the crucial role of a strong CTA. It helps to eliminate confusion and clearly highlights the next steps the prospect should take.
A strong CTA is often the last nudge a potential client needs to go from making a decision to taking action. That’s why it is so effective. So ensure you use a call to action that is clear but also compelling.
4. Ensure Your Landing Page Matches Your Ad
The next best practice has to do with any ad that sends someone to a landing page or a website — such as a spotlight ad or even a text ad for that matter. You want to ensure that the page you send them to matches your advertisement.
Sometimes marketers make this mistake and think that there is something wrong with their campaign. However, in reality, it is their landing page. If your landing page carries the same message as your campaign and clearly reflects the same thing that the ad was about, your chances of seeing conversions are higher.
5. Continually Test and Adapt
Like any marketing campaign, it’s essential to run ongoing tests to evaluate performance. Doing so will help you determine whether you should pause the ad or make minor adjustments. With A/B testing, you can experiment with different ad images, descriptions and headlines to identify which versions yield the best results.
LinkedIn Campaign Manager also simplifies tracking key metrics, such as impressions, engagement rates, click-through rates and other relevant statistics based on your campaign objectives. This allows you to quickly assess your ad’s performance and make data-driven decisions.
When Should Businesses Run LinkedIn Dynamic Ads?
LinkedIn dynamic ads work well when businesses are trying to reach specific marketing goals. For instance, if they want to increase their brand awareness or send traffic to a landing page, spotlight ads could be a great way to do so. On the other hand, if they want to increase their follower count on the platform, then follower ads are their best bet.
Another use case is when companies want to reach their target audience with a more personalised message. As LinkedIn dynamic ads display profile information, they can quickly grab a user’s attention and make the advertisement feel more relevant to them. Some other use cases could include content promotion, lead generation or wanting people to download resources like an ebook.
Curious how your business can incorporate dynamic ads in your marketing strategy? Complete the contact form below and let us guide your hand in developing a holistic approach that works for your brand.