LinkedIn Dynamic Ads – what could they do for you?
LinkedIn Dynamic Ads are personalized ads which are small and placed to the right of a person’s LinkedIn feed. These ads only work on desktop versions of LinkedIn, although they can nonetheless be very useful for driving traffic to your desired page. This is because businesspeople using LinkedIn are often likely to be using a desktop (i.e. work PC or laptop) more than the average internet user, and because of the bespoke and personalized nature of LinkedIn Dynamic Ads. The more that an ad is tailored to a specific person’s interests, the more likely they are to find it appealing and hence click on it.
LinkedIn Dynamic Ads are personalized ads which are placed to the right of a person’s LinkedIn feed. These ads only work on desktop versions of LinkedIn, although they can nonetheless be very useful for driving traffic to your desired page. This is because business people using LinkedIn are often likely to be using a desktop (i.e. work PC or laptop) more than the average internet user, and because of the bespoke and personalized nature of LinkedIn Dynamic Ads. The more that an ad is tailored to a specific person’s interests, the more likely they are to find it appealing and hence click on it.
There are three types of LinkedIn dynamic ads available, these are as follows:
1. Follow Company ads – These are used for building brand awareness and growing the following of a company.
2. Spotlight ads – These are used with a CTA (call to action) and usually link to a landing page or service page for the thing discussed in the CTA. Spotlight ads can also be put in place with a custom background too.
3. Content ads – These are primarily used to encourage content downloads. For instance, you can attach a PDF downloadable document to the ad which is up to 10MB in size. You can also choose to hide your company’s followers count with these ads, which could be useful for younger companies. However, these content ads are currently only available for users with managed LinkedIn accounts.
All of these ads dictate that your company name must be 25 characters or less (including spaces) and your logo picture must be a minimum of 100 x 100 pixels.
The advantages of LinkedIn dynamic ads
LinkedIn claims that its dynamic ads produce double the clickthrough rate of the usual display ads, piquing the interest of numerous companies who are competing in the race for users’ attention online. The tailor-made quality of these ads is, of course, one of their biggest advantages, but why else should you consider using dynamic ads?
1. The personal touch
Blanket advertising is easy to ignore – we see it all the time, both on the internet and around town. On the other hand, ads which feature a LinkedIn user’s personal details and personalize the content according to their unique interests is much more likely to resonate with a user and catch their attention. Dynamic ads can include a LinkedIn member’s photo, first name, and job title.
2. Enhanced customization
Linkedin uses advanced technology to personalize and translate your ad, making your ad individually tailored for each and every user who sees it. If you want to enhance the customization of your dynamic ad campaign, you can use powerful data mapping tools which allow you to do this with ease by adding useful macros.
3. Strengthen your funnel
It doesn’t matter if you’re raising brand awareness with “Follow Company” ads, promoting specific services with “Content” ads, or using “Spotlight” ads to promote special events, dynamic LinkedIn ads have the convenience of working all along the marketing funnel at various stages. If you’re looking for the best ads to strengthen specific aspects of your marketing funnel, try A/B testing different designs in the Linkedin Campaign Manager system, finding out which method is the best for optimizing ad effectiveness with your audience.
Tips and tricks for LinkedIn dynamic ads
There are some tips and best practices which are useful to keep in mind when harnessing the LinkedIn dynamic ads system for your company. Here we go over some of the most important tips to follow:
1. Don’t lose sight of the specific goal
Don’t spread yourself too thin with your ad, trying to do everything in one go. If you’re simply raising brand awareness, then choose a “Follow Company” ad and design it appropriately. If you’re trying to promote an event or product, then use a “Spotlight” ad and design it appropriately. The dynamic ad types have very specific business goals in mind – you’re best using them for their intended purposes.
2. Personalize. Personalize. Personalize
Visual personalization is a great way to catch users’ attention and get them interested in your ad. For example, including a user’s personal name, company, or photo as part of your ad design helps to drive up your levels of engagement. This can be achieved with ad templates created by LinkedIn for this very purpose. Of course, you don’t want to go overboard and pander too much, but a little personalization could give your ad that wink of charm that it needs.
3. Avoid vague language
Don’t use vague language in your headings and text – you’ve only got so many characters to sell yourself, and you should assume that people know nothing about your company from the onset. Be specific and be clear, otherwise people won’t stick around to find out more.
4. Write a strong CTA
Be very clear when writing your CTA – what do you want your readers to do? Go download a whitepaper? Visit a website? Go to a product landing page? Make your CTA short and sweet, clearly stating what your interested leads should do in order to drive themselves further down the conversion funnel.
5. Gather insights and metrics
You might think you’ve created the best LinkedIn dynamic ad in the world, but the numbers reveal all! The Linkedin Campaign Manager enables you to view all the relevant statistics and insights in its performance tab. Here you can observe your ad’s impressions, leads, engagement, click-throughs, and much more! You can also administer A/B testing with multiple ad designs, allowing you to identify the ad which most engages and resonates with your audience. A simple change of your headline, text, or logo could make a surprisingly significant difference to your stats!
The bottom line
Linkedin’s dynamic ads are brilliant for companies who know exactly who they’re advertising to and how they want to do it. As long as you have specific goals in mind and you know how to tailor your ad to your audience in an engaging manner, then Linkedin dynamic ads could easily see your promotional campaigns going from strength to strength on this professional social network.
