LinkedIn Ad Sizes and Specifications for 2023

LinkedIn is one of the best-evolving social media platforms – not only can members use the platform as an extremely targeted recruitment site / search for their next role, but brands can use it for advertising their products / services to the ideal audience.

When it comes to advertising – aesthetic is everything. You need a killer image that stands out amongst everything else that saturates our feeds and grabs the reader’s attention. It’s the image that can often make or break the success of a marketing campaign. And this includes LinkedIn ad types and format.

If you want to be sure you’re getting the visual side of your LinkedIn ad campaign bang on the money, our LinkedIn ads agency will take you through how to do just that.

1 – The Different LinkedIn Ads Specs

For those relatively new to the world of marketing on LinkedIn, there is more than one type of ad spec to choose from, and the right one depends on your campaign’s objective. Here is a list of what’s available to you.

1.1 – Sponsored Content

Sponsored content is native marketing on LinkedIn that allows you to reach a selected target audience that has yet to be acquainted with your brand. Because sponsored content on LinkedIn is labelled as sponsored content, whatever ad format you choose, it will still be obvious to a user that what they’re seeing is an advertisement.

Creating sponsored content on LinkedIn gives you the flexibility to create a campaign with a CTA (call-to-action), that may lead to something like a lead gen form, meaning the user effectively signs up to learn more about your brand, or to interact with your brand directly.

Sponsored content works well if your objective is lead generation or building brand awareness.

Ad Spec Recommendations for Sponsored Content

– Image size: 1200 x 627 pixels in JPG, GIF (non-animated) or PNG format. Larger images have higher click-through rates (CTR), smaller images will be shown as a thumbnail.

– Headlines: Should be short, concise, and should convey the overall ad message. You will only have 150 characters (including spaces) to work with here.

– Description: 70 characters or less (including spaces).

Video Ads

Video advertising is an increasingly popular and successful way for brands to market themselves on LinkedIn, as they make it easy for a user to consume information quickly and effortlessly.

Ad Spec Recommendations for Video Ads

– Video Format: MP4

– File size: 75 KB to 200 MB

– Frame rate: Less than 30 FPS (frames per second)

1.2 – Sponsored Messaging

Sponsored messaging is LinkedIn’s way of allowing you to personalise your messaging to make it look like a DM (direct message). LinkedIn is pro at collecting the right data for you to market your campaign with and personalise your message as best as possible.

This format is also native and will only pop up in your audiences’ LinkedIn mail box – and it will only do so when your target is actively on LinkedIn, enhancing the chance of them opening the ad and (hopefully) converting.

The two formats you have here are Message Ads and Conversation Ads.

Message Ads are a more sophisticated version of email marketing, allowing you to create a personalised ad that is short and sweet, and has a clear CTA. These are great if lead generation is your focal point.

Conversation Ads are designed to direct engagement, and have more than one option for the lead to view to then discuss directly with your brand. For maximum success, it is best that you keep your ad tone warm, friendly and inviting.

Please note: with Sponsored Messaging, the ad must come from a member of your team – it’s not possible to send it from your company’s page, so when setting up the ad campaign, choose the right team member for the job (CEO, marketing manager, HR manager – whoever best suits the actual purpose of the ad) – and make sure they have a great LinkedIn profile with plenty of information and a good profile picture.

Ad Specs for Sponsored Messaging

– Banner image: 300 x 250 pixels (recommended size), in JPG, GIF (non-animated) or PNG format and should include a click-through URL

– Maximum size: 40 KB

– Message Ads limit: Up to 1500 characters, but try to keep it short and sweet for maximum click-through rate (CTR). The recommended number is three links in your message to provide engagement variety.

– Conversation Ads: Use LinkedIn templates.

1.3 – Dynamic Ads

Like Sponsored Messaging ads, Dynamic Ads also go for a personal approach, but instead of landing in a LinkedIn user’s direct messages, they will appear as a banner (usually) on the top right of the lead’s feed.

By using member data, a Dynamic Ad will feature the name and profile picture of the lead, making it instantly eye-grabbing to them. Dynamic Ads offer several formats (follower ads, spotlight ads, and content / text ads, and more), all of which allows you to include a CTA.

Purposes & Ad Specs for Dynamic Ads

Follower Ads

These encourage your audience to follow your company’s page on LinkedIn.

– Logo size: 100 x 100 pixels in JPG or PNG format. Use a square image, otherwise it will be reduced to fit, which may cut off vital parts of the image / logo.

Spotlight Ads

These encourage your audience to visit a landing page or website.

– Logo size: 100 x 100 pixels in JPG or PNG format. Use a square image, otherwise it will be reduced to fit.

– Background image size (optional): 300 x 250 pixels.

Text Ads

The simplest form of advertising. Can be used to market a new product or service, or inform leads about a new company development, etc.

– Image size: 100 x 100 pixels in JPG or PNG format, 2 KB or less

– Headline: 25 characters or less

– Description: 75 characters or less

Job Ads

A way to promote one or more job opportunities within your company.

Content Ads

Lead generation-focused marketing that encourages a lead to do something specific (i.e.: download an eBook, sign up for a monthly newsletter, etc).

1.4 – Display Ads

These are generally image-based ads which will appear to the right of a user’s feed. They serve to build brand awareness and company presence on LinkedIn.

2- LinkedIn Ads: The Best Practices

Here is how to make your ads as top-level as possible:

– Keep your copy short and simple. You don’t have much flexibility here, so make sure you get to the point.

– Make the best part of the ad (limited-time offer, free sign-up, etc) the highlight of the ad.

– Target your audience well – and tailor your content to it speaks to them on more than a one-dimensional level. Make them feel like your brand knows and understands them as a person and what they need.

– Be generous with your CTAs. You will have an opportunity to include multiple CTAs, so do so, and make them clear and easy to understand. Make it extremely easy for a lead to convert.

– Look into multiple campaigns. Creating more than one ad allows you to target your audience in more than one way.

– A/B testing. It is important to test the success of your campaigns to optimise your budget spend and make any necessary amendments to the campaign if need be.

Conclusion

So, there you have everything you need to know about the specifics and purposes behind the various ad formats on LinkedIn. With the above information, you can create a highly targeted and aesthetically appealing ad to generate and convert leads and see a great ROI.

If you’d like to learn more about how we help B2B SaaS and Tech companies grow their MRR through LinkedIn advertising, contact us online or send us an email today at info@getuplead.com to speak with someone on our team.