LinkedIn Ads has been quietly rolling out several new features over the last few months.
Here are a few that you should be aware of.
New Targeting Options
LinkedIn has added a few new targeting options, allowing a few more potential layers to zero in on the prospects you’re wanting to reach.
Company Category can be helpful in particular if you’re trying to target enterprise level companies. Options on the list include:
- Forbes World’s Most Innovative Companies
- Fortune 100
- Fortune 500 (US)
- Fortune Global 500
- LinkedIn News Editors’ Top Companies (segmented by country)
- LinkedIn News Editors’ Top Startups (segmented by country)
Company Growth Rate includes the following categories:
- Negative growth
- 0-3%
- 3-10%
- 10-20%
- 20%+
This targeting could be useful if you’re selling software to startups in a high growth stage. Businesses that are scaling quickly may be in need of resources, such a enterprise CRMs or project management systems, that they didn’t use when they had fewer employees.
Member Traits allow you to target people by behavior. Options include:
- Device Preference (desktop/laptop or mobile)
- Frequent Contributor
- Frequent Travelers
- Job Seeker
- Open to Education
Conversation Ads
Conversation Ads are a new form of ads placed directly within users’ inboxes. Message Ads (formerly Sponsored InMail) have been around for a while, allowing you to drop a one-time message to a user.
However, Conversation Ads allow you to create a full-funnel campaign, letting users choose a path while including multiple calls-to-action. Like Message Ads, these are only sent when a user is actively logged into LinkedIn.
You can choose from templates geared around specific goals (such as driving event signups, trials, or website visits) or compose your own custom message. Beneath the message, you can then include custom buttons either linking to a website or leading to additional messages depending on the user’s choice. You can map out a tree of options for the user to follow.
Video Ad Aspect Ratio Update
You can now include aspect ratios from 1:1 to 9:16 for video ads. This puts LinkedIn in line with Facebook and Instagram for better mobile compatibility, allowing square and vertical videos.
Note that vertical videos will only show on mobile.
We’re excited to see LinkedIn continue to roll out new features, and we’re looking forward to see what else comes down the pike later in the year.
Have you tested any of the features outlined above? What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.
