LinkedIn Ads
B2B advertising on LinkedIn — campaigns, targeting, creative, Lead Gen Forms, and ABM.
Install
git clone https://github.com/thatrebeccarae/claude-marketing.git && cp -r claude-marketing/skills/linkedin-ads ~/.claude/skills/
Campaign Types
| Type |
Objective |
Best For |
| Sponsored Content |
Brand awareness, engagement, conversions |
Thought leadership, content promotion |
| Message Ads |
Direct outreach at scale |
Event invites, demo requests, high-value offers |
| Text Ads |
Cost-efficient clicks |
Always-on brand visibility |
| Dynamic Ads |
Personalized (follower, spotlight, jobs) |
Follower growth, personalized CTAs |
| Document Ads |
Lead gen through gated content |
Whitepapers, reports, guides |
| Video Ads |
Brand awareness, engagement |
Product demos, testimonials, thought leadership |
| Conversation Ads |
Multi-CTA interactive messages |
Complex offers, event + content combos |
| Lead Gen Forms |
In-platform lead capture |
Gated content, demo requests, newsletter signups |
Targeting Capabilities
Professional Targeting (LinkedIn-Exclusive)
| Dimension |
Examples |
Use Case |
| Job Title |
VP Marketing, CMO, Head of Growth |
Role-specific targeting |
| Job Function |
Marketing, Sales, Engineering |
Broad function targeting |
| Seniority |
C-Suite, VP, Director, Manager, Entry |
Decision-maker targeting |
| Company Name |
Specific company lists |
ABM campaigns |
| Company Size |
1-10, 11-50, 51-200, 201-500, 500+ |
Segment by org size |
| Company Industry |
SaaS, Healthcare, Finance, etc. |
Vertical targeting |
| Skills |
Digital Marketing, SEO, Data Analysis |
Interest/expertise targeting |
| Groups |
LinkedIn Group membership |
Community targeting |
| Years of Experience |
1-2, 3-5, 6-10, 10+ |
Career stage |
| Education |
Degree, field of study, school |
Academic targeting |
Matched Audiences
| Type |
Source |
Use Case |
| Contact Targeting |
Email lists (300+ match) |
CRM retargeting, ABM |
| Company Targeting |
Company name lists |
ABM account lists |
| Website Retargeting |
Insight Tag pixel |
Site visitor retargeting |
| Lookalike Audiences |
Expand from any source |
Scale proven audiences |
| Engagement Retargeting |
Ad/page engagers |
Warm audience nurturing |
| Event Retargeting |
LinkedIn Event attendees |
Post-event follow-up |
Audience Size Guidelines
| Campaign Type |
Minimum |
Recommended |
Maximum |
| Sponsored Content |
50,000 |
100,000-300,000 |
500,000+ |
| Message Ads |
15,000 |
30,000-100,000 |
200,000 |
| Lead Gen Forms |
50,000 |
100,000-300,000 |
500,000+ |
| ABM (Company List) |
300 companies |
500-1,000 companies |
5,000 |
Benchmarks
| Metric |
Good |
Average |
Poor |
| CTR (Sponsored Content) |
>0.8% |
0.4-0.8% |
<0.4% |
| CTR (Message Ads) |
>3% |
1-3% |
<1% |
| CPC (Sponsored Content) |
<$5 |
$5-10 |
>$10 |
| CPM |
<$30 |
$30-60 |
>$60 |
| Cost per Lead (Lead Gen) |
<$50 |
$50-150 |
>$150 |
| Lead Gen Form completion |
>15% |
10-15% |
<10% |
| Video view rate |
>25% |
15-25% |
<15% |
| Social engagement rate |
>0.5% |
0.3-0.5% |
<0.3% |
Audit Workflow
Step 1: Account Structure
- Campaign groups organized by objective/audience
- No overlapping audiences competing against each other
- Budget allocation matches business priorities
- Naming convention:
[Objective]-[Audience]-[Creative Type]-[Date]
Step 2: Targeting Assessment
- Audience size within recommended ranges
- No conflicting targeting layers (too narrow)
- Exclusions applied (current customers, competitors, employees)
- Matched Audiences utilizing CRM data
Step 3: Creative Review
- Ad format matches objective
- Intro text under 150 characters (before truncation)
- Image specs: 1200x627 (sponsored content), 1200x1200 (carousel)
- Video: 15-30 seconds, captions, square or vertical for mobile
- CTA button aligned with landing page intent
Step 4: Conversion Tracking
- Insight Tag installed and firing
- Conversion events configured (lead, purchase, signup)
- Offline conversion import set up (if applicable)
- Attribution window appropriate (30-day for B2B)
Step 5: Budget & Bidding
- Daily budget sufficient for target audience size
- Bid strategy aligned with maturity (auto for new, manual for optimized)
- Cost caps set based on target CAC
Best Practices
Creative
- Single-image > carousel for awareness (simpler, higher CTR)
- Document ads for lead gen (native PDF viewer, no landing page needed)
- Video with captions (85% of LinkedIn video watched without sound)
- Refresh creative every 4-6 weeks (frequency fatigue sets in fast)
Targeting
- Start broad, then narrow based on performance data
- Layer max 2-3 targeting dimensions (avoid over-segmentation)
- Use exclusions aggressively (exclude converted leads, competitors)
- ABM: combine company list + seniority for precision
Lead Gen Forms
- Max 3-4 fields (pre-filled from profile = high completion)
- Include a thank-you page with next step
- Integrate with CRM (Zapier, native, or API) for instant follow-up
- Speed-to-lead matters: contact within 5 minutes = 9x higher connect rate
Integration with Other Skills
- google-ads — Cross-platform campaign comparison
- facebook-ads — Meta vs LinkedIn targeting overlap analysis
- account-structure-review — Multi-platform structural audit
- wasted-spend-finder — Identify wasted LinkedIn spend
- copywriting-frameworks — Apply PAS/AIDA to LinkedIn ad copy
