Run LinkedIn ads

Before you begin

• Your LinkedIn Campaign Manager account must be connected. See Connect LinkedIn.
• You'll need a LinkedIn Page for your business — ads run on behalf of the Page.
• A payment method must be added to your LinkedIn Campaign Manager account.
• LinkedIn has a minimum daily budget of around $10/day per campaign. LinkedIn CPCs are higher than most platforms — expect significantly higher costs per click than Meta or Google, offset by the precision of professional targeting.

Campaign goals available on LinkedIn

• Website visits — drive traffic to a landing page or website.
• Lead generation — collect leads via a LinkedIn native lead form (pre-fills with LinkedIn profile data).

How to launch a LinkedIn campaign

1. Go to the Advertise tab and click LinkedIn.
2. Choose your campaign goal.
3. Build your creative. LinkedIn supports:
   • Single image ads — most common format; image with headline, description, and CTA button. Recommended: 1:1 square.
   • Video ads — square or landscape video, 3 seconds to 30 minutes (15–30 seconds recommended).
   • Message ads — as an alternative format, you can show up in the inbox of users with a custom message.
4. Set your audience using LinkedIn's professional targeting:
   • Job title, job function, or seniority level
   • Company name, company size, or industry
   • Skills, degrees, fields of study or member groups
   • Custom retargeting audiences
   See Targeting: LinkedIn for a full breakdown of LinkedIn targeting options.
5. Set the destination:
   • Website visits: enter the URL to send people to.
   • Lead generation: create or select a LinkedIn lead form. Lead data is pre-filled from the user's LinkedIn profile, which typically delivers higher completion rates than external landing page forms.
6. Set your daily budget. Note the minimum daily spend requirement when setting up.
7. Review and click Launch.

LinkedIn creative best practices

• Speak to the professional context: LinkedIn users are in a professional mindset. Lead with business value — ROI, efficiency, career advancement — rather than consumer-style emotional hooks.
• Use lead forms for B2B: LinkedIn native lead forms (pre-filled with profile data) dramatically outperform traffic campaigns to landing pages for lead gen. The friction is lower and completion rates are significantly higher.
• Start narrow, then scale: LinkedIn's targeting is powerful but audience sizes can get small quickly when stacking filters. Start with 50,000–300,000 audience size for most campaigns. Check the audience size estimate before launching.

Common issues

My audience size is too small

LinkedIn requires a minimum audience size to deliver. If your targeting is too narrow, broaden one or two filters — for example, loosen the seniority range or add adjacent job titles. The audience size indicator during setup will show when you're in a workable range.

My ad is in review for a long time

LinkedIn's review process can take up to 24 hours. If your ad hasn't been approved after 24 hours, check for policy violations in the ad content — prohibited claims, competitive brand mentions, or content that doesn't meet LinkedIn's advertising policies.

My campaign is spending but not getting leads

For lead gen campaigns, confirm you're using a LinkedIn native lead form rather than a landing page URL — lead forms typically see much higher conversion rates on LinkedIn. Also review your audience and ensure it's well-matched to your offer. High spend with low leads often means the audience is right but the creative or offer isn't resonating.