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