LinkedIn Message Ads
Getting Started Guide
What are message ads?
Message Ads
Send direct messages to
your prospects to spark
immediate action
The market landscape is changing,
presenting both challenges and
opportunities for marketers
More time is being spent The buying B2B sales cycles are
on social messaging apps experience matters getting shorter
This is shifting the way people 8 in 10 of buyers say that the Marketers now need to make
communicate, with each other experience a company every interaction count by
and businesses. 89% of consumers provides is as important delivering a relevant marketing
would like to use messaging with as its products and services. 2 message to the right person at
businesses, but only 48% of the right time. 3
businesses are using messaging
to engage with consumers.1
Sources: 1) Twilio Consumer Report , 2) Adobe 2019 Digital Trends, 3) LinkedIn Enlightened Tech Report (2019)
With LinkedIn Message Ads, you can
send direct messages to your prospects
to spark immediate action
Deliver a targeted Drive stronger Measure the
message with a engagement than impact of your
single CTA traditional emails messages
Communicate to your Messages are delivered Understand the ROI,
prospects without in an uncluttered with demographic
having to worry about environment so that your reporting and
character limits brand stands out conversation tracking.
How do message ads work?
How message ads work
Message ads are delivered to your
prospects on both mobile and desktop.
Delivered in real-time, when prospects
are active on LinkedIn.
To prevent fatigue, LinkedIn members
only receive the same message ad
once every 45 days.
The anatomy of a message ad
Prospects can engage with your message ad by clicking on your CTA button,
hyperlinks, and banner ad.
300x250 banner
CTA
Body hyperlink
Same CTA
Sticky CTA button
Desktop Mobile (No banner image)
Setting up your Step-by-step
guidance to creating
message ad your message ad
campaign
1
Campaign setup
Campaign setup
Log into
Campaign
Manager.
Click “Create
campaign.” In Campaign Manager, click “Create
campaign” and the campaign
creation page in the same window.
Campaign setup
Choose which
campaign objective
aligns the most with
your marketing
objective
Name your campaign
and select your objective
Brand Website Video Lead Website Job
Engagement
awareness visits views generation conversions applicants
Message ads are supported
under the following objectives:
Select the “Lead Generation”
objective to add a Lead Gen Form
to your message ad campaign
Drive up to 4x more leads by adding a Lead Gen
Form to your message ad.
A Lead Gen Form is pre-filled with accurate
professional information from the prospect’s
LinkedIn profile, such as name, contact info,
company name, seniority, job title, and location.
Prospects can sign up without leaving the ad.
Campaign setup
Choose your
target audience
Select the desired profile
language and location(s)
of your audience
Note
After your campaign is saved
as a draft, you will NOT be able
to change the language.
Campaign setup
Narrow down your
target audience
Refine “audience attributes”
including: Company,
demographics, education, job
experience, and interests.
Leverage advanced targeting
features such as Matched
Audiences to re-target accounts,
contacts, and website visitors.
Campaign setup
Once your
targeting is set
up, you can see
real-time ad
result forecasting
Forecasting will change with
targeting criteria, bid, daily budget.
Campaign setup
Select “Message
ad” as your ad
format
Only one ad format can be
selected per campaign
Note
Message ads will NOT run on the
LinkedIn Audience Network —
they will serve on LinkedIn only
Campaign setup
Set up your
campaign budget
and schedule
Set a total budget, or daily and
total budget.
• Setting a daily budget is not
recommended, since ads are
delivered in real-time and have
strict frequency caps
• You are only able to bid on a
cost-per-send basis
Campaign setup
About
scheduling
• Start date cannot be in the past
• An end date is not required.
Campaign will end either when
total budget is reached or
campaign end date.
Campaign setup
Add conversion
tracking to monitor the
valuable actions people
take on your website
Save and next
Conversion tracking lets you see
how your ads led to valuable actions Once you’ve completed the
on your website, including content campaign setup, click “Save and next”
downloads, sign-ups, purchases, to continue to set up your ads.
and more.
Visit our help center for details.
2
Message ad set up
Message ad setup
Under “Browse
existing content,”
click “Create new
Create new ad
ad” or select an
existing ad.
Message ad setup
Create your ad
Assign a name for your
message ad that’s distinctive,
to make it easy to
differentiate ad variations.
Choose the sender:
To add a team member as a
sender, click “add sender.”
Make sure he/she is already
your first-degree connection.
He/she will need to approve
your request.
Message ad setup
Add a subject
• Keep the subject line concise,
relevant, and conversational
with a clear call-to-action.
We recommend keywords like
“Connect,” “Opportunities,”
and “Join us/me”
• 60 characters max.
Message ad setup
Create your
message
• Introduce yourself, and state
a clear purpose for your
outreach
• Keep message short and
sweet. We recommend
< 500 characters
• To boost conversion, add
hyperlinks to make it easy for
prospects to engage
• 1,500 characters max.
Message ad setup
Customer
footer, CTA,
banner image
• Add a custom footer with a
disclaimer, or terms &
conditions (optional)
• By default, LinkedIn’s
terms & conditions will be
shown in the footer of
each message ad
Message ad setup
CTA (required):
Enter the exact text for the call-to-
action button. Up to 20 characters.
Image (optional, but highly
recommended):
• 300x250 banner image
• Shows on desktop only Upload image
(not on mobile)
• If no banner image is
provided, then another Create
brand’s image may appear
next to your message ad
Click “Create.”
Message ad setup
Before sending
your message ad
Click on the “•••” in the ad view
menu to:
• Duplicate the ad
• Edit the ad (only when still in
draft mode)
• Send a test message to
yourself, to preview what the
prospect would see, and to
ensure accuracy
3
View message ads
performance
Campaign setup
Monitor your ad
performance In the “columns”
dropdown menu, switch
View robust reporting and to “Sponsored InMail.”
success metrics directly in the
Campaign Manager dashboard.
Track campaign metrics such as:
• Sends
• Opens
• Open rate
• Click Through Rate
If you added a Lead Gen Form
• Clicks (button, banner, link) to your message ad, switch to
• And more “Conversions & Leads.”
Metric Definition
Defining
Number of times your ad was sent (i.e. impressions)
Campaign Manager Sends
Opens Number of times your ad was opened (unique opens)
reporting metrics
Clicks Sum of clicks on CTA buttons and link clicks
Button Clicks Sum of clicks on CTA buttons
Banner Clicks Sum of clicks on the banner ad
Link Clicks Clicks in the message body
Open rate % of Opens divided by Sends
Click to Open rate % of Clicks divided by Opens
Cost per send Spend divided by Sends
Cost per open Spend divided by Opens
Average CPC Spend divided by Clicks
What metrics should you use to evaluate campaign performance?
“Website Visits” “Website Conversions” “Lead Generation”
objective objective objective
Upper Open Rate Yes Yes Yes
funnel Cost Per Send Yes Yes Yes
Click Through Rate Yes Yes No
Mid Lead Form Open Rate No No Yes
funnel Cost Per Click Yes Yes No
Conversion Rate — Yes —
Cost Per Conversion — Yes —
Yes (Website Action, Registration, Yes (Website Action, Registration, No
Lower Cost Per Action Conversion, etc.) Conversion, etc.)
funnel
Lead Fill Rate No No Yes
Cost Per Lead Yes Yes Yes
Evaluate your campaign based on your objectives and goals. Use this matrix
as a guide to select metrics to track success at each stage of the funnel.
Thank you
Visit the message ads homepage for case studies,
how-to videos, and best practices.
