LinkedIn Ad types and formats: A complete guide

Trying to understand the best LinkedIn Ad type to pick can leave even the most experienced B2B marketer feeling paralyzed. Think Jack Torrance staring at his typewriter at the Overlook Hotel, except in this case, taking a swing is a lot less bloody.

This LinkedIn Ads guide takes you on a full tour, showing you how each format fits your marketing goals and where to start if you're new to automating LinkedIn ads. Whether you're promoting a single post or running a massive message campaign, each LinkedIn Ad format helps you break down the door between you and your target audience, faster than you can say "Heeere's Johnny!"

Table of contents:

• LinkedIn Sponsored Content

• LinkedIn Sponsored Messaging

• LinkedIn Dynamic Ads

• LinkedIn Lead Gen ads

• LinkedIn Accelerate vs. Classic ad campaigns

• Which LinkedIn Ads should I run?

• Zapier automation + LinkedIn Ads

• LinkedIn Ads FAQ

LinkedIn Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content, often called native ads, appears directly in the LinkedIn feed, blending in with organic posts. These LinkedIn paid ads perform well because they meet professionals where they're already engaging, often scrolling through insights and industry-related conversations. This makes them ideal for storytelling and thought leadership that drives traffic to your website or content.

You can use Sponsored Content to promote articles, videos, or newsletters that build brand awareness and credibility. It's also a flexible format for brand partnerships, where co-branded campaigns or expert collaborations can widen your reach and showcase shared expertise.

Below are Sponsored Content ad types you'll likely see, along with examples and specs you'll need for setup.

Single Image Ads

Best for: Promoting offers, driving traffic to product pages, or spotlighting new content

Single Image Ads are LinkedIn's comfort food. They work for quick promotions, clear calls to action (CTA), or showcasing a single product benefit. The most important parts are one strong visual, one clear idea, and one click to wherever you want people to go.

People scroll fast, so leading with a high-quality image and concise message grabs their attention in a busy feed. 

Quince proves that minimal design can sell with this Single Image Ad example. The product takes center stage, the copy is short and confident, and the Sign Up CTA drives action without distraction.

Video Ads

Best for: Showing your product in motion or telling a quick customer story

Video Ads turn static posts into short, scroll-stopping stories. These ads are especially good for demos or brand storytelling, when you want people to see what you do, not just read about it. 

Design your video for silent viewing by adding captions, since most people scroll without sound. Keep videos short, ideally under 30 seconds, though you can go longer for deeper educational content or product demos.

This is a screenshot (obviously), but if you saw Teamtailor's Video Ad, you'd understand why it works. It's bright, human, and instantly clear about the product's value. The pacing is quick and it includes captions for sound-free viewing. 

Carousel Ads

Best for: Highlighting multiple products or features and sharing case studies or testimonials

Carousel Ads let folks swipe through a story instead of reading it top to bottom. Each card can focus on a different feature, testimonial, or product, with its own link and headline. It's like running several LinkedIn paid ads at once, but with cohesion and flow.

Use this format when you have more than one good thing to show but don't want to cram everything into a single image.

This carousel tells a story, not just a pitch. Each card connects a local business to a cause, showing impact while keeping the visuals warm and consistent across the series.

Document Ads

Best for: Sharing eBooks, reports, or guides that collect leads without making people leave LinkedIn

Document Ads are like handing someone your brochure before they even walk through the door. Upload a PDF or report, and when someone clicks, the document opens right in the feed. 

In this Document Ad example, The Trade Desk uses data to do the talking. A strong statistic and clean graphic deliver instant authority, and the download button is right there—no clicking through a landing page to get to the meat.

Event Ads

Best for: Getting more people to your webinar, workshop, or in-person event

Event Ads keep things simple: the title, the date, and a clean, inviting CTA. Because they pull directly from your LinkedIn Event, you don't have to build a campaign from scratch. You can just set it up with an event link, promote it, and watch your registration count climb.

Unilever's Event Ad works because it connects the "what," "when," and "how" in one glance. You know right up front that it's a live webinar, what date and time it's at, and you can view and RSVP to the event directly in LinkedIn instead of opening another tab.

Thought Leader Ads

Best for: Giving a human face to your brand

This ad format lets you sponsor a post from thought leaders your business employs (think execs and industry experts). It's like saying, "We trust our people to speak for us." These ads work because they feel less like marketing and more like a professional sharing something worth reading. Yes, it's still marketing for your business, but it comes from an authoritative person instead of a corporation.

Dreamdata's Thought Leader Ad works because it feels like a real post, not a pitch. It shares a quick, personal insight that builds trust and keeps engagement natural while showing how employee voices can humanize a brand.

It feels genuine because it is. That authenticity builds connections faster than any banner ad could.

Article and Newsletter Ads

Best for: Expanding reach for thought leadership and growing your subscriber list

When you publish long-form content natively on LinkedIn—like an article or newsletter—these ads help it extend its reach. Use them to provide helpful tips, showcase thought leadership, or promote deep dives into your business's product offerings.

Article Ads promote a single, standalone LinkedIn article published via the LinkedIn Write Article tool. The ad uses your existing organic post as the creative and directs users straight to that article's page. You can also turn your article into a gated asset by adding a Lead Gen Form, allowing readers to submit their information before unlocking the full piece.

Newsletter Ads promote an edition of your LinkedIn Newsletter. The ad spins off your organic post and drives users to subscribe to all future editions. This format supports brand awareness or engagement objectives (Lead Generation is not offered for Newsletter Ads).

Things to keep in mind for both ad formats:

• They promote native, long-form content that lives on LinkedIn. Users stay on the platform rather than being sent offsite. 

• The creative is your original post. You cannot add new headlines or copy during the ad setup, so you have to finalize the post first. 

• Clicking takes members to the Article page or Newsletter page on LinkedIn, not to an external URL. 

This Article Ad provides an example of content that lives natively on LinkedIn. It shows up on your feed like a regular post, with a clickable article CTA embedded in the ad.

When you click, you go straight to the long-form article, making it easy for readers to engage without leaving their feed. The educational tone and helpful headline make it feel like expert advice, not an ad.

Bernard Marr's Newsletter Ad shows how easy it is to turn helpful content into a subscription driver. The headline hooks readers with a promise of ongoing insights, and the straightforward layout keeps the focus on the Subscribe button.

Connected TV (CTV) Ads

Best for: Turning your brand into primetime content

CTV Ads move your LinkedIn ad campaigns from laptops to living rooms. These full-screen video placements show up on smart TVs and streaming platforms, helping you reach decision-makers when they're watching, not working.

CTV ads aren't something you set up directly in Campaign Manager. They run through LinkedIn's Audience Network, often in partnership with programmatic platforms like The Trade Desk. That means they're typically reserved for large-scale awareness campaigns with higher spend requirements.

Connected TV Ads look like standard Video Ads, except they're formatted to fit on a television screen. It's LinkedIn, but also TV.

Single Job Ads

Best for: Reaching qualified candidates before your competitors do

This ad type on LinkedIn helps you draw the right talent to your roles. Single Job Ads appear in the feed and the Jobs tab (double whammy), helping recruiters reach both active and passive candidates based on skills, company history, and education. Just be aware that you can only pull from existing job listings on LinkedIn for these.

Astroscale's Job Ad is effective because it speaks directly to its audience, outlining the role and requirements at a glance. Friendly, simple, and authentic: the opposite of scrolling through endless job boards.

LinkedIn Sponsored Messaging

Sponsored Messaging is LinkedIn's version of sliding into DMs, but professionally. These paid ads land directly in a user's LinkedIn inbox with a little Sponsored tag attached to them, giving you a one-on-one channel to share content or start conversations. It's personal, direct, and great for LinkedIn ad campaign types focused on relationship-building or targeted lead nurturing.

Conversation Ads

Best for: Inviting prospects to webinars or demos, sharing resources, or helping leads self-qualify

Conversation Ads turn your campaign into a choose-your-own-adventure inside LinkedIn's inbox. You start with a friendly greeting and include clickable response buttons so users can pick their next step, like downloading a guide, watching a video, or booking a demo.

This format is heavily guided. Each choice leads to a tailored follow-up message or piece of content, keeping the flow relevant no matter which button someone clicks or taps.

This Conversation Ad shows how LinkedIn messaging can guide users through multiple choices without leaving the inbox. The tone feels personal and the options—download, contact, or pass—make it easy for people to respond based on their interest level.

Message Ads

Best for: Direct outreach, event invites, or time-sensitive offers

LinkedIn Message Ads let you talk directly to high-intent prospects, with no intermediary or algorithm standing in the way. They show up in inboxes as messages from a real profile, which makes them stand out from typical feed ads.

Keep Message Ads short and conversational. Introduce yourself to the lead, mention you or your business's value, and add one clear action step to pull them into the pipeline. That's it.

This Message Ad example shows what direct outreach looks like on LinkedIn. It's short, conversational, and signed by a real person, giving it an authentic feel that makes recipients more likely to reply.

LinkedIn Dynamic Ads

Dynamic Ads are personalized for each viewer and appear on the right-hand sidebar, the banner area, and sometimes in-feed. Specifically, they pull in user profile details, like name and profile picture, to make your ad feel tailor-made to people who see it. They're like LinkedIn's personalized postcards: short, fun to read, and addressed to individuals.

This ad type can come in a couple of different forms, but both pull data from actual LinkedIn profiles to push custom (i.e., dynamic) messages to LinkedIn users.

Text Ads

Best for: Driving affordable website traffic or quick visibility

LinkedIn Text Ads are short and to the point—all killer, no filler. They're typically small text blocks that show up in the right rail or banner space on the desktop. You get a headline, a single line of copy, and an optional image or logo.

They may be small, but they work. If your goal is fast visibility or a clear click path to your site, these LinkedIn ad formats deliver.

This text ad example showed up on the sidebar of my LinkedIn feed. It shows the company with a headline and pitch and also pulls in mutual connections.

Spotlight Ads

Best for: Highlighting products or driving traffic to a landing page

Spotlight Ads stand out by using the viewer's own profile data, like their photo or company name, to personalize the creative. It's a clever touch that makes people pause and pay attention.

These ads shine for campaigns that need a human connection, like promoting a launch, offering a demo, or pointing to a landing page.

This Spotlight Ad also lives on the sidebar. It's got a short line of copy and pairs the company logo with a profile picture to grab your attention. 

Follower Ads

Best for: Building your LinkedIn audience and long-term brand awareness

Follower Ads are another flavor of LinkedIn dynamic ads, focused on audience growth. They invite users by name, to follow your company, directly from the sidebar.

This is one of the easiest types of ads on LinkedIn to set up. And since it uses personalization, it feels like a genuine connection request instead of a generic "follow us."

T-Mobile's Follower Ad example shows how personalization can make a company update feel relevant. It uses the viewer's name and mutual connections to create a one-to-one feel that draws attention to the Follow button.

LinkedIn Lead Gen Ads

Lead Gen Ads are like finding the one unlocked door in a maze of landing pages. Instead of sending people offsite, LinkedIn lets you share forms directly in the feed. No new tabs or mysterious corridors—just a straight path from interest to conversion.

You can attach these forms to almost any LinkedIn ad format, including LinkedIn sponsored messaging, and they pre-fill automatically with the user's profile info. It's the marketing version of escaping the hedge maze without breaking a sweat.

Lead Gen Forms

Best for: Capturing leads, promoting gated content, or signing people up for demos and events

Lead Gen Forms pull info like name, job title, and company directly from a user's profile when they click your CTA. All they have to do is hit submit, and you get clean data without the extra friction that usually kills conversions.

GitHub shows a great example of a Lead Gen Form. The ad is on the LinkedIn feed, and once you click the "Learn more" or "Get the ebook" CTAs, a Lead Gen Form pops up.

The form came pre-filled with my LinkedIn information, including name, work email, and phone number. The other fields were dropdown menus with options to choose from.

When you connect Zapier with LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms, you can automate what happens after the click. Every lead, signup, or purchase is tracked wherever you need it. Automatically send leads straight to your reps, track leads in your CRM, automate your outreach process, and even create reports on a schedule. Learn more about how to automate LinkedIn lead gen forms, or get started with one of these pre-made templates.

LinkedIn Accelerate vs. Classic ad campaigns

LinkedIn gives you two main ad campaign types in Campaign Manager: Classic and Accelerate. Both get you where you want to go, but each one takes different routes.

• The Classic experience is for marketers who like to control every variable, like targeting, bidding, or budgeting. You decide who sees what, how often, and at what cost. It's ideal for A/B testing, fine-tuning creative, or following strict LinkedIn ad guidelines for complex campaigns.

• The Accelerate experience is designed for simplicity and speed. It automates much of the setup with LinkedIn's algorithm handling bidding and targeting suggestions. You still set the destination, but Accelerate takes the wheel on how to get there.

If you're new to LinkedIn advertising options or want to launch campaigns fast, Accelerate saves time. If you're optimizing for precision and performance, Classic gives you full control. The choice depends on how much manual input you want versus how much you're willing to automate.

Which LinkedIn Ads should I run?

Choosing between types of ads on LinkedIn shouldn't feel like guessing what's behind the next door (or sending your ax through it). The right mix depends on your goals, budget, and where your audience is in their journey. Instead of picking randomly, build your LinkedIn ads strategy around the outcomes you can measure.

Start with your campaign objective

Everything begins with a goal. Whether you're aiming for brand awareness, website traffic, or lead generation, set a clear objective before you even open Campaign Manager. Knowing your "why" makes it easier to track what's working and easier to justify the spend.

Know your target audience 

LinkedIn's targeting is one of its strongest features. Use filters like job title, industry, and company size to focus your spend where it matters. Tailor your copy to speak directly to each segment, not everyone on the platform. The more relevant your message, the less you'll pay for wasted impressions.

Match the ad format to the funnel stage

Different ad types on LinkedIn play different roles. Pick the ones that make sense for where your audience is, not where you want them to be.

• Top of the funnel: Use attention-grabbers like Video Ads or CTV Ads for reach and brand storytelling.

• Middle of the funnel: Try Document Ads or Carousel Ads to highlight value and educate.

• Bottom of the funnel: Use Conversation Ads or Lead Gen Forms for direct conversions.

Balance budget with creative needs 

High-production formats like videos look great but take more time and resources. If you're tight on budget, start with simpler ad types like Text Ads or Single Image Ads. You can scale to video or interactive formats later once you know what performs best.

Prioritize video for reach and storytelling

LinkedIn Video Ads have 300% higher engagement than non-video ads. When building your creative, make sure your visuals are strong, your headline is clear, and you include a specific call to action that encourages the next step. Remember to make the content valuable to the professional viewer.

Test, then scale

Do not—I repeat, do not—simply guess which ad works best. Run A/B tests on different formats, headlines, and visuals, then monitor performance in Campaign Manager. Once you find a format that consistently delivers strong results, you can safely scale the budget to maximize your return.

Zapier automation + LinkedIn Ads: A mutual connection

Managing leads by hand can feel like you're stuck in a snowed-in hotel, typing the same data over and over. All work and no play makes for a tired marketing team. Adding Zapier-powered LinkedIn automation to the process can make those results shine. 

Connecting Zapier with LinkedIn Ads lets you act on new leads instantly, without the endless copy-paste grind. Every signup, demo, or sale flows straight into your CRM or email platform—and with AI-powered workflows, you can analyze and enrich your leads and take action immediately.

Build your own LinkedIn Ad automations to connect your ads to the rest of your tech stack and build fully automated systems for your marketing.

LinkedIn Ads FAQ

Which ads perform best on LinkedIn? 

It depends on your goal. Video Ads and Carousel Ads tend to earn the highest engagement because they stand out in the feed. But when you attach a Lead Gen Form to any format, conversion rates usually climb. Less typing usually means more completed forms. 

Which LinkedIn Ad format is best?

The best format is the one aligned with your campaign objective. For awareness, use Video or Single Image Ads. For lead generation, use Document Ads or Thought Leader Ads with Lead Gen Forms. For direct outreach, go with LinkedIn sponsored messaging, as it feels personal and converts well for one-on-one engagement.

How does a LinkedIn ad auction work?

LinkedIn runs an ad auction that decides which campaigns appear in the feed. Your bid combines with a relevancy score that measures how well your ad matches the audience and objective. So even if you bid lower than a competitor, strong engagement and targeting can help you win the spot. That's how LinkedIn ad specs and quality come together behind the scenes.

How much do LinkedIn Ads cost?

Costs vary significantly by industry and audience, but typical benchmarks are around $2.00 to $3.00 per click and $5.01 to $8.00 per 1,000 impressions. Bidding on competitive audiences, such as senior executives, usually costs more than general targeting.

What's the difference between boosted posts and sponsored ads on LinkedIn?

A boosted post is a quick way to amplify an existing organic company post with basic targeting. A sponsored ad is a full, customizable campaign created in Campaign Manager with more precise targeting options and the ability to link to specific conversion goals like a Lead Gen Form.

Related reading:

• LinkedIn marketing tools to grow your business

• LinkedIn Lead Gen Form examples for inspiration

• An exhaustive guide to LinkedIn conversion tracking