Tag Archive for: LinkedIn ads

LinkedIn’s Creative Labs has released a comprehensive report on the state of B2B video advertising, breaking down what fuels video views, shares, and engagement based on data from over 13,000 video ads. 

Video Drives Online Success

The rise of online video has been undeniable for some time, with video content outpacing every other type of media in nearly every metric. People are more likely to engage with videos, share them, and remember what they’ve seen in a video. The new report, titled “The Art & Science of Video“, states that videos are shared 20 times more frequently than any other type of content on the platform.  

This makes online video one of the most effective ways to promote your business, products, and services, especially if your business is primarily B2B. 

What Factors Fuel Video Engagement

Anyone who has tried to share videos online (whether they were organic videos or video ads) knows that you can’t upload just anything and expect results. LinkedIn’s team identified specific types of videos that performed best:

  • Cinematic, narrative-driven brand videos received +129% engagement
  • Short, vertical “real talk” videos saw +103% increased dwell time
  • B2B videos with memes received +111% engagement
  • Videos presenting seemingly authentic emotions lifted engagement by +78%

Looking closer, the research uncovered specific themes or approaches that led to the best ad outcomes:

  • Cultural Coding – Top-performing videos showed an authentic connection with the audience through subtle, coded references. These references, whether they are shots of a familiar locale, a knowing reference, or a relevant meme, establish deeper connections that make viewers more invested.
  • Human Touch – Videos that show genuine, unscripted human moments help bring down consumers’ barriers, making them trust your brand on a deeper level than a highly-produced video could. This is why videos with real people showing emotions that felt genuine outperform staged videos across all key metrics, including dwell time, completion rate, clicks, and engagement. 
  • Expert Takes – People want to hear from experts; they just don’t want to feel talked down to. The most effective expert videos didn’t seem sterile or overly formal. They felt conversational and insightful, rather than feeling like a pre-recorded lecture. 
  • Attention Hacking – Successful videos know how to grab attention quickly and keep it – even when someone is watching on mute, on the move, or while multitasking. This was done a number of ways, including using bold colors, dynamic typography, and clear sequencing that made their content easy to understand, no matter the context. 
  • Inspiring Imagination – Despite B2B marketing’s reputation for being stuffy and focused on numbers, the most effective video ads were those with emotionally rich storytelling. Videos that used emotions to connect with their audience saw 36% more engagement than those focused on functionality and stats.

The Big Picture

The findings from LinkedIn’s Creative Labs make it clear: B2B video marketing isn’t just about putting content out there – it’s about creating something that resonates. Whether it’s through authentic human moments, expert insights delivered with warmth, or clever cultural nods, the videos that succeed are the ones that feel real, relevant, and emotionally engaging. The days of overly formal, stats-heavy B2B ads are fading; today’s audiences crave connection, clarity, and creativity.

If you’re investing in video for B2B, this research offers a clear roadmap: lean into storytelling, embrace authenticity, and never underestimate the power of emotion. With the right approach, video can do more than just inform – it can spark attention, build trust, and move people to act.

Would you like to be able to run video ads on streaming services that specifically target LinkedIn users? The social network is testing a new ad product that allows advertisers to reach LinkedIn’s 930 million users as they watch TV or movies at home. 

In a statement to Reuters, the Vice President of Marketing Solutions for LinkedIn, Penry Price, said: “In-stream video ads can change the way brands and buyers reach and engage their audiences.”

The new ad format comes following reports that the company’s ad platform is already up in sales by 8% year-on-year and is looking to further grow its advertising profits.

The new format could also be a boon for advertisers looking to increase their ROI by reaching their audiences with ads while they are most receptive. 

LinkedIn’s ad growth has been a bit of a surprise because it comes at a time when other ad platforms are being hit by falling ad budgets and an overall uncertain economy. Meanwhile, the social network’s ad platform continues to drive revenue from ad sales and subscriptions for recruiters, professionals, and B2B salespeople. 

LinkedIn is expanding its advertising options for brands and entrepreneurs on the platform with new Event Ads and the ability to “Boost” organic posts from your brand’s page.

As the company said in this week’s announcement:

“We’re announcing new features to make your marketing life a little easier — helping you seamlessly reach more of your target audience and grow your brand community all while measuring impact each step of the way.”

LinkedIn Event Ads

Now that social distancing is coming to an end, many are eager to finally put on a big event for their brand. 

To help make your next in-person (or digital) event a smash hit, LinkedIn is introducing a new ad format which can appear in users’ feeds. Event ads include all the important details potential attendees may want to know, including the date, time, how to register, and if any mutual connections are also planning to attend. 

Along with this new ad format, the company is rolling out an Event Analytics tool that offers info on attendee/visitor engagement with your Event posts, your total number of attendees, unique event visits, the top jobs of attendees, and the peak number of viewers on livestreams. 

“Boost” Your LinkedIn Posts

Have you ever had a post that went over so well you wish you could re-run it to an even wider audience? 

Now you can, with the ability to “Boost” your post as an ad. Directly from your LinkedIn page, you can quickly turn an existing organic post into an ad for your brand which will run to a larger audience.

Simply click the Boost button underneath the post you want to promote, and select the objective for the post from this list:

  • Website visits
  • Post awareness
  • Event awareness
  • Post engagement
  • Video views

From there, you’ll be asked to choose how LinkedIn targets your ad based on either your profile, specific interests, or a LinkedIn audience template, along with some other basic targeting information. 

Lastly, you’ll be able to set your budget for the ad and how long you run, before you publish your Boosted post. 

Currently, the feature does have some significant limitations. Only events or posts with a single image can be boosted for now, and posts can only be boosted once. Other post formats, such as polls, documents, job listings, or Pulse articles are not eligible for boosting. 

The Takeaway

Though basic, these new features make it easy for small brands to test the waters with promoting their events and contents across the business-focused platform. Additionally, LinkedIn suggests this approach could help save money on advertising events, as 40% of beta customers saw their cost per registration decrease when testing the new ad format.

LinkedIn will begin showing all the sponsored content an advertiser has run within the past six months in an “Ads” tab on the associated LinkedIn pages.

The company announced the change this week as part of an effort to bring more transparency to advertising across the platform:

“At LinkedIn, we are committed to providing a safe, trusted, and professional environment where members can connect with each other, engage with relevant content, and grow their careers. Increased transparency to both our customers and members is critical to creating this trusted environment.”

When viewing an advertiser’s page, users will be able to click the “Ads” tab to view every ad that company has run in the past six months.

Users can also click on the ads as they typically would, but the advertiser will not be charged, nor will it impact campaign reporting.

Obviously, the tab won’t include any of the information behind the ads, like who they targeted or the budget for that campaign.

In my eyes, this seems like a reason to ensure your LinkedIn advertising is consistently high-quality, with the upside that high-performing ads have a chance to lead to sales without having to pay for those ad clicks.