LinkedIn topic
LinkedIn Ad Formats, Objectives and Budgets Explained
LinkedIn Ads is the paid advertising tool inside Campaign Manager, and it works as an auction. This topic gathers what LinkedIn Help and LinkedIn Marketing Solutions say about the ad formats, objectives, budgets, video specs and boosting. No guide in this topic is published yet. Three are planned. They cover how to run LinkedIn ads, what the ads cost and the ad sizes and specs. We have not tried a LinkedIn campaign ourselves, so every fact below comes from LinkedIn.
LinkedIn Ads Formats
The LinkedIn Ads guide, which shows no date, groups its formats under four headings.
| Group | Formats LinkedIn lists |
|---|---|
| Sponsored Content | Single image, video, carousel, event, document, thought leader, click to message, connected TV, article and newsletter ads |
| Sponsored Messaging | Conversation ads and message ads |
| Lead Gen Forms | Pre-filled forms that collect leads from an ad |
| Text and dynamic | Text ads, spotlight ads and follower ads |
Eight Ad Objectives
LinkedIn Help, in an article last updated about a year before 25 October 2026, says the objectives follow three funnel tiers.
| Tier | Objectives |
|---|---|
| Brand awareness | Brand awareness |
| Consideration | Website visits, Engagement, Video views |
| Conversions | Lead generation, Website conversions, Job applicants, Talent leads |
Every objective has its own formats and bidding options. Talent leads is open only to companies with an active LinkedIn Recruiter contract.
LinkedIn Ads Budget and Bidding
LinkedIn Help names three budget types. They are a daily budget, a lifetime budget and both together. A daily budget is an average. Spend on one day can be up to 100% higher than the amount you set, and a week never passes seven times the daily budget. A lifetime budget is the total for the full schedule.
LinkedIn Help names three bidding strategies. Maximum delivery bids for you and aims to use your full budget. Manual bidding gives you the most control. Cost cap sets the most you will pay for a result. The price you pay depends on your audience, your bid, your objective and an ad relevance score that rewards engaging ads.
A LinkedIn Marketing Solutions article with no date gives minimums of $10 a day and $100 for a new lifetime budget. The Help article we read gives no figure.
How to Set up LinkedIn Ads
The order below is paraphrased from a LinkedIn Marketing Solutions guide with no date. We did not try it on an account.
- Create a company profile LinkedIn says to start with a LinkedIn company profile.
- Open Campaign Manager It is free to open and to set up.
- Choose an objective Choose the one that matches your goal.
- Set the audience Targets include job title, company, industry and interests. An audience needs at least 300 members, according to LinkedIn's developer documentation updated 29 August 2025.
- Add a format, budget and bid Then add a payment method and send the campaign for review.
The Insight Tag is optional in that guide. Whether you need it to track conversions is not stated there.
LinkedIn Video Ad Specs
LinkedIn Help lists the video ad rules below. The article was last updated about three months before 25 October 2026.
| Item | Rule |
|---|---|
| Length | 3 seconds to 30 minutes |
| File size | 75 KB to 500 MB |
| Format | MP4 with H.264 or VP8 |
| Horizontal | 16:9, up to 1920 by 1080 pixels |
| Vertical | 4:5 or 9:16 |
| Introductory text | 150 characters to avoid cutting, 3,000 maximum |
| Headline | 70 characters to avoid cutting, 200 maximum |
You cannot link a YouTube or Vimeo video. The file must be uploaded to LinkedIn from a desktop, with at most 25 videos in 24 hours.
How to Promote a Post on LinkedIn
LinkedIn Help calls it boosting. It turns a post into a lighter ad campaign, with fewer choices than Campaign Manager gives. The facts below come from LinkedIn Help, last updated about four months before 25 October 2026.
- You need super admin or content admin access to the company profile.
- Boosting works from a desktop only.
- Text, single image, event, video, document, article and newsletter posts can be boosted.
- The audience can be a Suggested audience that uses AI targeting, or one you build.
- You set a total budget and a schedule, and the ad account is billed.
- A boosted post cannot be boosted again, and an edited one goes through ad review again.
What is Still Unconfirmed
The budget minimums come from a Marketing Solutions article with no date, and LinkedIn Help gave no figure. A LinkedIn boosting tips article says boosts need more than $25 a day, which does not match the $10 minimum. We could not reconcile the two. LinkedIn does not state ad prices, because an auction sets them. We read no independent result from any campaign. Check Campaign Manager before you plan a budget.
Where This Topic Fits
This topic sits inside our LinkedIn section, next to LinkedIn Marketing for Business and Post on LinkedIn. A guide appears here the day it goes live and is marked Tested or Checked, as our editorial policy explains. Changes are logged on our change log. Namrata Arora edits this section. To look up a term, use the social media glossary or SMTwist search.
Sources: LinkedIn Ads guide, LinkedIn Help on marketing objectives, LinkedIn Help on budgets, LinkedIn Help on advertising cost, LinkedIn Help on video ad specifications, LinkedIn Help on boosting a post, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions on budgets, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions on a first campaign and Microsoft Learn on LinkedIn ads.
FAQ
What is the minimum budget for LinkedIn Ads?
A LinkedIn Marketing Solutions article shows no date and says the minimum daily budget is $10 and the minimum lifetime budget for a new campaign is $100. The LinkedIn Help budget article we read lists no figure, so check Campaign Manager.
Which objectives can you choose on LinkedIn?
LinkedIn Help lists eight. They are Brand awareness, Website visits, Engagement, Video views, Lead generation, Website conversions, Job applicants and Talent leads. Talent leads needs an active LinkedIn Recruiter contract.
Can you boost a LinkedIn post?
Yes. LinkedIn Help says a super admin or content admin of a company profile can boost a post from a desktop. A post that was boosted before cannot be boosted again.