LinkedIn ad prices have rapidly increased as more brands leave X (formerly Twitter), reports the Financial Times.

In some cases, ad costs have risen by up to 30%, and Search Engine Land reports that some media buyers are seeing 1,000 impressions for a premium LinkedIn campaign cost $300.

Why businesses favour LinkedIn

Despite the higher cost, some marketers favour LinkedIn because it still offers a good ROI – as much as 20% – and can be used to target decision-makers. Another string to LinkedIn’s advertising bow is its ability to let advertisers target users based on job history, title and work-based interests – which allows for super-specific advertising. 

Brands are definitely taking notice of that and have jumped on board – spending 10% more in 2023 than they did the previous year. Business Insider expects the increase in ad revenue will hit 14.1% in 2024.

On the other hand, ad spend with social media platform X dropped by 55% in 2023 and is projected to decline 2.5% and then 4.5% in 2024 and 2025.

Why are LinkedIn ad costs rising quickly?

LInkedIn’s ad prices are rising because ad space is becoming more popular. The prices are determined by an auction system, so that means higher demand equals higher inventory costs.

While rising costs aren’t putting off marketers, the price of ads is huge compared to Meta and Google. Meta, for example, can also offer much cheaper costs per 1,000 impressions (between $10-$15).

LinkedIn is a B2B juggernaut

Of course, LinkedIn won’t work for every marketer. Its strength lies in its B2B capabilities.

Steven Ballinger, Dentsu UK and Ireland, Chief Commercial Officer, via Business Insider

“LinkedIn’s ability to segment its user base is also attractive to business-to-consumer brands and is a clear growth area for their business.”

In fact, it’s the most popular social media platform for B2B marketers and their clients (80% of them use it), according to an Ipsos survey. In the U.S alone, nearly 25% of the population will use the platform.

If you’re in the B2B space, advertising on LinkedIn could be important for your brand’s success. Before you do that, you need to know what campaign types it offers. 

• Sponsored content

Sponsored content comes in the form of six different ad types: single image ads, document ads, video ads, carousel ads, event ads and thought leader ads. Each has slightly different means of reaching goals across brand awareness or lead generation objectives. 

For example, document ads can help collect leads by asking for an email address from people interested in accessing your latest whitepaper, while event ads can help you maximise attendance at your latest event.

• Sponsored messaging

Sponsored messaging lets marketers send messages straight to an audience’s inbox. LinkedIn says this will help reach an audience in a more personal way.

LinkedIn

“Send direct, one-on-one messages to your audience’s LinkedIn Messaging, where they increasingly spend most of their time — and when they’re most engaged and in the right mindset.”

Additional benefits claimed by LinkedIn include the ability to drive more web traffic and generate leads via Lead Gen Forms and automated calls-to-action.

The ads come in two forms – LinkedIn Message Ads sent directly to an inbox, and Conversation Ads, which start conversations with an audience through a choose-your-path answer and response mechanism.

It’s worth noting that these messages will come from an individual who serves as the face of your brand, so pick someone who is relevant and credible to your audience!

• Dynamic ads

Dynamic Ads engage prospects with ads that are personalised to them and can be used to build brand awareness, drive traffic to a website or landing page, convert prospects and then measure and optimise results in LinkedIn’s Campaign Manager.

Marketers can also automate campaigns at scale using ads that feature a target’s professional data such as photo, company name or job title.

Heather Barnhart, Social Media Marketing Specialist, Procore Technologies, via LinkedIn

“LinkedIn Dynamic Ads were a great way to quickly create personalized follower ads targeting the exact audience we are looking to attract. I plan to continue implementing these personalized ads as we expand globally.”

To make life easy, they can be set up using pre-built templates in Campaign Manager.

• Text ads

Text ads help drive traffic to your website or landing page with pay-per-click or pay-per-impression ads. Text ads are useful to marketers who want to set their own budget without long-term commitments, or those who only want to pay for text ads that work.

Dan Slagen, Head of Paid Marketing, HubSpot, via LinkedIn

“With LinkedIn Text Ads, we’ve been able to generate a clickthrough rate that is 60% higher than our average across other social networks – and at the same time, the quality of leads coming through LinkedIn is greater than through other social media channels. There’s no clutter on LinkedIn – members are there to do business.”