Create a LinkedIn ad campaign

LinkedIn ad campaigns help you build brand awareness among professionals who are likely to buy from you. LinkedIn's audience targeting tools let you narrow in on your ideal customer, so you can create ads that will get their attention.

Create your campaign, define your target audience, set a budget, choose how long you want it to run, build your ad creative, and publish the campaign to LinkedIn, all in Hootsuite. Use OwlyWriter AI to enhance your ad copy and create multiple variations of your ad so you can see what resonates most with your audience.

Tip: You can select Save as draft at any step of the campaign creation process and return to it later. All of your draft ad campaigns are available in Ads for 90 days.

Before you begin

Before you can create a LinkedIn ad campaign in Hootsuite, make sure that the ad account associated with the LinkedIn Page you’re using for your ads is connected to Hootsuite. See Manage ad accounts and advertising permissions for more information.

LinkedIn campaign creation workflow

When you create a LinkedIn ad campaign in Hootsuite, you complete a series of tasks in the campaign workflow to put all of your ad campaign elements in place.

The following sections describe the steps you need to complete for each part of the campaign creation workflow. Complete the tasks in the order they appear.

Step 1: Set up your LinkedIn campaign

To get started, select the LinkedIn Page and ad account you want to use for your campaign, choose a campaign group, and set a campaign objective.

Step 2: Choose your target audience

Set up a target audience for your LinkedIn ad campaign to make sure the right people see your ad.

When you set up the target audience for your ad campaign, you have two options: you can build your own audience, based on specific characteristics like language, location, and interests, and include or exclude matched audiences already created in LinkedIn, or you can use a saved audience imported from LinkedIn.

Build your own audience

Follow these steps to build your own LinkedIn audience.

Note: If your target audience includes people living in the European Union (EU), you must confirm that your ads are not political in nature to comply with EU regulations. Select the checkbox to proceed.

1. Select the Build your own audience option from the list, and then select Edit audience.
   
2. In the Build your audience window, select a language for your target audience. LinkedIn targets people whose LinkedIn profile language matches your selection.
3. Under Locations, choose how you want LinkedIn to identify your audience's location.
   • Select Target by recent and permanent location to reach people based on the location listed in their LinkedIn profile, and their IP address (for short-term visits to other locations).
   • Select Target by permanent location to reach people based only on the location listed in their LinkedIn profile.
4. Type a location in the search bar to target a geographical area. You can get specific with a city or metropolitan area, or target a broader area with a state or country. You can also select Exclude Location to specify locations to leave out.
5. Optionally, type in the name of one or more matched audiences you've already created on LinkedIn to refine your target audience. You can also select Exclude Matched Audiences to specify audiences to leave out.
6. Under Detailed Targeting, select Include People to expand the list of categories you can choose from to target your audience by specific attributes. You can select attributes in the following categories:
   • Company: company connections, followers, industry, name, and size
   • Demographics: age and gender
   • Education: fields of study, degrees, schools
   • Job Experience: job function, title, seniority, years of experience
   • Interests: LinkedIn groups and member interests

   For more information on the attributes in each category, see the LinkedIn help article Targeting Options for LinkedIn Advertisements.

   Note: Due a limitation in the LinkedIn API, the potential reach for a target audience shown in Hootsuite may differ from the potential reach for the same targeted audience shown in LinkedIn.

7. Optionally, select Exclude People and specify the attributes of people you want to exclude from your audience.
8. Select Save audience to save your changes.

Use a saved audience

Follow these steps to use a saved audience from LinkedIn:

1. Select the Use saved audience option from the list.
   
2. Enter the name of an audience you've already created and saved in LinkedIn and select it from the list.

Step 3: Set your campaign budget and duration

You can set a daily or lifetime budget for your ad campaign, or set a budget for both. LinkedIn allocates your ad spend until the campaign ends or the budget runs out.

Make sure your campaign budget doesn't exceed the total budget allocated for the campaign group.

1. In the Budget and duration section, select how you want LinkedIn to allocate your budget.
   • Set a daily budget: Set a limit on how much to spend per day.
   • Set a lifetime budget: Set a limit on how much to spend for the entire campaign.
   • Set both a daily and lifetime budget: Set a limit on how much to spend per day, and for the entire campaign. Campaigns with this budget type have no end date.
2. Enter the amount you want to spend.
3. Select a start and end date for your campaign. Make sure your campaign end date is no later than the end date that's already set for the campaign group.
   
4. Select Next: Create ad.
   

Step 4: Build your LinkedIn ad

As you build your ad, Hootsuite displays a preview of what your ad will look like on mobile and desktop platforms.

Tip: Create multiple ads for your campaign so you can test different headlines and creative elements. LinkedIn optimizes delivery for the ads that perform best with your audience. You can include up to 50 ads in your campaign.

1. Enter a description for your ad to tell people what you’re promoting (up to 3000 characters).
2. (Optional) Let AI help you refine your ad - Select Enhance with Wisdom, and then select one of the following options to enhance your ad copy: Fix spelling/grammar
   • Optimize length
   • Adjust tone
   • Inspire engagement
3. Add an image or video. Drag a media file into the box, add a media library asset, or upload a file from your computer.
4. Enter a headline to get your audience’s attention.
5. Enter a URL for your website or landing page.
6. Select a call to action. This is your button text.
7. (Optional) Create more ads for your campaign so you can see which one performs best. You have several options for creating additional ads:
   
   • Select Create variations with AI to get OwlyWriter AI to generate three different versions of your existing ad. You can make any changes you want to each variation.
   • Select Copy details to new ad to use your existing ad as a baseline, and then make any necessary changes.
   • Select Create an ad to build a new ad from scratch.

Step 5: Publish your LinkedIn campaign

Once you've built your ads and checked the ad preview on mobile and desktop platforms to make sure you're happy with how they look, you're ready to publish your ad campaign.

1. Select Summary to review your campaign details. You can return to previous screens to make any changes you need to.
   
2. Select Publish campaign.
   

Hootsuite sends the campaign to LinkedIn for approval. LinkedIn typically approves the campaign within 24 hours.

Once your campaign is published, you can view your ads in your content calendar, and manage your campaign in Ads .