LinkedIn conversation ads: what they are and why you should be using them
Conversation Ads are the new messaging-based ad format by LinkedIn, which is similarly to Facebook Messenger Ads, allows advertisers to target prospects with personalised messages based on audience segments.
These Conversation Ads are a build on their current Message Ads but are designed to be more personal and more engaging. This feature allows to you add clickable call to action (CTA) buttons that your email recipients can choose from in-stream, making your Sponsored InMails more engaging and more interactive.
LinkedIn has added, "Conversation Ads build on our current Message Ads offering (formerly Sponsored InMail), and feature a “choose your own path” experience that lets you create full-funnel campaigns with multiple customized calls-to-action, like product education, webinar sign-ups, and ebook downloads."
Among the various options, your in-message CTAs can be things like:
'Visit website'
'Register for Webinar'
'Sign up for newsletter'
'Sign up for demo'
'Learn more
'Tell me more'
'View case studies'
You can add several CTA buttons to each of your messages, giving your recipients more ways to respond.
In terms of costing, Conversation Ads are charged on a cost-per-send (CPS) basis and come with two choices of objectives, Website Visits or Lead Generation. Advertisers who choose the Website Visits objective must include at least two CTA buttons within the ad leading to a landing page of their choice. In comparison, when using the Lead Generation objective, only one lead generation form link can be included per ad creative.
Targeting wise, advertisers can use the same targeting capabilities offered with other LinkedIn ads and should consider replicating the same target audience that was used in a previous successful campaign to begin with.
When creating a Conversation Ad, advertisers are able to choose from multiple templates within Campaign Manager which LinkedIn has created to help advertisers. If you want more of an in-depth rundown of how to create a Conversation Ad, LinkedIn have provided details here.