New LinkedIn Document Ads: How to Generate Leads for Businesses

LinkedIn continues to enrich the range of advertising options available to small businesses with their new Document Ads format. Let’s look at the lowdown on this new LinkedIn ad format and how businesses can use them to generate leads and forge connections on LinkedIn.

What are LinkedIn Document Ads?

LinkedIn Document Ads are a new advertising format that allows users to view and download documents directly from their LinkedIn newsfeed. This is a big development over other ad formats as previously you’d have to direct a viewer to an external page to download a document (e.g., an e-book or case study), whereas now they can access the document through LinkedIn without having to leave the platform.

Applications Include:

• Create content feeds for brand awareness, engagement, or lead generation.
• Collect contact information in exchange for exclusive downloadable content.
• Drive increased engagement with your LinkedIn adverts by providing a free incentive to viewers.
• Measure the level of interest and engagement with each document, with metrics showing how much of your document has been read and downloaded.
• Strengthen your reputation for thought leadership on LinkedIn – Document Ads can host a wide range of content, including e-books/guides, technical analysis, infographics, slides, case studies, tip sheets, reports etc.

Why We‘re Excited

Document Ads make it quicker and more convenient for users to access downloadable content – which is especially important for people that use LinkedIn through the mobile app, as mobile users are less likely to want multiple browser windows open on their phones/tablets than desktop users with a larger screen and available working space.

So, the first benefit for businesses advertising on LinkedIn is an increased chance of engagement with downloadable content – improving lead generation and raising your advertising ROI.

By incorporating a LinkedIn Lead Gen Form into your Document Ad, you can use LinkedIn as a direct portal for hosting gated content, without having to use the intermediary of your website or a separate landing page.

You’ll now be able to use your LinkedIn contact base as a test bed to measure market interest in your content before hosting it ‘publicly’ on your website – letting you hone your content for better returns through other PPC channels.

How It Works

Document Ads can be set up and targeted through the Campaign Manager in the same way as other LinkedIn ad formats. You’ll be prompted to customise your advert, define your audience, provide introductory text, and upload the document you wish to promote. Documents can be up to 300 pages or 100 MB in size and uploaded as a PDF, Doc, or PPT file format.

Your audience will receive the Document Ad in their newsfeed, providing a preview of the document and the option to unlock and download the full content onto their device by filling in a LinkedIn Lead Gen Form.

Adverts can be configured to capture a variety of contact details and request a variety of chargeable actions (at a cost per click). These include:

• Document downloads
• Click-throughs to an external landing page
• Social actions – such as likes, comments, sending content to LinkedIn connections and sharing to contacts outside LinkedIn (e.g., via Facebook Messenger, SMS, or WhatsApp)

Find Out More

LinkedIn is rapidly becoming one of the most diverse and powerful online advertising platforms for B2B SMEs. To find out more about LinkedIn advertising and how you can increase your lead generation and customer engagement through Document Ads, please call one of our social media marketing team today on 01332 982223.

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