LinkedIn continues to improve its ad offerings, this time with the addition of carousel ads for Sponsored Content.
As you can see, the new carousel format is pretty much the same as what you’re already used to on Facebook and Instagram, enabling users to swipe right to see more content. On LinkedIn, brands will be able to include up to 10 cards per carousel ad, each with its own, customizable message.
As explained by LinkedIn:
“Native carousel ads are the next step in the continued evolution of LinkedIn Sponsored Content to help you humanize your B2B marketing efforts and foster a deeper connection with your audience. Since launching our beta, over 300 advertisers have used carousel ads to create fun and informative campaigns to tell stories about their company, products and services, industry, and more. 75% of beta advertisers said they will use carousel ads in their next Sponsored Content campaign, largely due to seeing increased engagement and click-through rates.”
That’s a pretty solid success rate – and based on the example below, you can see how the new carousel ads stand out in feeds and invite viewers to scroll through and see more of what’s on offer.
As noted, carousel ads are the latest addition to LinkedIn’s expanding ad suite, which also now includes sponsored video ads and has seen significant success with its lead gen ads offering. Indeed, according to the latest performance report from parent company Microsoft, LinkedIn’s revenue increased 37% in the most recent quarter – mostly, no doubt, driven by the company’s Talent Solutions arm, but also due to increased ad revenue. Microsoft doesn’t break these figures out specifically, but in LinkedIn’s last report before being acquired, LinkedIn’s ad revenue was expanding fast, with Sponsored Content being the main driver.
Another key element driving that growth is engagement – again, as per Microsoft, active LinkedIn sessions grew by over 30% in the last quarter. The platform now has more than 560 million members, but there have long been questions about how engaged LinkedIn members actually are. Analysis from last year suggested that the platform had around 250 million MAU, far fewer than other social platforms, but if it’s increasing at the rate suggested, that could have seen a big jump – thereby adding more potential value to their ad offerings.
But regardless of the data specifics, few would question the value of LinkedIn for B2B marketing, and the addition of carousel ad units will certainly provide a new consideration on this front. They look good, they stand out in feeds, and add another option to keep in mind for LinkedIn marketers.
LinkedIn’s carousel for Sponsored Content is now available to all businesses.