October 8, 2021
The Ideal QA Process in Digital Advertising
The importance of creative on social advertising platforms spans much deeper than simply looking pretty. The image is typically the first place a user looks when viewing an ad, and ultimately, it can be the deciding factor to whether a user stops and clicks on an ad or continues to scroll through their feed. The effectiveness of your creative depends on the audience you are showing it to, so it is essential to optimize your creative for each visual platform. Here are three tips to help you master your LinkedIn Ads creative.
Take Advantage of Text Overlays
Unlike Facebook’s 20% text overlay rule, LinkedIn does not limit your ability to overlay text on your creative. This is a crucial element to having effective creative on Linkedin. Since the image usually captures users’ attention first, text overlays are typically the first text that they read when viewing an ad on Linkedin.
Text overlays should be short, sweet, and to the point! They should give the user a general understanding of the topic at hand, whether that is highlighting the advantages of your product or service or showcasing information about the content the user is accessing. Highlighting a problem an audience member may be having that your service solves is a great way to increase engagement as well.
Below is a great example of effectively leveraging a text overlay to increase engagement. In this example, Copper speaks directly to their target audience, sales managers, by providing value tailored to them. The text stands out in the image due to the simple background. Using a number in the text overlay also helps capture users’ attention.
Cartoons Capture Engagement
LinkedIn may be a professionally-geared platform, but surprisingly cartoon imagery resonates very well with audience members. Cartoons offer a break from the standard people-based imagery seen on Linkedin. They have a visually-appealing aesthetic that are “thumb-stoppers” for LinkedIn users as they are perusing their feed.
Create a character that stays consistent across your ads to help establish a clear brand identity. This enables users to identify with your brand quickly when they come across your ads. Salesforce does this very well in their ad pictured below.
Be Bold
For most social platforms, we recommend creative that appears organic in order to emulate the native user experience. On LinkedIn, it is quite the contrary. Brightly colored ads stand out from other organic posts and perform better than those that utilize more mundane colors. Vibrant colors capture users’ attention and ultimately drive higher clickthrough rate than mundane colors. The ad below relies almost solely on this tactic, and does a great job at leveraging color to increase engagement.
We recently tested background color in one of our prospecting audiences. We tested the same copy, asset, and headline – the only difference was that one ad featured a white background while the other ad featured a vibrant red background. We ran the test for two months, and below are the findings. The vibrant red image drove more clicks, leading to a higher clickthrough rate.
These tips will help you get on the right path to optimizing your creative for LinkedIn Ads. Be sure to continually test new creative to see what works best for you!
Want more resources to help deliver killer creative? Contact our team for additional help.
