Taking Advantage of Creative: LinkedIn Square Ads

For Facebook advertisers, the introduction of square ad images was a big performance booster. Now, LinkedIn recently released square image ads, giving you a new opportunity to take advantage of additional screen real estate, especially when it comes to mobile. This is especially exciting given that the creative aspect of social advertising is often the most important factor in a user’s decision to click or continue scrolling. No longer are you restricted to the 1200×627 image/video size for your sponsored content ads. Now you can tap into 1080×1080 sizing as well.

What is the impact of this change?

Square ads have long been an ask from LinkedIn advertisers. More real estate on the news feed, larger screen share on all devices, and the additional room to capitalize on creative direction. Naturally we would think that larger screen share would translate directly to increased engagement. But is that really the case? Here we’ll lay out what we’ve found in our testing and some best practices to consider when making the switch.

Do square images really have an impact on engagement?

The short answer is yes! We have tested square vs. rectangle ad variants with a number of advertisers and have seen improvements in click-through rates across the board.

Consider this performance example from a Metric Theory client:

Square ads have time and time again driven stronger CTR when compared to the standard rectangle ad format. We have seen stronger efficiencies and conversion rates in a lot of instances when comparing square vs. standard, although the outcomes are not quite as definitive as the effects square ads have on CTR.

Okay I’m in, what are the next steps for converting to square ads?

There are a few things to take into consideration when converting your standard ads to the square format. Brand guidelines are always going to be top of mind, and ensuring that the new format doesn’t compromise your brand’s identity should be priority number one. Below are a few things to take into consideration to enhance your new ad format:

1. Take advantage of your new real estate!
   The square, 1×1 dimension ad format offers a lot more real estate to convey your message. Utilize bolder text overlays and make sure that your message pops on the larger screen share you’re getting.
2. Test video as well as static imagery.
   This ad format doesn’t just apply to static imagery. LinkedIn has rolled this out for video as well! When converting videos to the 1×1 square dimension, take in mind step 1 and ensure you’re utilizing all of the extra space in your videos as well.
3. Make your ads POP!
   This ad format hasn’t been adopted across the platform. Take advantage of the extra screen share throughout the user’s news feeds with bright colors that contrast with the nativity of the platform.

Creative is often the most important factor in a user’s decision to click or scroll. Doing everything you can to maximize your CTR is the best way to drive users towards your conversion action. Take this opportunity to enhance your Linkedin creative and be sure to continually test and find the best mix for you! Contact us to learn more.