Ad Manager organizes LinkedIn advertising into a three-level hierarchy:

  • Campaign Group – The top-level container for related campaigns.

  • Campaign – Defines the audience, media type, language, location, and other campaign settings.

  • Ad – Defines the creative, including media, text, calls to action, and forms.

This guide explains how to create a Campaign Group, add campaigns, build ads, and review performance after publishing.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Use a Campaign Template

LinkedIn campaigns can also be created from an Ad Manager template.

Select Ad Manager Templates, choose a LinkedIn template, review its details, and click Continue. Supported campaign configurations are pre-filled from the selected template.

Step 1: Create a Campaign Group

A Campaign Group is the top-level container for your LinkedIn campaigns.

Configure the following:

  • Campaign Group Name – Enter a descriptive name, such as “Q4 SaaS Leads.”

  • Objective Selection – Choose one of the supported objectives:

    • Lead Generation – Capture leads with LinkedIn forms.

    • Website Traffic – Drive clicks to an external landing page.

  • Schedule – Set the start and end dates for the Campaign Group.

Tip: Use Campaign Groups to organize campaigns by business objective.

Step 2: Create a Campaign Inside the Group

After creating the Campaign Group, add one or more campaigns.

Fields Defined at Campaign Level

Configure the following campaign settings:

  • Campaign Name – The name used to identify the campaign.

  • Media Type – Select single image, video, or carousel.

  • Language

  • Geographic Location

  • Intended Audience – Optional.

Audience Targeting

Audience targeting determines who can see your LinkedIn ads.

Required Targeting

  • Location – Include or exclude geographic locations.

Optional Filters

Available targeting attributes include:

  • Job Title

  • Industry

  • Company Size

  • Seniority

  • Skills

  • Education

  • Interests & Traits

Logic Builder

You can further refine targeting by combining attribute groups:

  • Add up to 3 attribute groups.

  • Use OR logic within a group.

  • Use AND logic between groups.

  • Include and exclude targeting attributes.

For example:

  • Group 1: Job Title = Marketing Manager OR Director

  • Group 2: Industry = Healthcare

  • Exclude: Interns

Step 3: Create Ads Inside the Campaign

Each campaign can contain multiple ads.

Fields Defined at Ad Level

Configure the following:

  • Ad Name – An internal identifier for the ad.

  • Media Type – Uses the media type selected at the campaign level.

Supported media types include:

Single Image Ad: Upload one image for the ad.

Single Video Ad: Upload one video for the ad.

  • Headline

  • Image or video

  • Destination URL

Creative Fields

Configure the content displayed in your ad:

  • Introduction Text – Up to 3,000 characters.

  • Headline – Up to 70 characters. This field is required.

  • Description – Up to 300 characters. This field is optional.

  • Call-to-Action – Select an available LinkedIn CTA, such as Learn More, Download, or Apply.

  • Destination URL – Required for all ads. If the URL does not include a protocol, https:// is automatically added.

Lead Gen Forms

If you selected Lead Generation as the campaign objective, configure a LinkedIn Lead Gen Form.

Available fields include:

  • Form Name – Automatically generated and editable.

  • Headline & Description – Displayed prominently in the form.

  • Pre-filled Fields – Add up to 12 fields, such as Name, Email, and Job Title.

  • Custom Questions – Add up to 3 short-answer or multiple-choice questions.

  • Hidden Fields – Add up to 20 hidden fields, such as UTM tags or campaign IDs.

  • Privacy Section – Add the required privacy URL and optional disclosure text.

  • Consent Checkboxes – Add up to 5 consent checkboxes.

  • Confirmation Page – Configure a thank-you message and an optional CTA, such as Visit Website, Download, or Call.

For detailed instructions, see How to create a LinkedIn lead form in Ad Manager.

Step 4: Review & Publish

Before publishing the campaign, review its configuration on the Review & Publish screen.

Review:

  • Campaign objective

  • Schedule

  • Optimization mode

  • Full creative preview for desktop and mobile

Ad Manager also validates the campaign before publishing. Validation checks include:

  • Required fields are completed.

  • Destination URLs are valid.

Resolve any validation issues before publishing the campaign.

Step 5: View Campaign Group Performance

After publishing, navigate to Statistics > LinkedIn to review campaign performance.

You can analyze results at different levels:

  • Campaign Group Level – Review metrics such as impressions, clicks, and CTR.

  • Campaign Level – Review conversions and audience effectiveness.

  • Ad Level – Review creative performance using metrics such as CTR and conversions.

For more information about available metrics, see Understanding LinkedIn statistics in Ad Manager.

Best Practices

  • Organize by business objective – Group related campaigns based on their intended goal.

  • Keep campaigns focused – Use one audience definition for each campaign.

  • Use multiple ads – Run multiple ads within a campaign to compare creative performance.

  • Start broad and refine – Begin with broader audience targeting, then refine it with relevant filters.

  • Keep Lead Gen Forms concise – Shorter forms can reduce the amount of information users must provide.

  • Use UTM tagging for Website Traffic campaigns – Add UTM parameters to support external analytics and attribution.