In late September, LinkedIn announced the rollout of its newest advertising format – Document Ads. Though the platform is already used by the vast majority of B2B technology pros, this unit could revolutionize the ability to promote and engage with the long-form content that tends to be prioritized in technology marketing efforts.
What is a Document Ad & How is it Different than Other LinkedIn Ad Units?
A document ad is essentially a blend of two more traditional LinkedIn ad units: the standard sponsored content and the lead generation form. It allows marketers to promote multi-format documents natively within the standard LinkedIn feed.
The operative word here is natively – allowing users to preview and engage with lead-focused content without the additional clicks that direct them away from LinkedIn, where they’re actively engaged. As such, the biggest difference between Document Ads and other units is the ability to serve previewable content within the feed. All other ads require a lead form to be completed or a click off-platform to engage with the material – ultimately adding friction to the already complex user journey.
The Various Use Cases of LinkedIn Document Ads
- Building brand awareness: these ads provide a great opportunity for brands to educate their audiences and create demand via the premium thought leadership content they invest so heavily in.
- Bolstering lead generation: adding a lead generation form to your previewable content will allow the most engaged users to easily share their information in an auto-populated form to read the full version – allowing you to improve qualified lead flow.
- Understand your content engagement levels: with the new format, you can learn exactly how much your document is read. This can help to inform future content strategies and prevent unnecessary budget loss on under-optimized or misaligned ads.
Advantages of Using LinkedIn’s Document Ads for your B2B Content Marketing Strategy
- Gated content is an excellent tool for lead generation but is notorious for yielding low-quality leads from users that simply want to view the asset with no intention to engage. Document Ads allow advertisers to give control to their audience to preview the content and understand if it’s exactly what they need before deciding whether or not to engage. If they do, it’s a simple and seamless download. If not, they likely won’t click, and you won’t overspend on soft leads.
- Targeting is hyper-focused compared to many other content syndication channels. LinkedIn has the standard set of geographic and demographic targeting as other content marketing platforms. But layering on companies, titles, industries, years of experience, etc., helps to ensure visibility from only the most ideal segments of your target audience.
- Advanced analytics allow for clearer ROI attribution. Understanding how much of the content is read, cost per lead, and general click volumes help to deploy content marketing budgets better and drive stronger results.
The combination of LinkedIn’s industry-leading targeting capabilities and its new low-friction Document Ads unit presents an incredible opportunity for B2B marketers attempting to amplify their premium, long-form content. While these engagements won’t come cheaply, the traffic quality levels should be worth every penny. The best part? You can decide exactly how much of the content you’re promoting you want previewed – from 1 page to 100%.
If you’d like help setting these new ads up or understanding how they fit into your overall content strategy, drop us a line at hello@lookleftmarketing.com.
