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How to create your first campaign in LinkedIn Campaign Manager
A step-by-step guide to setting up and launching your first LinkedIn Ads campaign.
Step 1: Set up your campaign
1. Sign in to Campaign Manager
Campaign Manager is where you create, launch, and manage your ad campaigns on LinkedIn.
After you create a free account, it guides you through each step of setting up your first campaign. Learn how to prepare for your first LinkedIn campaign, then follow the steps below for an overview of the process.
Once you’re in Campaign Manager, you can start by selecting “Create,” then “Campaign.”
2. Enter your campaign details
If it’s your first campaign, start by naming it and filling in the campaign group details.
If you already have a campaign set up, select it and skip ahead to audience setup.
3. Select your objective
Your objective defines the action you want your audience to take after seeing your ad. It also shapes how your campaign is set up and runs.
Select one objective for all ad sets in your campaign. You’ll then choose ad formats, features, and bid types that support that objective during ad set creation.
Learn more about the available objectives in Campaign Manager.
4. Choose your ad creation method
Choose how you want to build and manage your ads. You can choose a more flexible approach to optimize performance or a standard setup for more control.
Learn more about flexible ad creation.
5. Select your group budget and schedule
Decide how you want to manage spending across your ad sets.
You can turn on budget optimization if you want Campaign Manager to automatically adjust how your budget is distributed to improve performance and ROI across your campaign.
If you want more control, you can leave this off and set your budget later at the ad set level.
6. Build your target audience
Define who you want to reach using audience attributes and targeting in Campaign Manager.
Start with location and core attributes like job title, company, or industry to reach the right professionals. You can also use buyer groups to connect with decision-makers and key stakeholders.
To refine your targeting, use Matched Audiences to retarget website visitors, upload contact lists, or reach specific accounts. This can help improve campaign performance over time.
7. Select your ad format
Choose an ad format based on your objective and how you want to connect with your audience.
Sponsored Content helps you reach professionals in the LinkedIn feed, Message Ads let you connect directly in their inbox, and Text Ads offer a simple way to stay visible. You can also test different formats to see what works best for your campaign.
Learn more:
- Sponsored Content (Carousel, Document, Thought Leader, Event, Article & Newsletter, Single Image, and Video Ads)
- Message Ads (Ads that show in LinkedIn Messaging)
- Text Ads (Right rail and Top Banner Ads)
- Dynamic Ads (Follower, Spotlight, and Content Ads)
Discover ad format guides and specs:
Add URL tracking parameters (optional)
Add URL tracking parameters to measure how your ads drive traffic and conversions on your site. This helps you understand performance across campaigns and report on results more accurately.
8. Choose where your ads appear
By default, your ads can run on LinkedIn and across the LinkedIn Audience Network, which extends your reach to trusted third-party publishers.
Keep both selected to reach more of your audience, or adjust placements if you want more control over where your ads appear.
9. Set your budget, bidding, and schedule
If you didn’t set a campaign-level budget, you can set it here at the ad set level.
Choose your budget, bidding strategy, and schedule based on how you want your campaign to run. For example, “Maximum delivery” helps you get the most results from your budget, while schedule settings control when your ads run.
You can adjust these over time as you learn what performs best.
Learn how to plan and adjust your budget.
Set up conversion tracking (optional)
Add the LinkedIn Insight Tag to your website to track what happens after people interact with your ads, like form submissions or purchases.
Step 2: Create your ad(s)
Based on your selected format, you’ll add the creative elements for your ad, like an image or video, headline, and destination URL.
Strong creative helps your ads stand out and connect with the right audience.
You can review format-specific requirements and specs in the LinkedIn Ads Guide.
Step 3: Review and launch
Before launching your campaign, review your and add a payment method.
Once you save your payment details, your campaign will go through a brief review before it begins running.
You can also check Forecasted Results to get a sense of how your campaign may perform and make any final adjustments.
Learn more:
Looking for more help? Explore Getting Started with Campaign Manager on LinkedIn Marketing Academy.
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Learn more about LinkedIn Ads