5 B2B LinkedIn Ads tests to run in 2026

LinkedIn made some good strikes final yr that I’ve seen repay for our suite of B2B shoppers. Now that we’re into 2026, with yearly advertising and marketing targets in focus, I’ve acquired some suggestions based mostly on our 2025 learnings so that you can take a look at and leverage within the coming months. These embody:

• Video.
• Thought Chief Advertisements.
• Personalised artistic.
• Certified Lead Optimization.
• Advertisements duplication.

Let’s put a magnifying glass on every and clarify the advantages you stand to achieve.

LinkedIn video is a should

Though Meta and TikTok are extra pure suits for video, LinkedIn isn’t proof against the video motion — significantly short-form video (between 7-15 seconds). Whereas having video content material is a crucial line merchandise in your advertising and marketing technique plan, the correct content material is much more vital.

There are many methods to leverage video, together with new-ish placements like First Impression Advertisements. What I like to recommend is that you just attempt video advertisements within the feed first to match efficiency and engagement with different sorts of in-feed advertisements you’ve been operating.

The standard caveats apply right here:

• Don’t simply repurpose movies from different platforms. Past having a novel UI that would have an effect on whether or not video content material does or doesn’t stand out, LinkedIn spurs completely different habits from its customers. Check movies that talk to knowledgeable problem your model can assist clear up, or spotlight testimonials, tutorials, or case research.
• Be sure you have a follow-up plan for customers who interact, since one video isn’t going to transform anybody right into a buyer with out a lot of nurturing.
• Set a technique for measuring the worth of video engagements, from views to direct responses taking motion on prompts like “Remark X for the total information.”

Dig deeper: LinkedIn study reveals how B2B video ads can gain +129% engagement lift

Folks reply to folks, so attempt Thought Chief Advertisements

One of many hardest components of B2B promoting is partaking potential prospects on behalf of a enterprise or company entity. Thought Leader Ads (the place corporations can primarily enhance content material from worker accounts) have really been round for a few years, however we acquired severe about testing them in 2025 and earned a lot larger engagement than with typical advertisements from enterprise profiles.

TLAs open up some creativity, too. Humor-focused posts, for one, are much more pure a match from a private account.

As with different boosted content material, be even handed about the place you make investments. If a put up already has traction organically (and that’s develop into more durable over the past yr as LinkedIn has throttled again attain) and makes a very good enterprise case for working along with your firm, that’s a very good candidate for a TLA.

A few caveats right here, too:

• Be certain that any worker whose content material you enhance has your model as seen as doable on their profile and has creator mode activated in order that customers can comply with them (which creates long-term worth for future posts).
• Per LinkedIn (we’ve additionally seen this to be true), it’s finest to repurpose content material initially printed fewer than 30 days earlier than you enhance the put up.

Dig deeper: LinkedIn Ads retargeting: How to reach prospects at every funnel stage

Personalize your artistic

Within the latter half of 2025, we ran a big variety of exams with personalised LinkedIn advertisements throughout completely different geos and utilizing completely different marketing campaign varieties.

In our international campaigns, we noticed a mean of >20% enchancment in value per lead, with larger CTR and decrease CPC. U.S. campaigns have been much more profitable. CPLs dropped 33%.

Per our LinkedIn rep, European customers specifically worth privateness greater than U.S. customers, so it is sensible that personalization was more practical stateside. Both means, and even in U.S. campaigns, personalised advertisements started to point out indicators of fatigue after a few month. 

We responded by combining personalised and non-personalized advertisements into one marketing campaign to decrease the frequency of the personalised advertisements — and likewise permit for side-by-side comparisons in the identical setting.

Dig deeper: LinkedIn’s new playbook taps creators as the future of B2B marketing

Check Certified Lead Optimization

Should you’ve run Conversions API (CAPI) and enhanced conversions in Meta and Google, you’re conversant in the thought of Certified Lead Optimization. Primarily, that is LinkedIn’s means of letting you combine your first-party knowledge into the platform’s again finish to assist its algorithm discover higher-quality customers.

Now, this isn’t fairly as efficient as its Meta and Google counterparts but, however we’ve seen a rise within the proportion of certified leads.

To check it:

• Use LinkedIn’s CAPI to sync your CRM knowledge and supply the platform along with your definition of a professional lead. 
• Arrange a CAPI conversion occasion of certified leads, and ensure these are being relayed to the Marketing campaign Supervisor.

Use the brand new advertisements duplication characteristic

This one is tactical, however it’s saved me a ton of time in our accounts, so it’s price ensuring you’re conscious of it.

In March 2025, LinkedIn launched a couple of updates to Marketing campaign Supervisor, together with a brand new characteristic that makes it simpler to duplicate advertisements throughout campaigns and accounts. This has enormously improved our time to launch new campaigns – there’s no draw back to getting your arms round it.

Yet one more LinkedIn advert format to observe

We haven’t but aggressively examined LinkedIn’s new CTV capability, however we’re maintaining a tally of business views. This could be a nice medium to gauge the messaging and positioning that works to your model with area of interest focusing on choices earlier than rolling out big-screen campaigns.

Within the scheme of issues, LinkedIn supplied some quality-enough updates final yr for us to shift extra shopper finances there. As at all times, you might want to carry the correct expectations for the platform and be sure to have a powerful methodology for measuring its worth in your pipeline. 

With these in place, and with a rock-solid understanding of your ICP that permits you to totally leverage LinkedIn’s focusing on levers, I’m betting LinkedIn could be a pleasantly stunning supply of development within the coming months.