If you already have a good audience, you can use Lookalike Audiences to find more people with similar interests and characteristics.
Getting your targeting right is key to a successful carousel ad. If your audience is too broad, you might spend money on people who aren’t interested. If it’s too narrow, you might not reach enough people.
Once you’re happy with your audience, click Save Audience, and you’re good to go.
5. Publish, test, and refine
Once your campaign looks good, activate it in Campaign Manager, and it will start running. However, to get the best results, keep an eye on how your ad is performing.
Here’s what to measure for your LinkedIn campaigns :
- Engagement rate: Are people swiping through your slides, clicking, or interacting?
- Click-through rate (CTR): How many people actually click on your ad?
- Conversion rate: This helps you see if people take the action you want, like signing up or purchasing your product or service.
If your results aren’t what you expected, try different approaches to improve your performance over time.
Some ways to optimize your LinkedIn carousel ads include:
- Adjust the number of slides: Shorter carousels work for quick messages, while longer ones allow for storytelling.
- Change the slide order: Switching the first and second slides might boost engagement.
- Refine your audience: If engagement is low, try adjusting demographics or industries.
- Test different headlines and text: Tweaks in wording can make a big difference.
NOTE: You can track everything in LinkedIn’s Analytics Dashboard, which gives you insights into how your audience interacts with your ad. Keep testing
5 ways to make LinkedIn carousel ads stand out:
- Educate your audience
- Showcase your business culture and values
- Share a tutorial
- Launch a new product
- Share research
1. Educate your audience
A LinkedIn carousel ad lets you share useful information in a way that people actually want to read.
Use the first slide to make your message feel relevant. Each slide should then build on the last one, but keep things easy to follow. Instead of packing too much text, use quick bullet points, charts, or visuals to highlight core ideas.
This YouGov carousel ad does this well. It starts with a question that gets people thinking and uses clear, data-backed insights on each slide. Plus, the straightforward design keeps the focus on the message without being distracting:
The ad wraps up with a clear call to action, inviting viewers to watch a free webinar for more insights. It’s a great way to generate leads and keep the conversation going even after people finished swiping.
2. Showcase your business culture and values
Carousel ads are a great opportunity to showcase your mission, values, and impact. However, instead of just saying you support a cause, highlight actual projects, partnerships, or initiatives, using real examples to show how your company puts its values into action.
A great example of this is Huawei Digital Power’s LinkedIn carousel ad. The question in the first slide makes the post feel interactive and encourages people to think about the topic:
Branding is present but doesn’t take over, allowing the story to shine. Incorporate your company’s colors, fonts, and logo, but keep the focus on your message.
3. Share a tutorial
Use your ads to share bite-sized slides that are easy to follow and more engaging. Keep your slides short and to the point, so people know right away if the information is relevant to them. Then, organize your slides logically, so viewers can easily follow. Each slide should focus on one key action to keep things simple.
For instance, this LinkedIn for Marketing carousel ad is a great example of how to structure educational posts. Each slide covers a specific idea, making it easy for viewers to click on the ones they’re most interested in.
Plus, the visuals are clean and professional, making the information easy to scan without distractions.
4. Launch a new product
Is your business launching a new product on LinkedIn? Carousel ads can help you introduce it step by step instead of cramming everything into one long LinkedIn post. Begin with a bold statement or a clear benefit to make people stop scrolling. Then, use the next slides to highlight any outstanding features and real-world applications.
A great way to structure your ad is to tell a story. Show the problem your product solves, how it works, and what makes it different. If you can, include examples or comparisons that make the benefits clear.
The Setec Group ad does a great job of launching a new product in a sleek way, without overwhelming viewers:
Notice how the text includes technical details while still keeping the value clear, making it useful for both industry experts and decision-makers:
5. Share research
If research is your strong suit, break it down into bite-sized pieces, one idea per slide. Use as few words as possible; think captions, not paragraphs.
If you’re the one conducting the research, you can also sneak in your source (like “Source: My article on [topic]”) at the bottom of a slide.
And don’t forget the pictures. Relevant illustrations make your carousel more engaging. This post is a great example of how to do things right. The pictures are spot-on, namely a group of people for “life satisfaction” and windmills for “sustainability.” Makes sense, right?
They’re giving you quick, easy-to-understand news with nice visuals, which is perfect for scrolling through LinkedIn. It’s like the Cliff’s Notes version of the news, but way more engaging.
