Should You Automate Your LinkedIn Ads?
What to automate, what to manage manually, and why it matters
Automation can save time or waste money. Here's what you should and shouldn't automate in LinkedIn advertising.
SHOULD automate:
Bid optimization - Let LinkedIn's algorithm adjust bids for best results. Manual bidding rarely outperforms automated.
Budget pacing - Automated budget distribution prevents spending everything in the first days of the month.
Demographic expansion - LinkedIn can find similar audiences to your target. This works well once you have conversion data.
Reporting - Set up automated reports weekly or monthly. Don't manually pull data every time.
A/B test rotation - Let the platform show winning variations more often automatically.
Retargeting audiences - Automatically add website visitors or video viewers to retargeting campaigns.
SHOULD NOT automate:
Creative development - Don't use generic templates. Your ads need to reflect your unique value proposition.
Ad copy writing - Automated copy sounds robotic. Write for humans, not algorithms.
Strategic decisions - When to launch campaigns, what to test, which audiences to target - these need human judgment.
Quality control - Always review ads before they go live. Automation can't catch every error.
Performance analysis - Automated reports show what happened. You need to figure out why and what to do next.
A balanced approach works best:
Use automation for efficiency - bid management, audience expansion, reporting
Keep humans involved in strategy and creativity
The sweet spot is using tools that augment human work, not replace it. Stirling is a perfect example - it uses AI to help you create better ads faster, but you're still in control of strategy and final decisions.
Automation should free you to focus on high-value activities. Use it to eliminate busywork, not eliminate thinking.
Review automated campaigns weekly. Make sure the algorithm isn't making bad decisions. Sometimes manual adjustments are needed.
Start with partial automation. Test it. If it works, expand. If not, dial it back.
The goal isn't to set and forget. It's to work smarter while staying in control of your results.
