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Campaign Manager — the tour
In one sentence
Campaign Manager is the free tool where ads are built. Three levels: Campaign (a folder) › Ad Set (every real decision) › Ad (what people see).
3levels: Campaign › Ad Set › Ad5access levels1currency — can never be changed
Read it inside-out when a client calls: the ad is what people see, the ad set is who sees it and for how much, the campaign is just the folder.
Campaign Manager is the free ad platform; you pay for media only. Business Manager sits above it and governs which people, Pages, ad accounts and partners belong to a company. Agencies and multi-account clients set up Business Manager first.
Hierarchy — learn both names
Since late 2025 LinkedIn is renaming the levels to match Meta/Google. Accounts, tutorials and the API may still show the old names. In an exam, treat the pairs as synonyms.
| Level | 2026 name | Old name | Holds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top | Campaign | Campaign Group | Folder: name, status, optional group budget/schedule. No targeting. |
| Middle | Ad Set | Campaign | Objective, audience, format, placement, budget, schedule, bid, conversions — 90% of decisions |
| Bottom | Ad | Ad / Creative | Image, video, document, post or message + copy, URL, Lead Gen Form |
Ad account›Campaign (group)›Ad Set›Ad
Left navigation, what lives where
| Menu | Contains | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing Overview | Spend, impressions, clicks, leads, AI digest | Weekly anomaly check |
| Plan | Audiences · Companies · Media Planner · Brand Safety | Matched audiences, account engagement, forecasts, publisher block lists |
| Advertise | Campaigns / Ad Sets / Ads tables | Daily work: columns, breakdowns, export |
| Test | Brand Lift · Conversion Lift · A/B tests | Incrementality; needs large budgets |
| Measure | Measurement Insights · Conversion tracking | Member/company/format views, CRM revenue, conversions list |
| Data | Signals Manager | Insight Tag, Website Actions, Conversions API, offline sources |
| Recommendations | LinkedIn's suggestions with one-click apply | Read; apply selectively (they push higher bids, wider audiences, Audience Network) |
| Assets | Lead Gen Forms, landing pages, media library | Forms; leads downloadable for 90 days |
| Account settings | Access, Billing Centre, account edit, dynamic UTMs | Currency cannot be changed later |
Access levels
Viewerread-only reporting
Creative Managercreate/edit ads, not campaigns or billing
Campaign Managercreate/edit campaigns and ads
Account Managerfull control incl. users and settings
Billing Adminbilling only (set on the account)
Account set-up checklist (what a client needs before spending)
- Ad account with currency chosen (EUR/CHF for DACH — irreversible) and a LinkedIn Page attached
- Billing method or invoicing (IO) set in Billing Centre; invoicing needs credit approval
- Insight Tag installed (or via Google Tag Manager) and showing "active"
- At least one conversion (Website Action or CAPI) and one Lead Gen Form if lead gen
- Business Manager if an agency or multiple accounts are involved
- Dynamic UTMs switched on at account level
Remember
- The Ad Set holds objective, audience, format, placement, budget, schedule, bid and conversions. Old name: Campaign.
- Business Manager sits above the ad account: people, Pages, ad accounts, partners.
- The Insight Tag and Conversions API live under Data → Signals Manager; Companies tab and Media Planner under Plan.