LinkedIn betting it can take on TikTok and Instagram in influencer marketing

Influencer
marketing
has
become

big
business
on
TikTok
and
Instagram,
where
popular
creators
can
make
good
money
by
helping
brands
promote
their
stuff.
Now,
LinkedIn
wants
in
the
game.

As
of
last
week,
LinkedIn
is
letting
advertisers
pay
to
amplify
posts
from
users,
including
those
with
sizable
followings.
Its
product,
called
Thought
Leader
ads,
launched
in
a
limited
capacity
last
year.

The


Microsoft-owned
business
is
looking
for
a
jolt,
as
LinkedIn’s
revenue
growth
has
been
stuck
in
single
digits
since
2022.
The
company
is
turning
to
its
membership,
which
topped
1
billion
in
November,
to
help
fuel
expansion.

Influencer
marketing
to
date
has
largely
been
a
phenomenon
of
consumer
apps,
where
shticks
and
gimmicks
can
turn
internet-savvy
creators
into
celebrities
with
millions
of
followers.
Almost
two-thirds
of
U.S.
social
media
marketing
dollars
this
year
will
flow
to
Instagram
parent


Meta
and
TikTok’s
Chinese
owner
ByteDance,
with
Instagram
and
TikTok
picking
up
a
combined
2
percentage
points
of
additional
share
by
2026,
according
to
estimates
from
eMarketer.

LinkedIn,
which
was
launched
a
year
before
Facebook,
will
grab
just
4%
of
the
market,
equal
to
$4.5
billion
in
marketing
revenue,
eMarketer
says,
and
its
share
will
remain
flat
over
the
next
two
years.

“It
takes
a
long
time
for
ads
and
ad
formats
to
really
take
root,”
said
Max
Willens,
a
senior
analyst
at
eMarketer,
referring
to
LinkedIn’s
latest
endeavor.

LinkedIn

introduced
Thought
Leader
ads
last
year
but
with
limited
use.
Brands
could
only
amplify
posts
from
their
own
employees.


Mastercard,
for
example,
promoted
posts
written
by
some
of
its
leaders
in
Singapore,
with
one
receiving
over

500
notifications
on
the
first
day.
LinkedIn
has
used
Thought
Leaders
ads
itself
for
some
posts
from
operating
chief
Dan
Shapero,
but
not
yet
for
CEO
Ryan
Roslansky.

By
opening
up
Thought
Leader
ads,
LinkedIn
is
letting
anyone
boost
a
post
as
long
as
the
author
grants
permission.
Social
media
marketer
Brendan
Gahan
is
so
bullish
on
the
format
that
he’s
focusing
much
of
his
efforts
on
helping
companies
use
Thought
Leader
ads.

“In
an
era
where
brand
safety
is
a
big
issue,
LinkedIn
has
a
leg
up,
particularly
in
contrast
to
Twitter,”
said
Gahan,
who
started
an
agency
last
year
called
Creator
Authority,
referring
to
the
social
media
platform
now
known
as
X.

X

lost
some
leaders
working
on
brand
safety
last
year,
just
as
the

Elon
Musk-owned
platform
was
seeing
a
surge
in
hate
speech
on
the
app.

LinkedIn
has
long
been
an
effective
site
for
advertisers
because
members
list
their
employment
details,
making
it
easy
for
brands
to
target
ads
to
relevant
audiences.
Advertising
skews
toward
business-focused
products
like
software
and
computer
infrastructure,
though
automakers,
universities
and
banks
also
use
the
network
to
reach
potential
customers.

“If
you’re
looking
to
sell
a
high-end
B2B
product,
and
you
know
the
buying
group
is
a
CFO
and
someone
in
finance
and
like
someone
in
HR,
we
can
literally
put
ads
in
front
of
those
specific
people
on
LinkedIn,
because
the
first-party
data
is
so
strong,”
Roslansky

said
at
a
conference
in
late
2022.

Thought
Leader
ads
came
about
after
employees
saw
marketing
clients
promoting
screenshots
of
other
users’
content.
Since
turning
on
the
offering
last
fall,
the
ads
have
yielded
higher
engagement
than
regular
ads
that
run
with
images,
said
Abhishek
Shrivastava,
a
LinkedIn
vice
president
of
product
management.

“Humanizing
your
brand
is
critical
for
B2B
and
has
been
underused
in
that
space,”
said
Shrivastava,
adding
that
clients
are
very
excited
about
it.

It
might
not
be
cheap.
Racking
up
a
thousand
ad
impressions
generally
costs
more
on
LinkedIn
than
on
Instagram
or
TikTok,
partly
because
the
company
charges
more
for
advertisers
to
reach
its
more
affluent
user
base.
Shrivastava
said
that
rather
than
comparing
the
costs
to
other
sites,
brands
will
look
at
the
sales
and
business
leads
they
get
from
running
ads.

For
months,
project
management
software
startup
ClickUp
has
been
paying
to
promote
LinkedIn
posts
from
its
own
executives.
Chris
Cunningham,
head
of
social
marketing
at
the
company,
said
traditional
ads
on
LinkedIn
can
sometimes
be
repetitive
and
generic,
and
he’s
eager
to
see
how
promoted
posts
will
perform
when
influencers
get
involved.

On
other
social
networks,
ClickUp
has
found
more
success
promoting
posts
from
creators
than
with
standard
ads,
Cunningham
said.
Plus,
he
said, “it’s
super
easy.”

Betsy
Hindman,
a
marketer
in
Tennessee
who
helps
companies
make
the
most
of
their
LinkedIn
presence,
said
a
brand
ambassador
with
an
audience
can
have
a
bigger
impact
than
a
typical
ad.

“It’s
part
of
a
full
end-to-end
strategy
that
includes
warming
people
up
along
the
way
with
whatever
type
of
content
they
respond
to,”
she
said.

Building
up
a
roster
of
creators
will
likely
take
time.
Some
influencers
are
represented
by
agencies,
and
LinkedIn’s
Campaign
Manager
advertising
system
doesn’t
have
an
automatic
process
for
connecting
media
buyers
with
agencies.

“That’s
a
direction
we
are
exploring,”
Shrivastava
said.

More
data
will
soon
be
available
to
advertisers.
Starting
in
a
few
weeks,
LinkedIn
members
will
be
able
to
look
up
any
company’s
collection
of
ads
and
see
its
Thought
Leader
ads,
a
spokesperson
said.
That
could
help
advertisers
see
what
works
best.

One
potential
boon
for
LinkedIn
rests
with
the
fate
of
TikTok.
The
app
faces
a
possible
ban
in
the
U.S.
after
the
House
of
Representatives

passed
legislation
last
month
that
would
force
ByteDance
to
sell
it
within
six
months.
Momentum
has
since
slowed,
though
Senate
Minority
Leader

Mitch
McConnell,
R-Ky.,

urged
lawmakers
to
take
action
on
the
matter
earlier
this
week.

Willens
from
eMarketer
said
agencies
are
keeping
an
eye
on
the
issue,
but
said “nobody
feels
there’s
an
imminent
threat.”