top of page

Maximizing Leads with LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads

Writer's picture: James GreenJames Green

Updated: Jun 11, 2024

Are you a business owner or marketer looking to boost leads and sales and get your message to your ideal customer?


Discover how LinkedIn's new Thought Leader Ad format can transform your advertising strategy.


It's the secret sauce that could be a game changer for your business and see more high quality traffic and enquiries coming to your business and catapulting you to dominating your industry. WARNING: must be used with caution in super-specific niche B2B industries, as you will have to deal with becoming 'famous' in your industry.




What are LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads?


LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads allow you to run ads from an individual's profile rather than just a company page.


This new feature is a major opportunity for generating leads, awareness and maximising results across all your marketing and sales efforts.


With organic reach becoming increasingly difficult, leveraging paid ads can significantly enhance your visibility and engagement.


But even more than that, you're guaranteeing that potential buyers see your LinkedIn posts. NOT just your ex-colleagues or old school mates. The people who actually pay you and can work with you. We focus on building ad campaigns that get REAL RESULTS not just followers and likes!


 

Why use LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads?


Firstly, Thought Leader ads appear much more native and natural than other ad formats on social media.

Similar to UGC content in ecommerce and how that instantly appears less like 'an ad' on your social media feed and can be more effective at capturing people's attention on the timelines as well as being more engaging than an overly corporate ad that instantly turns people off.


It also has other benefits such as...


Build credibility by communicating through a trusted voice:

Promote authentic content from real employees to generate brand trust.


Distinguish your brand as an industry authority:

Share unique perspectives from your execs, industry experts, or top talent to position your employees as category leaders and stand out from competitors.


Grow community around your thought leaders:

Generate followers and engagement for thought leaders in your organization to amplify their personal brand


💡DID YOU KNOW?


Thought Leader Ads have a 1.7x higher click-through rate and 1.6x higher engagement rate compared to other single-image ad campaigns.


 

How to create a LinkedIn Thought Leader Ad Campaign


To get started with LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads:


  1. Set Up Your Ad Account: Go to LinkedIn's advertising platform and link it to your company page.

  2. Access Campaign Manager: This is where you create and manage your ads.


Setting Up a LinkedIn Thought Leader Ad


  1. Engagement Objective: Currently, the only available objective is engagement, which helps increase reach and interaction.

  2. Targeting Options: Utilize LinkedIn's robust targeting features, such as job titles and company profiles, to reach your ideal audience.

  3. Ad Content: Focus on creating persuasive, engaging content that addresses your target audience's pain points and offers solutions. See which posts you and your team have that are already well engaged that meet this criteria (or start creating more!)

 

LinkedIn Audience Targeting Tips


LinkedIn's unique advantage is its ability to target based on job titles and company data.


This precision makes it ideal for B2B marketing.


Use these targeting options to reach decision-makers and key influencers within your desired industries and companies.





Technical Aspects of Running a Profile Ad


  • Audience Expansion: It's recommended to untick audience expansion options to maintain precise targeting.

  • Budgeting: Start with a conservative budget, especially if you're new to LinkedIn ads. Monitor and adjust based on performance. We've seen companies get results from as little as £10 per day per audience


  • Content Approval: Ensure your posts comply with LinkedIn's guidelines, avoiding overuse of emojis, exclamation marks, and inappropriate language to prevent rejection.


How to Select Employee Posts and Request Sponsorship


Create a LinkedIn Thought Leader Ad on LinkedIn Ads

  1. Browse Existing Content: Choose posts from your profile or employees' profiles to sponsor.

  2. Request Sponsorship: Send a sponsorship request, and once approved, the post can be promoted as an ad. You can also have employees set 'auto-approval on' to make this process quicker.

Linked Thought Leader Ads how to select sponsorship request

Want results from your LinkedIn Ads?


We recently implemented LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads for a B2B company who offer maintenance services to restaurants and the public sectors.


Within weeks, this new ad format was leading to a consistent influx of qualified leads and increased recognition in their target industry.


What's really satisfying is how several lapsed leads and ex clients got back in touch with the founder of the business after seeing these LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads.


Another example is A software company used Thought Leader Ads to boost their webinar registrations. By promoting posts from their CEO's profile, they reached key decision-makers and increased their registration rate by 35%.


Do you want to maximize your LinkedIn advertising results like this?


Book a call with Evergreen to discuss the best ad strategy tailored to your objectives and budget.


 

FAQs


  1. What are LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads? Thought Leader Ads allow you to run ads from an individual's profile rather than just a company page.

  2. How do I set up a LinkedIn Thought Leader Ad? Set up your ad account through LinkedIn's advertising platform, access the Campaign Manager, and follow the steps to create and manage your ads.

  3. What objectives can I achieve with Thought Leader Ads? Currently, the primary objective is engagement, but future updates will include more specific objectives such as lead generation and website conversions.

  4. What content works best for Thought Leader Ads? Persuasive, engaging content that addresses your target audience's pain points and offers solutions.


 

You can target B2B audiences with Facebook Ads too!

B2B targeting with Facebook Ads

Timestamps for video

00:00 What is a LinkedIn Thought Leader Ad?

01:08 Types of Ad objectives

02:17 Creating a LinkedIn Ad account

02:25 Setting up a LinkedIn Thought Leader Ad

04:34 LinkedIn Audience Targeting Tips

06:04 Technical aspects to run a profile ad

08:26 How to select employee posts and request sponsorship

11:00 Need help with your LinkedIn Ads?


1 view0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page