With B2B dollars in mind, LinkedIn announces multiple ad upgrades

The news: LinkedIn is introducing a number of upgrades for advertisers.

• By using a LinkedIn marketing partner like Adverity, HubSpot, LeadsBridge, LiveRamp, and Make, or by manually uploading CSV files to Campaign Manager, advertisers can now connect offline conversions recorded by third-party technologies to LinkedIn.
• In order to give advertisers a more complete view of the impact of their marketing on lower-funnel business results wherever they occur, LinkedIn will automatically add this offline data into aggregate reporting on ad conversions.

White papers, rejoice: Long-form material, such as case studies, reports, and white papers, can now be promoted by advertisers directly in members' feeds without having to leave the professional network thanks to Document Ads.

• Nearly half (47%) of US B2B marketers find long-form content to be effective, with many considering it the second most valuable for mid-funnel prospects (after webinars).

Reducing friction: Marketers now have a single spot to manage, choose, store, and publish all of the media they use for single-image and video advertising on the platform with the new LinkedIn Media Library.

• By choosing a single video or image from the advertiser’s Media Library, five ads can be developed simultaneously, speeding up the ad creation process.
• Considering that creating targeted/engaging content is the second most oft-cited challenge to successful lead generation by US B2B marketers—apart from collecting quality data—quick iteration on ads is a small but welcome addition to the platform.

Why it matters: We expect US B2B display ad spending on LinkedIn to total $3.01 billion this year and grow to $4.56 billion by 2024. By then, LinkedIn will capture nearly one in four B2B digital ad dollars spent in the US.