LinkedIn expands video ads, AI tools to help B2B marketers

LinkedIn is rolling out new features to help B2B marketers build their brands and engage with its community of 1 billion professionals.

The Wire Program. The first initiative is the addition of in-stream video ads alongside publisher content. A LinkedIn spokesperson told Search Engine Land:

• “The Wire Program is available in all languages on mobile and desktop to global advertisers part of the pilot that negotiates content sponsorships with our select group of publishers, like Barron’s, Bloomberg, Business Insider, Forbes, LinkedIn News, MarketWatch, NBCUniversal, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal and Yahoo Finance. Note: at launch on June 5, the Wire Program will not offer EU member targeting.”

Here’s a GIF LinkedIn shared showing an example:

Expanded AI capabilities in Accelerate. The spokesperson told us LinkedIn is “making Accelerate campaigns globally available for lead generation and website visits objectives, as we expand Accelerate to support additional campaign objectives in the future.” Here’s what’s new with Accelerate:

• Microsoft Designer integration for creative customization
• Enhanced targeting with exclusion lists
• AI marketing assistant for campaign guidance

Early results:

• Advertisers using Accelerate are creating campaigns 15% more efficiently
• They’re also seeing a 52% lower cost per action compared to classic campaigns
• Video uploads on LinkedIn up 45% YoY

Why we care. B2B advertisers have historically felt ignored. This will be a welcome update, that other tech giants don’t seem to tend to, that will show advertisers that AI can also be used to help improve their results. 

What’s next. LinkedIn plans to make Accelerate, including AI-drafted copy in English, available to all customers globally in the coming months.

What they’re saying. Sean Johnston, VP of Advertising at Closed Loop, noted a 3x increase in lead form completion rates and 66% cheaper cost per lead:

• “Accelerate Campaigns far surpassed the lead conversion performance we saw from even our best performing manual audiences.”