New favorite b2b ad format

I’m always first in line whenever a platform drops a new ad format. So when I heard about LinkedIn’s Thought Leader Ads, I jumped at the opportunity to test them out.

And boy, am I glad I did.

In my opinion, there’s no better ad than one that doesn’t look like an ad. These types of ads cut through the noise and feel native to a user’s feed. That’s why Meta’s whitelisted ads performed so well when they first launched, and why influencer posts continue to crush it for DTC brands.

People buy from people, and it’s no secret that newer generations (a la Gen Z) crave authentic voices and opinions when deciding what products or services to buy.

What do these ads look like?

At their core, Thought Leader Ads are just native LinkedIn posts that you put paid spend behind. That’s it. The only indication that it’s an ad is a small “Promoted by” label in the header of the post.

Here’s an example of a Thought Leader Ad (screenshot shortened for brevity):

As you can see, it looks just like a regular post—because it is. The only difference is that I’m putting ad dollars behind it.

Best practices

Through trial and error, I’ve identified a few major “no-nos” with this ad format. To save you the struggle, here are my top takeaways:

1. Use the engagement objective instead of brand awareness.
2. Make the post feel very organic. It should read like a normal LinkedIn update, not a sales pitch.
3. Use hyper-targeting to reach your ICP (ideal customer profile).
4. Include an exclusion list to filter out irrelevant audiences in case your targeting fails.
5. Images perform best. Posts with attached images tend to drive higher engagement.
6. Briefly mention your product or service, but don’t overdo it. Keep it subtle.
7. Retarget website visitors, LinkedIn post engagers, etc., in a separate campaign.
8. Use a cost cap, and set it much lower than LinkedIn’s suggested bid. (Usually, $1 works well.)
9. Headlines like “How X Did Y” or “Why You Should Be Doing X” perform best.

The most important thing you can do with this format is write stellar content that your ICP will actually engage with. If you already have a following on LinkedIn and a post performs well organically, chances are it’ll also perform well with paid spend behind it.

A few other insights from my testing:

• Videos don’t tend to perform well with this ad format.
• Calling out your ICP helps, e.g., “If you’re a B2B founder…”
• Try putting spend behind posts from accounts other than your own.
• Don’t make your offering the focal point. Keep it subtle and value-driven.

If you’re a B2B founder or marketer, I highly recommend testing this format. I’m almost certain it’ll become your top-performing LinkedIn campaign type in 2025.

Let me know if you come up with any cool strategies I haven’t mentioned—I’m all ears!