How do I run LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads on posts from employees or people outside my company?

TofuAnswer by the Tofu team · checked

Ask the author for permission in Campaign Manager, then add the post to an ad set once they approve. On the ad set's ads step, click Browse existing content, choose LinkedIn members, find the post by name or URL, and click Request approval. That search covers your employees and your 1st- and 2nd-degree connections. For creators or customers further out, use Creator Marketplace in Campaign Manager. The post must be public. LinkedIn lists brand awareness, engagement and (for video) video views as the objectives. The author can revoke approval at any time.

As of October 2026.

Whose posts can I sponsor?

Any LinkedIn member who approves your request. LinkedIn's help lists posts from your employees, creators, and members who are 1st, 2nd or 3rd-degree+ connections. What changes is where you find the post.

AuthorWhere you find and request the post
Employees of your companyCampaign Manager (Browse existing content) or Creator Marketplace
Your 1st- and 2nd-degree connections, such as customers or partners you knowCampaign Manager or Creator Marketplace
3rd-degree+ connections, such as creators you don't knowCreator Marketplace only

For every author, the profile must show their full name and the post must be public. Creator Marketplace leaves out authors located in countries covered by the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA): their posts don't appear for discovery or sponsorship. LinkedIn's help page for members puts it more broadly, saying content from authors in DMA countries can't currently be sponsored as Thought Leader Ads.

What do I need before I start?

You need the right access and an eligible post.

  • Page access: super admin, content admin or Sponsored Content poster on the ad account's LinkedIn Page. If the ad account is tied to a Showcase Page, you need it on the parent company Page.
  • Ad account access: creative manager or higher.
  • Eligible posts: public text, single image, video, article and newsletter posts, eligible collaborative posts, and posts linked to a LinkedIn Live Event your Page created.
  • Not eligible: celebrations, documents, polls, multi-image posts and reposts. To promote a repost, ask the original author and sponsor their original post. You also can't duplicate a Thought Leader Ad.

How do I request a post and launch the ad?

Send the request from the ad set, then add the post once it's approved.

  1. Create an ad set with a supported objective, or edit an existing one.
  2. On the ads step, click Browse existing content.
  3. In the Content Library, choose LinkedIn members, open the Posts tab, and search by the member's name or the post URL.
  4. Select the post, click Request approval, then Send.
  5. Optional: click View Request, then Copy link, and send the link to the author in a message. Track requests on the Requests tab (Approved, Declined or Pending).
  6. When the author approves, Campaign Manager notifies you. Add the post to the ad set and launch.

LinkedIn sets no limit on how many requests you can send to each thought leader.

How do I sponsor a creator's or customer's post if we aren't connected?

Use Creator Marketplace. Click Creator Marketplace in Campaign Manager's left pane. In Promote posts mentioning your brand, click See all, then filter by content type (image or video), mentions of your company name, date posted or creator name. Select the post and click Request to promote. After the creator approves, click Create Campaign. You can't promote Company Page posts or reshared posts from here.

LinkedIn's June 10, 2026 announcement says Creator Marketplace also gives you contact details for creators who opt in, so you can talk about a collaboration directly. LinkedIn's help pages don't describe paying creators through LinkedIn, so agree on any fee and how long you'll run the post with the creator yourself. LinkedIn's September 28, 2026 blog adds that a Creator Discovery beta brings filters such as creator industry, job function, audience demographics and Top Voices, with general availability expected in early 2027. LinkedIn's help says anyone with the Page and ad account access listed above can use Creator Marketplace for Thought Leader Ads; only its BrandLink in-stream video option needs a LinkedIn sales team.

How does the author approve? Can it be automatic?

The author gets an email linking to the post. They can approve or decline there, or on their Sponsorship Permissions page (linkedin.com/sponsorship-permissions) under Requests and Posts. They can approve a single request, or all pending and future requests from your ad account.

Auto-approval is the author's choice, set per advertiser on the Auto-approval tab of that page. LinkedIn tells members to turn it on only for advertisers they trust. It suits executives whose posts you sponsor often. To turn it off, the author picks one of two options:

  • Turn off for new posts: posts already approved stay approved; new requests need manual approval.
  • Turn off for both past and new posts: past approvals are revoked, and running ads that use those posts stop.

An author can also revoke one post at any time (in My posts, the More icon, then Revoke Approval). The ad turns off right away. If the ad set has other ads, it keeps delivering; if not, it stays active but stops delivering.

Which objectives and formats can I use?

The ad format follows the post type, and the objective must fit the format.

Post typeAd formatObjectives
Text or single imageSingle image adBrand awareness, engagement
VideoVideo adBrand awareness, engagement, video views
Post linked to your Page's LinkedIn Live EventEvent adBrand awareness, engagement
Article or newsletterArticle and newsletter adBrand awareness, engagement

Single image and video Thought Leader Ads have no call-to-action button; LinkedIn says URLs can go in the intro text. Event Thought Leader Ads include a button. The ads run in the LinkedIn feed and on the LinkedIn Audience Network.

For articles and newsletters, use brand awareness or engagement. That's what LinkedIn's newest pages list: the Thought Leader Ads page (updated about two months ago) and the setup and Creator Marketplace pages (about three months ago). An older article and newsletter ad page (about 11 months ago) also lists lead generation for articles; the newer pages don't.

How will the ad be labeled?

It depends on whether the author works for you. A post promoted by the author's employer shows "Promoted by [company name]." A post promoted by any other company shows "Promoted - Partnership with [company name]." LinkedIn says employees are responsible for disclosing their relationship with the company, and other authors should add any further disclosure needed, such as a hashtag like #SponsoredPost.

What reporting do I get?

Campaign Manager reports Thought Leader Ads like other ads, plus two metrics of their own: member follows (someone follows the author through the ad) and clicks to the member profile. LinkedIn's Marketing API added them as memberFollows and memberProfileClicks in version 202610 (October 2026), so reporting tools built on the API can pull them.

The author sees combined organic and paid impressions and reach on the post, without LinkedIn Audience Network numbers. LinkedIn suggests recording the post's organic results before the campaign starts, so you can tell the two apart.

Do Thought Leader Ads perform better than Company Page ads?

LinkedIn says they do, using its own data. Its September 28, 2026 blog says they drive a 252% higher click-through rate than conventional single image ads when reaching B2B buyer audiences, without describing how it measured that. Test it yourself: run a Thought Leader Ad and a Company Page single image ad to the same audience, with the same budget and objective, and compare cost per result.

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