LinkedIn has made a major change, giving companies the option to promote organic content, not just content from their employees.

The new feature was added to Thought Leader Ads, giving advertisers the ability to sponsor any member content on any Page they manage. LinkedIn cites feedback stating that thought-leadership content is considered more trustworthy than a company’s marketing materials. At the same time, outside brand advocates can be a powerful voice for a company, making the ability to promote their content a desirable option.

LinkedIn describes how the new feature will work:

A brand will login to Campaign Manager to set up their Thought Leader Ad. Once logged in, they will have the option to search for the person (by name) – 1st or 2nd degree connection – or post (by URL) the content that they want to sponsor. The search will yield a list of posts from that member that the brand can sponsor. To help prevent content from being misused or promoted without consent, when a company selects a post to sponsor, the creator will receive a notification asking them to “approve” or “deny” the request. 

The company says the new feature will be available globally by the end of March 2024.