Liam Walsh
Liam is a Co-Director at Intelligency and heads up the agency's Digital Intelligence & Paid Social activity. Over the last decade, he has worked with brands from the world of sports such as Premier League clubs to entertainment such as Channel 4 and Disney.
Following the successful launch of sponsored newsletters for company pages last month, LinkedIn has decided to expand this feature – it will now include user-generated newsletters.
The company hopes this will allow brands to put their branding on influential newsletters created by thought leaders within their industry. By doing so, LinkedIn offers brands more opportunities to engage with targeted audiences, leveraging the influence and reach of established newsletter creators on the platform.
LinkedIn will continue with the expansion of Sponsored Content
They have introduced the option for brands to sponsor user-generated newsletters, expanding the existing feature where companies could sponsor their newsletters.
Brands can associate their brands with these newsletters and piggyback on their authority. Additionally, it will enable the authors to be backed by larger brands. The feature works similarly to LinkedIn’s Thought Leader Ads, where creators can approve or deny sponsorship requests. This initiative aims to give brands new ways to connect with engaged audiences while providing creators with greater monetisation opportunities.
How can brands use these sponsored posts?
By using LinkedIn’s Campaign Manager, companies can choose a specific newsletter article to promote, enhancing its reach through paid promotion. There are also lead generation elements to these new newsletter features, as sponsored articles can be gated with an “Unlock Article” CTA button. Users will be required to provide their contact information to access the full content, offering a strategic tool for lead generation.
How has this affected Newsletters?
LinkedIn reports a significant rise in newsletter engagement, with over 184,000 newsletters currently hosted on the platform and a 47% increase in readership. This growth highlights the effectiveness of newsletters as a communication and marketing tool. The introduction of sponsored newsletters taps into this trend, providing brands with a targeted method to reach an engaged and relevant audience, while also helping LinkedIn to solidify its role as a content-driven platform.
