You thought you had the best product. A strong champion. A compelling pitch.

The deal still died.

If that sounds familiar, the problem likely was not your product.  research from LinkedIn and Bain reveals the real reason strong B2B deals stall: buyers are not just buying a solution. They are buying a decision they can defend.

That is Buyability. And most marketing strategies are not built for it.

What is Buyability?

Buyability is a strategic model for B2B marketing and sales that puts the reality of B2B buying groups first and recognizes that Buying Groups are the unit of decision making in B2B. To be “buyable” a brand  has to build the confidence of  Buyer Group members. Being “Buyable” is about reaching an emotional threshold, not a rational one. Without Buyability buyers do not buy, and marketing does not drive revenue.

The research makes this concrete. When buyers were asked to rank their top emotional "jobs to be done" before committing, the number one answer was not "I felt confident the product would work." It was: "I felt I could defend the decision even if it went wrong."

Three out of the top five decision drivers are about group dynamics, not product. Your buyers are managing internal politics as much as they are evaluating your solution.

Rule 1: Make risk the enemy

40% of deals stall because the Buyer Group cannot agree, not because a competitor won. Buyers would rather do nothing than risk a decision that damages their career.

This is FOMU: Fear of Messing Up. It consistently outweighs FOMO. Your job as a marketer is to make choosing you feel safe. That means leading with proof that you have helped companies like theirs succeed, not just features that sound impressive.

Rule 2: Your target buyer  is not your only buyer

Here is where most targeting strategies fall short. Finance, Legal, and Procurement, hidden buyers,  rarely show up in your funnel. But they hold roughly 50% of total decision-making influence.

Vendors are 20 times more likely to be chosen when the entire Buyer Group knows and trusts the brand at the start of the process, compared to when only the technical champion does. In the research, 81% of purchases were made from vendors that "almost everyone" in the Buyer Group already knew. Only 4% came from vendors known only to the recommending function.

Reaching your ideal target customer is not enough. Hidden buyers need to know your name before the deal reaches their desk.

Rule 3: A defensible decision is the product

When buyers choose from a shortlist where everyone meets the basic requirements, product capability stops being the differentiator. What moves them is whether they can walk into a room and justify the decision with confidence.

Do not confuse product capability with Buyability. The buyer who chose you still has to sell you internally. If your marketing has not already built that case across the full Buyer Group, your champion is walking into that room alone.

Rule 4: Peer advocacy is a multiplier

When buyers on a shortlist are choosing between vendors who all meet the basics, recommendations decide the winner.

Buyers are 3 times more likely to choose a vendor heavily recommended by peers or customers over one that promises a better product or lower price. They are 4 times more likely to choose a vendor they have had direct success with before, because past experience is, in effect, a recommendation from themselves.

Customer advocacy is not a nice-to-have content play. It is the highest-leverage asset in your marketing strategy, especially in final-stage decisions.

Rule 5: Show them you understand companies like theirs

The final dimension of Buyability is cultural fit. Buyers want to work with vendors who feel like them: same working style, same priorities, same understanding of their world.

The research heatmap across all five Buyability drivers tells a clear story. Socially oriented attributes, including working style alignment, peer recommendations, and a specific focus on companies like theirs, outperform rational attributes like being a category leader or being recommended by experts.

Buyability is relational before it is rational.

What this means for your marketing strategy

The research is directionally simple even if the execution is not.

Build presence with the full Buyer Group, not just the champion. Prioritize customer proof over product claims. Make peer validation a core part of how you show up, not an afterthought in a case study library. And signal consistently that you understand the working reality of companies like your buyers'.

The vendors who win are not always the best product. They are the safest choice in the room.

Build for that.

     

We recently analyzed 89,000 unique LinkedIn URLs cited by ChatGPT Search, Google AI Mode, and Perplexity, and put together a practical playbook to help you grow your AI visibility. Our study confirmed that LinkedIn is the second most-cited domain in AI search, appearing in 11% of AI responses on average across these tools.

Semrush research also shows that 95% of B2B buyers who use AI rely on it to research vendors and solutions. Out of more than 600 people surveyed, 84% use these AI search engines directly during the buying process. 

The takeaway is simple: your prospects are turning to AI to make buying decisions, and LinkedIn content directly influences the recommendations they see.

Your primary goal? Making sure your brand appears in the right answers, for the right buyers, and with the right context.

Below are seven practical tips for creating LinkedIn content to improve AI search visibility: what to write, how to structure it, who should publish it, and what to measure.

1. Start with customer pain points and validate them with AI search data

Your customers are often asking ChatGPT the same questions they ask your sales team. Build your LinkedIn content around those questions, then use AI search data from tools like Semrush’s AI Visibility Toolkit to confirm demand and find related prompts worth covering.

Here are the best ways to identify and validate these pain points:

• Pull questions from sales and customer success conversations. Demo recordings (e.g., via tools like Gong), support tickets, and win/loss notes contain the exact phrasing your buyers use. Use insights from these sources to line up LinkedIn content ideas.
  
• Use review sites and social media as a pain-point database. G2 and Capterra reviews, subreddits, social media comments, and other social listening insights can reveal common questions and frustrations of buyers in your niche.
  
• Validate with prompt research. Run your shortlist of questions through Semrush's Prompt Research tool. Check which prompts AI already answers in your category, which brands get cited, and which related prompts to add to your list.

From here, you can prioritize content that’s most likely to earn citations and mentions for high-intent prompts. Focus on  topics where you can talk about your category and products, bring proprietary data, feature a customer story, or leverage first-hand experience.

For example, this LinkedIn article, cited in 36+ Google AI Mode prompts, answers a specific question — “What should you modernize first when planning a digital transformation?” The article then proceeds to share a structured, comprehensive response.

2. Build an internal LinkedIn employee advocacy program

A working employee advocacy program is one of the highest-leverage moves you can make for AI visibility. People trust people, and LLMs prefer user-generated content because it comes from firsthand experience.

Combining strong company and employee content gives you coverage across every major AI tool. Perplexity cites Company Pages 59% of the time, while ChatGPT Search and Google AI Mode cite individual creators 59% of the time. 

Here's how to promote employee advocacy effectively on LinkedIn:

• Start with the right people who have hands-on experience. Look for employees with opinions and some interest in posting and growing their personal brands. Executives are an obvious pick, but marketers, engineers, product owners, customer success managers, etc., often have the most valuable expertise.
  
• Solve the blank page problem by providing templates and hooks. Telling employees to just "share thought leadership" is the fastest way to kill an advocacy program. Give people starting points instead: share hooks, ghostwritten posts they can edit, customer quotes, fresh stats, Canva templates, a custom GPT trained on their voice, etc. 
  
• Help leaders build a real POV beyond company news. Executive content shouldn't just be company news with a personal intro. Help leaders develop an angle they own, a publishing cadence, and a mix of company updates plus their own takes on industry trends.
  
• Invest in the personal brands of your employees. Block two hours of creator time per week on calendars. Offer a content stipend for courses, LinkedIn Premium, or design tools. Their growth becomes a recruiting and credibility flywheel for the company.
  

For instance, our own leaders at Semrush repurpose the data research and thought leadership we publish on the corporate page by adding their own perspectives, insights, and ideas.

This helps us reach more potential buyers on LinkedIn while also increasing our chances of being cited in relevant AI conversations.

3. Turn broad topics into specific, answerable questions

Your LinkedIn content has a better shot at AI citations when each post answers a defined question and is structured so AI tools can extract parts of it without losing meaning. 

Engaging writing still matters. But your goal is to keep clarity and structure even when the post is built around a strong hook or story.

Here's what that looks like in practice:

What to do: Focus on one core theme or question per post

How to do it: Replace broad themes ("thoughts on SaaS pricing") with a question someone would actually type ("when should you switch from per-seat to usage-based pricing"). Cover it fully with a structured answer.

What to do: Keep paragraphs to one to three sentences

How to do it: Break longer thoughts into separate paragraphs. Short blocks read like answer chunks AI can lift cleanly.

What to do: Use numbered lists when you have parallel items

How to do it: Numbered lists work for steps, rankings, or comparisons. Skip them when prose flows better.

What to do: Define category-specific terms once

How to do it: If you use terms like PAM, RAG, ABM, or any acronym, spell them out the first time. Don't assume AI knows what you mean from context.

What to do: Name your brand and product directly

How to do it: Say "Semrush’s AI Visibility Toolkit," not "our AI search platform." Vague references get paraphrased into generic language when AI summarizes you.

What to do: Write so that each section stands alone

How to do it: AI often pulls individual paragraphs out of a post. If a paragraph relies on the one before it to make sense, rework it so it carries the point independently.

For example, John Shehata's The Best SEO & News SEO Newsletters I Actually Read Every Week is one of the most-cited LinkedIn URLs in our study. 

It opens with a short setup paragraph, clearly explains what the article will cover, and follows with a numbered list.

Every section answers a specific question on its own, which is the kind of structure AI keeps pulling from.

4. Take a clear point of view and back it up

A defended POV is what makes your LinkedIn content worth citing. Most posts in any category say roughly the same thing, so AI has thousands of interchangeable sources to choose from. 

A clear, differentiated position, backed by real evidence gives the algorithm a reason to pick you.

First, take a side. Frame the topic with a clear position that people can either agree with or disagree with. For example:

Second, lead with your take. Explain your position right away. Skip the wind-up, and keep your POV specific and clear.

Third, show your proof. Back the POV with data from your own work, a customer example, a side-by-side test, a workflow, an industry reference, or specific numbers from a project you ran.

Finally, provide a solution. Explain your alternative approach, show what it looks like in practice, and tell the reader what to do with this information.

5. Use consistent terminology across your LinkedIn content

Pick your vocabulary and stick with it. When you use the same terms, category names, and product framing across every post, AI builds a stronger association between your brand and that space. When you swap terms, tool names, and brand references post to post, that association weakens.

A few ways to get this right:

• Build a brand glossary and use it. Document the exact terms, definitions, product names, and category language your team uses. Share it with everyone publishing on LinkedIn, including execs and ghostwriters.
  
• Pick one term per concept and commit to it. If you call your category "AI search visibility," don't switch to "generative search SEO" mid-quarter. Even when a competitor uses a different term, hold your line.
  
• Stay consistent in how you describe your product. Make sure your positioning reads the same way across employee posts, the Company Page, and customer stories. 
  

Let’s look at another example.

Ina Nikolova, Ph.D., is cited across multiple AI engines for cybersecurity content because she owns a specific vocabulary lane: PAM (Privileged Access Management), managed services, and identity. 

She uses the same terminology across pieces: e.g., in How modern PAM solutions enhance cybersecurity and How do managed services help reinforce security. Each post defines its key terms explicitly and uses consistent terminology.

6. Combine articles and posts into content series

Keep both long-form articles and short posts in your LinkedIn content mix, and organize them into topical series. 

Across ChatGPT Search, Perplexity, and Google AI Mode, articles make up 50-66% of LinkedIn citations, and short posts cover 15-28%, depending on the model. Both formats earn citations, and they often surface for different kinds of prompts. 

Organizing content in series or clusters helps you build topical authority and become a trusted source that AI will keep referring to.

To do this, first write a central article, then plan a series of shorter posts based on it for the following weeks. This turns your launch announcement into the start of a series rather than a one-off post.

The Krazy Coupon Lady’s 2025 State of Couponing report is a great example. They used the research report as the credibility anchor, then promoted it through a series of LinkedIn posts — many of which ended up being cited by AI tools.

The series included:

A LinkedIn video post featuring a company exec published on the Company Page.

A post highlighting key findings from the report:

And other LinkedIn content published by the brand and its employees.

7. Prioritize clarity and relevance over virality

LinkedIn's algorithm rewards engagement. AI search rewards clarity, structure, and consistency. You need both, but virality isn't a requirement for either one. 

Steady, useful content from credible authors outperforms viral one-offs.

A few things to keep in mind:

• A high-engagement post isn't automatically a high-citation post, and a quiet post isn't a failure.
  
• Reactions tell you how content performs on LinkedIn. AI citations, branded search lift, and AI mentions explain how it performs in LLMs. It’s time to start tracking both metrics and look for patterns.
  
• Around three-quarters of the cited authors in our study were frequent posters (5+ posts in the previous four weeks). Frequency and credibility outperform reach.
  

John Shehata's SEO newsletters article, one of the highest-cited LinkedIn URLs in our entire study, didn't go viral. It has medium engagement (31 likes and 12 comments) while being cited in 45 ChatGPT prompts.

It performs because it offers useful information from the author’s original point of view and is well-structured for retrieval.

Next steps for optimizing your LinkedIn presence

There's no single hack for getting LinkedIn content cited by AI. What works is a combination of high-quality company content, the right people publishing regularly, a focus on real customer questions, a strong point of view, consistent terminology, and a mix of content formats.

The good news is that most of this is in your control. You don't need viral posts, millions of followers, or a celebrity creator on your team. 

Pick the gaps in your current LinkedIn setup, fix them one at a time, and check your AI citations alongside your usual engagement metrics. 

Over time, these small adjustments compound into the kind of LinkedIn presence AI search tools keep coming back to.

     

The future of B2B marketing measurement is here. Or at least, it needs to be. Leadership’s trust in methods used in the past has rapidly diminished.

Research from Forrester found that about two-thirds of B2B marketing leaders (64%) feel their organization doesn’t trust measurement for decision-making, with Forrester's data pointing toward a growing disconnect. Right now, measuring what matters should be an utmost priority for B2B marketing leaders, and LinkedIn is here to help.

Our guide, The Future of B2B Marketing Measurement, takes you on a tour of evolving best practices for measuring impact meaningfully. You’ll find data-driven insights and actionable expert tips to set your organization up for success in the long term. 

Read on for an overview of what’s inside, including sneak peeks into the powerful guidance you can find from top global B2B marketing leaders.

Effective B2B Marketing Measurement Is Beyond Essential

Measurement in B2B marketing isn’t just about understanding what works and what doesn’t for the purposes of optimizing your strategy. That’s a part of it, to be sure, but only scratches the surface.

Measurement provides the critical understanding of buyers and how they purchase, demonstrating marketing’s value as an investment and linking marketing strategy directly to overall business objectives. It’s easy to fall into the mindset of treating measurement as an imposing obligation — if we don’t prove ROI, we’ll lose budget — but the flip side is that when data is unlocked and applied effectively, it can amplify marketing’s influence and authority. 

A bright future for B2B marketing depends on ever-improving measurement solutions — and there have never been more of them to choose from.

Conversations with measurement-focused B2B leaders worldwide highlight how innovative methods, new data sources, and emerging tools are leading measurement to a turning point. 

This shift is moving the focus from tracking costs to illuminating revenue, from simply gauging activity to proving real impact, and from justifying past efforts to charting a path toward future growth. It’s a very exciting time for marketing measurement and the possibilities it opens up.

What Metrics Measure B2B Marketing Success?

Measuring B2B marketing success requires a layered approach — no single metric tells the whole story. The most effective frameworks combine activity metrics, pipeline metrics, and long-term revenue metrics to give a complete picture of impact across the buyer journey.

Key B2B marketing metrics by category

• Pipeline metrics: Marketing qualified leads (MQLs), sales qualified leads (SQLs), pipeline influenced and pipeline created are the core indicators of marketing's contribution to revenue generation.
• Revenue metrics: Closed-won deals influenced by marketing, customer lifetime value (CLV), and return on investment (ROI) measured over long-term timeframes demonstrate true business impact.
• Campaign efficiency metrics: Cost per qualified lead (CPQL), cost per acquisition (CPA) and return on ad spend (ROAS) help optimize spend allocation across channels.
• Brand metrics: Awareness, consideration and share of voice should be tracked separately from performance metrics. They operate on longer timeframes and require different measurement approaches, such as LinkedIn Brand Lift studies.
• Engagement metrics: Content engagement, click-through rates, time-on-site and video completion rates signal audience resonance and campaign health, though they should be treated as leading indicators rather than primary success metrics.
  

How to build a B2B measurement framework

The most sophisticated B2B marketing teams measure across multiple timeframes simultaneously. A practical model looks like this:

1. Immediate (real-time): Activity metrics like cost per click and engagement rates for in-flight optimization.
2. Short-term (3–12 weeks): ROAS and pipeline created from specific campaigns or channels.
3. Long-term (12+ months): Holistic ROI tied to closed-won revenue and CLV.
   

LinkedIn's Revenue Attribution Reporting and Conversion Tracking are purpose-built to help marketers connect these layers, linking campaign activity directly to CRM pipeline and closed revenue so you can demonstrate marketing's impact at every level of the business.

5 Trends Driving the Evolution of Measurement in B2B Marketing

Our guide to the future of measurement is framed around five prevailing trends that are driving the practice forward. Here’s a quick snapshot of each, along with a small sample of the numerous expert perspectives shared in the guide.

#1: Connecting all marketing measurement to revenue

For many years, measurement conversations around marketing have been dominated by costs: of impressions, clicks, leads and conversions. Cost-based metrics may be expressed in financial terms, but they are of limited relevance outside the marketing department – and they don’t relate to the bottom line of the business.

“We used to think that the goal of a B2B marketer was to generate a marketing signal that qualifies leads based on the type and amount of content that a customer has consumed. With today’s marketing technology, that’s evolving. We can leverage AI models to predict which leads our sales team has the best chance of converting, and identify the leads they should be contacting.” - Guillermo Novillo, Director of Integrated Marketing, LATAM, Microsoft

#2: Developing ROI frameworks for brand marketing

Business leaders are increasingly convinced of the value of their brand equity – but they want more visibility into how marketing builds it. Marketers can answer the call by developing separate metrics for brand and performance, and optimizing for each distinctly.

“A big move for us has been separating out the measurement approaches for brand awareness and lead generation. You can’t make a case for brand in terms of return on advertising spend (ROAS) and cost per acquisition (CPA). The impact is seen in different ways. Separating the two means that we’re able to focus on optimizing our lead budget for ROAS, whether that’s finessing messaging or adjusting where the budget gets spent.” - Valerie Kile, Performance Marketing Manager, Alma

#3: A more sophisticated approach to attribution

Attributing the impact of different campaigns and channels on a business outcome has always been a key measurement challenge, and it’s intensifying. Technology is an important part of the solution, helping marketers become more inclusive in assigning credit to the types of activity that drive results.

“As B2B marketers, our world has become a lot more complicated. All of the touchpoints are intertwined

and it can be difficult to understand the buyer journey and identify where the value comes from

in terms of your marketing. As a business, we’ve prioritized investing in an attribution model so that we can build this type of understanding.” - Julien Harazi, Head of Lead Generation, Cegid

#4: Measurement on multiple timeframes, simultaneously

Measurement has a range of different objectives – and it’s unreasonable to expect all of these objectives to operate on the same schedule. Instead use a blended view of activity metrics (immediate optimizations), short-term ROAS (impact of specific campaigns or channels on pipeline), and long-term ROI (holistic revenue view focused on CLV).

“The first question is how do we measure and optimize campaigns, and for that we look at things like cost per qualified lead, which can operate in near real-time. In the medium term, we look at pipeline created over three to 12 weeks, and we divide that by the total marketing investment. Then, over a longer-term timeframe, we look at closed-won deals and make long-term investment decisions.” - Vivek Khandelwal, Director Digital Acquisition, Strategy and Operations in Asia Pacific and Japan, ServiceNow

#5: Putting data into context, in real-time

Today’s marketers have no shortage of data sources to use in marketing measurement. For most, the key challenge is connecting that data together in a way that tells a coherent story. Strive for a system that provides a real-time, 360-degree view of your buyer journey.

“What we really need is a tool that can provide a single, 360-degree view of the customer. To achieve that, you need to be able to connect your first-party data with behavioral and offline data, in order to create a better customer experience and more effective acquisition. We’re working with platforms like LinkedIn to help us achieve that integration.” - Sveta Freidman, Global General Manager Data & Analytics, Xero

LinkedIn solutions that power the future of measurement

LinkedIn’s evolving suite of marketing measurement products is built with these validated trends in mind. Innovative tools help you move beyond last-touch attribution and gain a more nuanced understanding of channel contributions. Throughout the guide, you’ll find examples of how capabilities like LinkedIn Conversion Tracking and Revenue Attribution Reporting help fill data gaps and make your measurement more precise.

LinkedIn Measurement Tools: Quick Reference

Here's a summary of LinkedIn's core measurement tools and what each one helps you track:

LinkedIn Insight Tag: Unlocks full analytics features including Advanced Retargeting, Powerful Demographics, and Robust Campaign Reporting.

LinkedIn Conversion Tracking: Captures actions customers take and ties them back to specific LinkedIn ads to show how campaigns drive conversions.

Revenue Attribution Reporting: Connects CRM data to LinkedIn campaigns to demonstrate how marketing efforts directly influence pipeline and revenue.

LinkedIn BrandLift: Self-serve tool to test and measure the brand impact of LinkedIn Ads via native survey polls.

Offline Conversions: Measures the impact of ads on offline outcomes by sharing offline data via manual upload or Partner API.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator: Provides granular intelligence on how individual contacts engage with marketing, bridging sales and marketing data.

Ready to embrace the future of B2B marketing measurement? Download the guide and explore proven strategies from visionary marketing leaders.

     

Toy commercials don’t usually target parents, even though they’re the ones with the money and final approval power. Rather, ads for the hottest new toy are aimed squarely at the children: end users with outsized influence on the purchase process. A toy marketer who doesn’t take kids into consideration is likely to be looking for work faster than you can say “Furby.”

Frequently, the most powerful decision maker for a purchase isn’t the one who approves purchases, controls budgets, or signs checks. This is just as true — if not more so — in B2B marketing. The ultimate decision maker, the literal buyer, is influenced through official and unofficial channels by a whole host of stakeholders.

It’s time to start talking about audience personas instead of just buyers. Broadly defined, there are five roles that can have a major influence on any purchase decision:

• The Initiator 
• The Influencer
• The End User 
• The Gatekeeper
• The Decision-Maker 
  

Here’s how you can use these personas for more effective B2B marketing.

Learn more about ad targeting on LinkedIn.

5 B2B Audience Personas and How to Develop Them

Note these are broad categories – each persona could be found in multiple roles depending on the organization or industry you’re targeting. Let’s dig into what characterizes each of these audience personas and how you can identify and reach them.

1. The Initiator

The Initiator serves as the catalyst for a purchase decision. They’re the ones who are always on the lookout for ways to improve processes, increase efficiency, or even just explore shiny new technology. Initiators are naturally observant, curious and persuasive. You need them on your side to overcome inertia and apathy among the other personas.

2. The Influencer

As the name suggests, the Influencer holds either official or unofficial sway over others in the decision-making process. These are trusted advisors with a track record of good judgment, and they enjoy a high level of trust in the organization. While the Initiator might kick off the buyer journey, Influencers set the course. 

3. The End User

This persona has practical, hands-on experience with the type of product or service you’re trying to market. Their experience, pain points and preferences will determine how successful a new solution will be. End Users can accelerate the buying process for a solution that meets their needs – and put the brakes on one that doesn’t seem to address their concerns.

4. The Gatekeeper

Gatekeepers may be lower in the hierarchy than some of the other personas, but they are a force to be reckoned with for marketers. The Gatekeeper acts as a filter, regulating the flow of information from outside the organization and choosing which proposals reach the C-suite. Marketing materials need to offer clear value to the Decision Maker, or your messages will get stopped at the Gatekeeper’s gate.

5. The Decision-Maker

The Decision-Maker holds the final authority in greenlighting a purchase. As this persona has little direct experience with the problem or solution at hand, they rely on advice from the other personas to make informed decisions. Their role is to reach a solution that satisfies stakeholders, is compatible with the overall business strategy and most efficiently addresses the issue.

What are hidden buyers? 

Research has shown that within modern B2B buying groups, a certain subset of "hidden buyers" exists: stakeholders who are less visible to sales and marketing efforts, but hold a sizable influence on consensus-building. These hidden buyers — hailing from functions like legal, procurement or operations — often fit into the “Influencer” or “Gatekeeper” persona categories. 

Accounting for hidden buyers as part of your targeting strategy is essential. Thought leadership content can be especially powerful for this purpose, with LinkedIn and Edelman finding that 95% of hidden decision-makers say strong thought leadership makes them more open to vendor outreach.

Strategies for Identifying and Refining B2B Audience Personas

Is your target Decision-Maker the CEO, a particular departmental head or even a middle manager? How far up the org chart is your most valuable Influencer? Here’s how to identify and refine your audience personas for effective marketing:

1. Conduct comprehensive research

Persona building starts with the customer data you already have. Use surveys, customer feedback, job titles and demographics from your existing customers and beyond. This research can help you understand which roles in an organization are likely to be associated with each different persona. 

2. Use interviews and surveys

It’s important to engage directly with both existing customers and lost business. You can potentially learn more from people who chose not to buy than those who did. Look for insights about each person’s role in the purchasing process, what challenges they faced selling the solution to the rest of the organization, and what influenced the choices they made. 

3. Make it a collaborative effort

The sales and customer service department will have crucial information to round out your personas. Collect insights and feedback from different departments to gain a holistic understanding of customer needs and behaviors. Once you have developed personas, you can revisit these other departments to collaboratively refine them. 

4. Develop detailed buyer personas

Based on the information you’ve gathered, you can start putting together detailed dossiers for each audience persona. Create fictional characters that embody the traits, goals and pain points for each persona. Just keep in mind that “detailed” means relevant business information like job title and seniority. It’s best to avoid getting bogged down in details that don’t require a difference in messaging, such as pet ownership, marriage status, or the like.

5. Test and validate personas

Put your personas to the test by deploying targeted campaigns. You can measure these new campaigns’ effectiveness as compared to previous work without detailed personas. Use the gathered data to fine-tune your personas (with input from other departments as well), and to optimize your marketing efforts further.

Persona development is an ongoing process. Regularly reassess and refine personas to adapt to evolving market trends, changes in customer behavior or shifts within the industry. As you use these personas, you will generate more data you can use to make them more accurate and useful.

How Is AI Used in Audience Targeting?

AI is used in audience targeting to help marketers reach the right people more efficiently, analyzing signals like job attributes, content engagement and on-platform behavior to help predict who is most likely to be interested or take action. Instead of relying only on manual filters, AI can expand or refine audiences, improve matching to the right decision-making roles, and optimize delivery over time based on performance feedback.

How AI improves targeting in practice

• Signal interpretation: Uses patterns in profile and engagement signals to infer relevance (e.g., role, seniority, interests).
• Audience expansion and refinement: Helps find “more people like this” beyond a strict set of filters, while maintaining relevance.
• Predictive optimization: Learns from campaign outcomes (clicks, leads, conversions) to improve who sees ads over time.
• Persona-aware delivery: Supports reaching different stakeholders (e.g., Initiators, Influencers, End Users, Gatekeepers, Decision-Makers) with the right message based on likely intent.
• Reduced waste: Shifts spend toward members most likely to engage or convert, improving efficiency and ROI.
  

On LinkedIn, Predictive Audiences combine your first- or third-party data with LinkedIn’s AI to automatically generate a custom audience of members who are predicted to take actions similar to your highest-value prospects, helping expand reach while improving engagement and conversion rates — especially for bottom-funnel campaigns.

How to Use LinkedIn for Each Persona

LinkedIn is dedicated to making it easier for marketers to reach the right audience. Better targeting means more successful marketing, but also a better experience for members. Our targeting tools are designed to make sure you deliver relevant content to the right people. Here’s how you can use both organic and paid tools on LinkedIn to reach each persona.

Initiator

Initiators look for the latest trends, industry analysis and smart discussions about challenges facing their peers and colleagues. Use thought leadership articles, industry insights and thought-provoking posts to earn attention. 

LinkedIn Tactics:

Share thought leadership content from your Page and your executive team. Aim to spark discussion and make sure to reply to comments. Use Sponsored Content ads to place thought leadership directly in their Feed. Document Ads can work well with Initiators, too, especially if they feature original research or valuable insights.

Influencer

To reach an influencer, it’s important to build a relationship and establish credibility. Share useful content that helps them do their job better. On the more salesy side, focus on social proof of your solution’s effectiveness, such as success stories and customer testimonials. Dedicate effort to building relationships and credibility. 

LinkedIn Tactics:

Message Ads can be a powerful way to connect with Influencers. Just make sure to always offer something of immediate value. It’s also a good idea to nurture relationships directly, not just through the brand, such as having your executive team repost Influencer content with thoughtful commentary. 

End User

End Users are interested in one thing above all else: how you can make their workday better. Focus on the experience of using your solution and its practical benefits. Get creative with user-generated content, video, images and customer testimonials. It’s important to tie everything back to the practical everyday application of what you’re offering.

LinkedIn Tactics: 

Video Ads can help showcase the experience your solution brings to End Users. You can also share customer stories and testimonials organically, then pick the most engaged-with posts and turn them into Sponsored Content.

Gatekeeper

It’s important to earn a Gatekeeper’s trust. The first step is to acknowledge the importance of their role and their position in the decision-making process. If you can offer resources to make their job easier, that goes a long way toward establishing a relationship. 

LinkedIn Tactics: 

Share Thought Leader Ads with industry reports, guides and informative content that address the Gatekeeper's concerns or interests. Showcase your brand’s thought leadership and credibility, and attempt to make a personal connection as well. 

Decision-Maker

If you earn a Decision-Maker’s attention, keep things short and to the point. They’ll be looking to corroborate what they’ve heard from the other personas, so provide concrete value propositions with plenty of evidence to back them up. With this persona, you also need to discuss the potential ROI of your offering and how you can help meet the organization’s goals. 

LinkedIn Tactics:

Share brief case studies, ROI-focused content and statistics highlighting the measurable benefits of your solutions. Message Ads, Dynamic Ads and Sponsored Content can all be valuable tools here. 

“Say you're selling CRM software that's made for financial services to help manage their sales process and also offer email marketing. One persona would be sales leaders at financial services organizations, and another would be marketing leaders. So if you segment your campaigns by persona, you can highlight the sales process features to the first, and you can highlight the email marketing capabilities to the second … This gives your ads a lot more power when it comes to gaining attention and convincing them to take the next step when each persona believes the product is made specifically for them.” - Anthony Blatner in LinkedIn Ads: Smart Tips & Tricks That Drive Results

Audience-centric LinkedIn strategies

Targeted ads: 

Use LinkedIn's ad targeting options, including audience targeting, to reach specific personas based on job titles, industries or company sizes.

Engagement and networking:

Regularly engage with people under each persona through comments, shares and networking activities to nurture relationships and stay top-of-mind.

Analytics and optimization: 

Keep an eye on your Campaign Manager for data to gauge the effectiveness of your strategies. Adjust and optimize your approaches based on the performance data.

For more insight and advice on reaching B2B audiences, subscribe to the LinkedIn Ads Blog.

     

B2B Marketers prioritize brand awareness for one simple reason: the shortlist.  

On the very first day of their buying journey, 86% of B2B buyers already have their shortlist set, and 92% ultimately choose a vendor from that list. So, to consistently make sales today, B2B brands must make an early impression on the B2B buying committee. 

The latest research from LinkedIn marketing partner Kantar shows how B2B marketers can use Connected TV (CTV) ads to boost brand awareness and help with shortlist inclusion. 

Here's a summary of the key takeaways:

• New research from Kantar shows that LinkedIn’s CTV Ads effectively grow brand awareness, especially among senior decision-makers.
• For the best results, marketers should integrate CTV Ads into a broader campaign.
• It's important to focus on frequency and duration, and use multiple creatives.
• This approach helps brands get on the buyer's shortlist early.

New Research Shows Strong Correlation Between CTV Ads and Brand Awareness

To explore the connection between CTV Ads and brand awareness, LinkedIn commissioned Kantar to analyze 97 campaigns. Overall they found that brands leveraging CTV Ads saw high-impact results for awareness-driven campaigns.

As answer engines continue to disrupt search-based B2B brand discovery, reaching decision-makers outside of traditional work contexts becomes increasingly important. CTV Ads cut through the B2B noise, reaching decision-makers in a high-attention, immersive environment. With LinkedIn’s CTV Ads, brands can reach relevant B2B audiences wherever they stream TV.

Compared to other CTV providers, in fact, LinkedIn’s CTV Ads were 2.6x more effective at growing awareness among B2B audiences (+10.2 vs. +3.9). This difference in performance underscores the importance of being able to target CTV viewers based on professional attributes. In other words, audience quality matters more than impression volume.

Three Tips for Growing Brand Awareness with CTV Ads

Here are three evidence-based tactics B2B marketers can use to further boost brand awareness with CTV campaigns. 

Leverage CTV Ads as part of an integrated strategy

LinkedIn's CTV Ads work even better when they’re part of an integrated campaign. When paired with other LinkedIn formats, CTV Ads were 2x more effective at growing awareness than CTV Ads on their own (+18.4 vs. +7.7). 

A common example is when B2B brands use CTV Ads for top-of-funnel awareness, then reinforce the ads with in-feed and LinkedIn Audience Network ad formats. Brands that coordinate CTV Ads with other LinkedIn Ad formats, like Thought Leader Ads and Lead Generation Ads, can create compounding effects on both brand awareness and demand activation:

• Atlassian combined CTV Ads with Sponsored Content and Thought Leaders Ads, resulting in double-digit brand lift and a 120% increase in lower-funnel engagement.  
• ServiceNow combined CTV Ads with BrandLink and Lead Gen Campaigns, achieving a 19-point lift in awareness and a 45% higher likelihood to convert. 
  

Learn more: Which LinkedIn Ads Combos Go Together Best?

Invest in frequency, duration and creative variety for maximum lift

As for the primary drivers of awareness, Kantar found that the frequency (35.0%) and duration (16.8%) of LinkedIn’s CTV Ad campaigns were the most influential factors. Secondary factors, like dayparting, campaign flighting and weekday scheduling, added incremental value to audience engagement.

Kantar’s research found that the optimal frequency for CTV campaigns was 12 views and the average duration was 10.7 weeks. 

The research shows that media strategy was the multiplying factor for awareness lift. “Placement/Creative” came in last (5.6%), indicating that ad placement and creative type (video vs. image) may not be as critical as consistency and persistence.

What did seem to matter from a creative standpoint, though, was the number of creatives. When CTV audiences saw two different creatives (versus the same ad for every impression), the lift in awareness went from 6.9% to 15.0%. 

CTV Ads can be a great way to grow awareness among hard-to-reach audiences

In B2B marketing, it’s important to reach the entire buying committee, including hidden buyers. Sometimes, though, it can be tricky to reach high-priority members of buying committees, such as a key executive or the leader of a critical function. 

Kantar’s research found that CTV campaigns performed particularly well among senior decision-makers like CXOs, Owners, and VPs. In terms of which audience factors drove baseline awareness, business function was the key factor (45.8%), followed by industry group (28.8%). 

These findings highlight LinkedIn’s unmatched ability to profile and target high-value audiences with precision.

Takeaway: LinkedIn’s CTV Ads Grow Awareness with B2B Buyers

The bottom line is that Kantar’s research — as well as real-world customer performance — reaffirms that brand and demand work better together. Incorporating CTV Ads into your full-funnel LinkedIn campaign strategy can enable stronger recall, deeper engagement and a higher rate of downstream conversions. 

Ready to reach your ideal prospects in an immersive environment? Learn how to get started with LinkedIn’s CTV Ads.

     

Most B2B product launches create a brief spike in visibility. The bigger opportunity is turning that moment into sustained momentum.

Launch day can introduce a product to the market, but adoption rarely happens in a single moment. B2B buyers need time to understand the problem, evaluate the solution, validate the vendor, and build confidence across a larger buying group.

The average B2B buying journey can span 211 days, involve 10 to 11 stakeholders, and include up to 76 touchpoints across multiple channels¹. That means a successful launch needs more than awareness. It needs a strategy for building familiarity, credibility, and trust before, during, and after the announcement.

The Problem With Traditional B2B Launches

Why do so many massive product announcements yield so little pipeline? Because marketers focus only on the visible buyer. They optimize campaigns for immediate engagement spikes and overlook the purchasing power of hidden buyers: the legal, procurement, and finance partners that account for half of all purchasing influence. These hidden buyers still influence the outcome. And if they do not recognize or trust your brand, your launch may struggle to translate attention into adoption.

In many cases, buyers start with a day one list of vendors they already know and trust. That matters because 86% of B2B buyers start with a day one vendor list, and 81% ultimately purchase from that list^2.

Waiting until launch day to introduce your brand guarantees you launch into a void because if you're not already known, you're likely not considered. It’s not just about announcing something new, it’s about ensuring your brand is credible and familiar before the buying process even begins.

Trust Drives Modern B2B Buying Decisions

Buyers don’t act on product announcements or corporate press releases. They act on confidence.

That confidence is built through signals of trust from peers, executives, and recognized creators who understand their problem. A single trust signal carries minimal weight, but a coordinated ecosystem of credible voices shapes market perception: 87% of B2B buyers rely on content from trusted industry creators to validate their choices³. You must orchestrate these voices to surround the buying committee with continuous proof.

But those signals only carry weight when they live in environments buyers already trust.

This matters more now than ever because how buyers discover those signals is fundamentally changing. Artificial Intelligence (AI) accelerates this shift toward credentialed voices:

• Nearly all buying groups (94%) consult large language models (LLMs) before interacting with a sales representative⁴
• LLMs don't create opinions, they synthesize and amplify existing market consensus
  

Your brand must establish an authoritative footprint across trusted environments to show up favorably in AI-powered research. The credibility you build on LinkedIn doesn’t stay on LinkedIn. It influences how your brand shows up everywhere buyers are searching, learning, and validating decisions.

Trust Signals Intersect on LinkedIn

These critical trust signals intersect on LinkedIn. The platform aggregates the exact professionals who shape enterprise purchasing decisions, and operates as the definitive environment for professional validation:

• 14 million C-suite executives use LinkedIn5 
• Over 130 million decision-makers are active members5
• 63% of global members trust the content companies post on the platform⁵

This environment compounds your brand's credibility. It's where you can activate executive thought leadership to drive engagement, mobilize employee networks to reach audiences larger than your corporate page, and partner with industry creators for independent validation. These voices operate in concert to establish market authority.

A Three-Phase Framework For Product Launches

Successful marketers structure their market entry across three distinct phases: ramp, launch, and nurture. This framework maps how influence actually builds across the 211-day B2B buying cycle, and shows how to turn a single launch moment into sustained market momentum.

Ramp: Build Early Intent And Market Awareness

How do you start influencing the buying group before they even know they’re in a buying process? You start before you launch.

The ramp phase is about building awareness and identifying early buyer intent across the market, weeks before any official announcement. This is where you frame the problem, share your unique perspective, and establish credibility. You can’t build authority on launch day, you have to earn it in advance. To execute a successful ramp phase: 

• Use Sponsored Content video to reach professional audiences and warm the market
• Leverage video formats to drive up 3x higher engagement than static posts: members exposed to your video are 1.6x more likely to take action later. 
• Target early signals to ensure an efficiency-driven strategy for your budget

Launch: Command Attention At The Right Moment & Amplify with Trusted Voices

How do you turn a product launch into a landmark event? By creating a moment of unmissable market visibility.

The launch phase concentrates your message across high-impact professional placements. Premiere video ads and other reserved formats force the market to pay attention. You can extend this moment across additional screens with Connected TV, reinforcing the message where professionals are watching. Together, these formats make your launch impossible to ignore.

But attention alone doesn’t build belief. Credibility does. Turn a single announcement into a credible market conversation by using Thought Leader Ads to promote posts from executives, employees, and creators. Your employees extend reach with networks 12x larger than company pages. This turns a single announcement into a credible market conversation.

Nurture: Convert Momentum Into Business Outcomes

The nurture phase is where you turn market visibility into measurable revenue.

You can use re-engagement targeting to continue conversations with audiences that interacted with your launch. This persistent visibility drives a 30% lift in overall campaign performance. Document Ads and Sponsored Messaging distribute detailed product specifications, and integrated analytics measures this progression. Mapping these mid-funnel interactions directly to pipeline creation can provide ROI clarity.

Turn Your Launch Strategy Into Measurable Impact

The era of the one-day product announcement is over. Successful B2B launches need to build familiarity before launch, create a credible market moment during launch, and convert that momentum into action after launch.

Think of your media spend like a portfolio. A diversified approach delivers compounding returns. LinkedIn’s launch framework helps marketers build influence across the buying journey, sending trusted signals so your product is understood, remembered, and considered when decisions are made.

Jasper's rebrand highlights this strategy's success. Jasper’s investment balanced awareness, consideration, and lead generation to deliver trust, measurable ROI, and scalable growth. Using LinkedIn tools like Thought Leader Ads and Document Ads, they achieved:

• 226% more qualified leads
• 40% lower cost per lead
• 14% higher demo requests

Attention gets you seen. Trust gets you chosen. Use LinkedIn to turn launches into lasting market adoption.

Sources:

¹SDreamdata, 2025

²Bain & Company, 2025 OR B2B Institute, 2024

³Global Web Index Power of Influence Survey for LinkedIn, 2024 

⁴6Sense 2025

⁵MAGNA Media Trials x LinkedIn, 2024

     

B2B buyers are looking for information differently. They aren’t searching anymore—they’re asking. Instead of scanning results, professionals rely on AI tools like ChatGPT, Copilot and Google AI Overviews to deliver a single, synthesized answer. This shift is redefining brand visibility. It’s no longer about ranking—it’s about being cited.

To understand what drives that visibility, Meltwater analyzed 9.5 million AI citations across six major models, looking at B2B categories. It’s not surprising that LinkedIn is the #2 most-cited source for LLMs, second only to YouTube. AI systems favor structured, expert-led content—and increasingly turn to platforms, like LinkedIn, to find it.

In this post, we’ll break down five key takeaways from our report, How LinkedIn Content Wins in AI Search:

1. LinkedIn is a top source for AI answers
2. Individual member voices generate the most AI citations
3. Lists and how-to guides are highly favored
4. LinkedIn dominates B2B topics
5. Fresh, original content increases citation frequency

Takeaway one: LinkedIn is a top source for AI answers

When AI search engines need reliable answers for B2B queries, they consistently turn to LinkedIn. The platform is currently the second most cited source across major AI-powered search engines, like ChatGPT, Copilot and Google AI Mode.

LinkedIn's influence on LLMs isn't just growing, it's accelerating. During Meltwater's four-week study, LinkedIn's overall citation share increased by 26%. This upward trend was visible across almost all models tracked, with Google's AI in particular showing a large spike in how often it referenced the platform. This growth suggests that LLMs are increasingly recognizing the value of the peer-to-peer expertise found on the site.

Marketers need to act quickly to capitalize on this momentum. The window of opportunity is open now, as platforms are hungry for authoritative business content and current algorithms recognize users who provide it. Waiting to adapt your strategy could mean losing critical ground to competitors already publishing structured guides and listicles.

Takeaway two: Individual experts generate the most cited content

Believe it or not, you don’t need a huge following or a C-suite title to get noticed. AI models prefer content written by credible people who share their domain expertise with examples, data, and specific details.

Across the models we analyzed, 75% of all LinkedIn citations came from individual member profiles, while only 25% came from Company Pages.

The algorithms look for authority signals in a user's profile, such as their job title, company, and industry background. When any member consistently writes about their specific area of expertise, they create trustworthy content that models can confidently reference.

CEOs produce the most cited content at 8.2%, followed closely by founders at 7.5%. While content from the C-suite generally earns higher citation rates per article, expertise is more important than job title.

And, while member content tends to get cited more often, balance remains important. Well managed Company Pages and a strong bench of individual employees who regularly post quality content works in conjunction with boosting your brand’s visibility.

The takeaway? Brands should empower all their experts—from the C-suite to individual contributors—to publish content frequently. When an employee with deep expertise posts two to three times per week and writes a few articles per month, they can generate significant visibility for their organization. The combined force of personal expertise and corporate backing is what ultimately wins in AI search.

Takeaway three: Structured content is highly favored

AI engines don't interpret content like humans do. Instead, they process patterns across clear structures to easily parse and extract information. Our research highlights what structural elements are more likely to earn a citation.

Articles and plain text posts are by far the most cited content type, making up 83% of all citations. Every top-cited article in the study used bulleted or numbered lists, and clear headings were present in 92% of the most successful posts. This hierarchical structure allows LLMs to extract specific sections to answer direct user queries.

Content format also plays a massive role. Algorithms favor articles that directly answer buyer questions. Listicles (a type of article that uses a list as its primary structure) that rank tools or vendors make up 54% of the most cited content, while decision frameworks and product comparisons also perform well.

Content that includes specific names, pricing data, and statistics is far more likely to be quoted than generic thought leadership.

Takeaway four: LinkedIn dominates B2B Topics

LinkedIn outranks other user-generated content platforms, receiving about 11 times more citations than Quora and outpacing Reddit. The platform dominates B2B queries, ranking in the top five sources across key industries, including Technology & SaaS, Consulting & Professional Services, Financial Services & FinTech, Marketing & Advertising, and HR & Talent. 

LinkedIn dominates B2B Queries

This means LinkedIn articles and posts are highly likely to be the source material when someone asks a chatbot about digital marketing trends or attribution models. 

For businesses, the implication is clear: if you want to be visible in AI Search, LinkedIn must be a cornerstone of your content strategy.

Takeaway five: Prioritize Fresh and original content 

Publishing frequency and originality are critical components of a successful visibility strategy. LLMs actively retrieve the most up-to-date information to provide accurate answers. They prioritize recent content over older publications.

The research shows that 72% of cited content is entirely original rather than reshared posts. Furthermore, 48% of the successful citations were published within the last three months. Only 12% of the cited material was older than one year.

This data builds a strong case for maintaining a consistent publishing schedule. You cannot rely on a single viral article from two years ago to maintain your brand visibility. You must continually produce fresh insights, update older guides with new statistics, and comment on recent industry developments.

Frequent posting signals to the algorithms that your profile is an active and relevant source of information. Subject matter experts should aim to publish at least two to three posts per week, alongside three to four longer articles each month, to maintain their authority.

TL;DR: Top 5 Takeaways for Creating Citable Content

1. Turn expertise into content: Identify subject matter experts in your business, like operators, specialists, industry influencers, and leaders, and help them publish content. AI leans heavily on authentic, firsthand knowledge to construct responses.
2. Create content that answers real questions: Instead of "thought leadership," think "what might my buyer ask an AI tool?" Practical buyer's guides, vendor comparisons, and ranked lists are most likely to be cited.
3. Structure everything for clarity: AI doesn't read like a human, it scans for structure. Use headings, bullet points, clear sections, named entities, and data. If it’s easy to scan and digest, it’s more likely to be read by AI.
4. Prioritize original insights and depth: The most useful, specific, and novel content wins, not the most stylistically refined. Specific numbers, frameworks, examples, and trade-offs are better than high-level opinions.
5. Stay consistent and recent: Freshness matters. AI models constantly update what they pull from, so publishing regularly, especially from credible voices, compounds visibility over time.

Dive deeper into the research and apply these insights to your strategy. Read the full report: How LinkedIn Content Wins in AI Search.

*Methodology

Using Meltwater GenAI Lens, we ran a broad selection of prompts focused on different B2B categories across six AI models: Copilot, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews, Claude Sonnet 4, ChatGPT-5, and Gemini 2.5 Pro. We analyzed 9.5 million responses to identify what type of sources they cite most often and how citations compare across different models and verticals.

     

Live event streaming has become a powerful addition to the B2B marketing toolkit, whether it’s the centerpiece of your campaign or an extension of your in-person event.

Events remain a cornerstone of B2B marketing because they give audiences something to engage with in real time and give you a platform to demonstrate your brand’s value in a dynamic, interactive way. But where traditional event formats can be limited by geography, travel budgets, or venue size, live streaming helps you remove those barriers and expand your reach.

In this post, we’ll break down the key benefits of live event streaming, explore how B2B marketers are putting it to work on LinkedIn, and show you how to get started.

Benefits of Live Streaming Events for B2B Marketing

LinkedIn has been monitoring the performance of our users’ LinkedIn Live Events since May of last year, and the data doesn’t lie: B2B organizations that pair LinkedIn Live with paid promotion, like Event Ad and Thought Leader Ad formats, have experienced huge benefits such as 131% higher click-through rates, a 19% improvement in post-event engagement rates and a 1.5x higher likelihood of attendees engaging with future company marketing.

LinkedIn Live videos also get an average of 7x more reactions and 24x more comments than native videos produced by the same broadcasters.

B2B Live Event Streaming in Action

Automation Anywhere used LinkedIn Live Event broadcasting to raise awareness for one of the biggest product launches in company history. Their launch day live event allowed Automation Anywhere to reach their existing audience of 100,000+ LinkedIn members with an over 6% engagement rate. 

These members tuned in and actively participated throughout the live event. “When the live broadcast started, within just a few minutes, we had about 400 positive comments,” said Automation Anywhere Global Head of Paid Social Media Julian Foster. “By the end of the hour-long presentation, we had one thousand.” 

Even more importantly, these comments were substantive and constructive: “I was with the team in the campaign control room during the event,” Foster said, “and they couldn’t believe the quality of the conversations we were having with the viewers.”

Ultimately, the live event was a huge success for the Automation Anywhere team: when the team checked their analytics, they found that 78% of views for the product launch announcement came from LinkedIn Live. By saving and reusing clips from their Live event for subsequent content, Automation Anywhere has been able to continue to earn 2,000 high-quality leads per month from LinkedIn on average, at a cost per lead of under $30. 

We’ve Made LinkedIn Live Easier and More Reliable

As live event streaming has become a core part of B2B marketing programs, expectations around reliability and ease of execution have continued to rise. Over the past year, LinkedIn has made targeted improvements to the LinkedIn Live experience to help marketers plan, test, and go live with greater confidence.

One of the most impactful updates is the launch of persistent stream keys for LinkedIn Live. Instead of generating a new stream key for every event, Company Pages can now enable a persistent stream key that remains the same across broadcasts. This reduces setup friction for recurring events and makes it easier to configure encoders, rehearse in advance, and return to Live Studio without reconfiguring each time.

In addition, LinkedIn rolled out backend livestreaming improvements in the second half of 2025 focused on stream stability. These updates have already resulted in a reduction in the number of livestream viewers experiencing buffering, helping brands deliver smoother, more consistent live experiences at scale.

How to Make Live Event Streaming Work For You

Follow these best practices to make the most of your next live event streaming event. 

Stream on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the best place to find and attract a B2B audience online. A 2024 study found that LinkedIn generated 80% of all B2B leads, and 2025 research showed it to be the #1 platform for influencing B2B decision-makers.

LinkedIn also makes live streaming on the platform easy and effective with LinkedIn Events. Just follow these step-by-step instructions for how to set up a LinkedIn Live Event.

Expert Tip: Make sure your live stream is mobile-friendly: 70% of LinkedIn viewers watch live events on mobile devices.

Promote your live event before, during and after

LinkedIn developed an in-depth guide called The LinkedIn Event Framework to help users promote their LinkedIn Events as effectively as possible. Following this framework involves taking specific steps before, during and after your stream:

Before your event:

• Plan: Determine the objective(s) of your event, choose a format for the event that will help you achieve these objectives and assign team responsibilities
• Set up: Select the right platform(s) for your event and rehearse
• Promote: Use event marketing, promotional ad campaigns and LinkedIn Live Event Ads to get your audience interested
  

During your event: 

• Engage: Activate your audience members by asking questions and interacting with them in the live chat
• Survey: Actively solicit and respond to live feedback from your audience
  

After the event:

• Follow-up: Reach out to attendees with targeted marketing and sales material to keep the conversation going
• Measure: Evaluate how successful your Live Event was using Event analytics
• Learn: Debrief on what worked and what didn’t and agree on a game plan for next time

Lower your cost per registration with LinkedIn Event Ads

LinkedIn Event Ads promote your LinkedIn Events to a defined audience across the full lifetime of your event campaign. The ad creative associated with your Event Ads campaign will dynamically change to provide the most relevant information for the audience, displaying a single image before the event, a live stream during the event and a video replay after the event. 

Promoting your live event with Event Ads is a great way to get your audience excited for it. On average, company-hosted events promoted with Event Ads generate 31x more viewers and 4.4x more registrations than events without promotion. 

Producer tip: Set up early and test with confidence

With persistent stream keys now available for Company Pages, teams can configure their streaming software and test their setup as soon as an event is created, rather than waiting until just before go-live. LinkedIn Live also provides a stream health preview, allowing producers to verify audio and video quality before broadcasting. Taking time to test ahead of the event can help reduce day-of issues and support a more polished viewer experience.

Your Live Stream Event Doesn’t Need to Be Complicated

Salesforce was one of the first organizations to leverage LinkedIn Event Ads. Their campaign helped them maximize viewership among a qualified audience, drove a 30% cost reduction for lead generation and directly impacted sales: audience members who interacted with the campaign connected with Salesforce 24% more frequently and accepted InMail 52% more often.

Your live stream event doesn’t need to be complicated. You could stream anything from brand announcements to product demonstrations, or even just interview your in-house experts about how your services work. Just put together the idea, get the word out there and watch your audience show up. With improved livestreaming stability and tools like persistent stream keys, it’s easier than ever to plan, rehearse, and deliver live events that meet today’s B2B audience expectations.

For more help planning and executing your next live event, check out LinkedIn Events Broadcast Producer's Guide. And when you’re ready to get started, create your LinkedIn Live event right here.  

1 Based on 2025 internal watch data of at least 30 seconds.

     

Today, we’re introducing LinkedIn Ads Agency Certification, a new global program that recognizes agencies with demonstrated expertise in LinkedIn Ads and a commitment to platform-aligned best practices.

As B2B buying journeys grow more complex, agencies are under increasing pressure to prove their expertise, performance, and ability to drive real business outcomes. Yet until now, there hasn’t been a clear, standardized way to validate that expertise on LinkedIn Ads, a platform central to today’s B2B marketing mix and proven to deliver the highest ROAS (121%) among major ad networks (1).

Matt Derella, Vice President of LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, notes that agencies play a critical role in helping B2B marketers navigate increasingly complex buying journeys and deliver measurable business outcomes.

"As expectations for performance, accountability, and skill continue to rise, clear and trusted signals of capability are more important than ever," Derella said. 

"LinkedIn Ads Agency Certification sets a new standard for platform expertise. It gives agencies a credible way to demonstrate their impact, while helping marketers identify agencies that can drive meaningful results."

Why LinkedIn Ads Agency Certification Matters

Certification is a key signal of expertise across the marketing industry. Advertisers increasingly look to certified agencies as a trusted indicator of capability, especially as buying committees grow and expectations for measurement and performance grow more rigorous.

For agencies, this presents both an opportunity and a gap.

Many agencies have built deep LinkedIn Ads expertise through years of hands-on experience, but that expertise is not always visible to clients or prospects. LinkedIn Ads Agency Certification changes that by providing a clear, client-facing way to validate an agency’s investment in training, measurement, and best practices.

At the same time, certification helps raise the bar for B2B advertising more broadly. By aligning agencies to a consistent standard, it supports stronger outcomes for advertisers and growth across the LinkedIn ecosystem.

What is LinkedIn Ads Agency Certification?

This is a global program that recognizes agencies with demonstrated expertise in planning, executing, and measuring campaigns on LinkedIn.

Unlike individual certifications or course completions, this program reflects an agency’s capabilities at an organizational level. To become certified, agencies must meet a defined set of requirements, including:

• Business Manager setup
• Invoicing readiness
• Completion of key LinkedIn Marketing Academy certifications
  

Together, these requirements establish a consistent standard, making it easier for advertisers to confidently identify agencies equipped to drive growth and results on LinkedIn.

What Certified Agencies Get

Agencies that earn the badge gain:

• Official LinkedIn Ads Certified Agency status
• A certification badge to showcase across websites, pitch materials, and marketing channels
• External messaging rights, including approved language for announcements and client communications
• A communications and promotion kit with ready-to-use assets
• Ongoing recognition through things such as LinkedIn-led marketing campaigns and industry spotlight moments

These assets can be activated across key touchpoints—from new business pitches to social content and employer branding—helping agencies demonstrate credibility, differentiate in a crowded market, and build stronger client trust. 

Built to Help Agencies Grow and Clients Win

We built LinkedIn Ads Agency Certification to do more than recognize expertise. We designed it to help agencies grow their business and deliver stronger outcomes for clients.

As certification becomes more widely adopted, it will shift from a point of differentiation to a baseline expectation. This shift will make it easier for advertisers to identify trusted partners and position Certified Agencies to compete and grow with confidence.

How Agencies Can Get Started

Agencies can apply for LinkedIn Ads Agency Certification by meeting program eligibility criteria and submitting an application through the program landing page.

We designed the program to integrate into an agency’s day-to-day operations. This approach allows teams to make progress alongside their existing client work, without requiring a separate initiative or dedicated resources. 

A New Standard For B2B Advertising on LinkedIn

Agencies play a critical role in how brands grow on LinkedIn. With the launch of LinkedIn Ads Agency Certification, we are establishing a clear, consistent standard for how that expertise is recognized, validated, and scaled. 

We look forward to seeing agencies around the world earn certification, showcase their expertise, and deliver stronger outcomes for their clients.

Learn more about LinkedIn Ads Agency Certification and how to apply here.  

Footnote: 1 Dreamdata Benchmarks Report, 2026

     

Events remain one of the most powerful channels B2B marketers have for reaching high-intent buyers. But the pressure to prove that impact has never been greater. Budgets face tighter scrutiny, workflows are fragmented across platforms, and connecting event activity to revenue is still one of the biggest unsolved problems in B2B marketing.

That is why we are introducing new event features designed to solve these challenges. Whether you're running a flagship in-person conference, a virtual product launch, or a series of thought leadership webinars, these features give you more flexible promotion, cleaner lead capture, stronger measurement, and better ways to extend value long after the livestream ends.

Here's what's new and how it helps you get more out of your events on LinkedIn.

Meet audiences where they are with off-platform Event Ads

Until now, promoting an event on LinkedIn required creating an event details page. For many marketers already hosting events off LinkedIn, such as on a website landing page or third-party platform, that meant maintaining two separate registration experiences and data sources.

Off-platform Event Ads remove that requirement entirely. You can now run Event Ads to drive targeted registrations and attendance for events hosted on any external platform — without building an event details page on LinkedIn.

The benefits are clear:

• Reach LinkedIn’s high-intent professional audience with precision targeting. Promoting your event with Event Ads allows you to ensure it reaches the most relevant decision-makers while they’re in a business mindset.
• Promote on LinkedIn, even when your event isn’t hosted on LinkedIn. You don’t have to re‑platform or duplicate your event to promote it to LinkedIn’s audience. The Event Ad drives LinkedIn members directly to your off-platform event. Registrations flow through your existing platform, keeping the experience clean and consistent
• Drive discovery, registrations, and results across the full event lifecycle. Event Ads are designed to support event promotion before, during, and after the moment. Drive awareness and registrations pre‑event, views and engagement during the event, and continued reach post‑event

For marketers managing multi-channel event programs, this is a meaningful efficiency gain. Your event setup stays intact, and LinkedIn becomes a channel that works in support of your existing stack.

Turn interest into pipeline with Event Ads for lead gen

Event registrations aren’t just sign ups, they are high-intent leads that fuel pipeline and drive measurable lower funnel impact. Enabling the lead generation objective for Event Ads closes that loop, turning event interest into revenue opportunity.

Built on LinkedIn's established Lead Gen Forms infrastructure, this feature lets you optimize event ad delivery to people in your target audience most likely to complete event registration. Members submit the event registration form directly from the ad unit, and you can send that lead data directly into your CRM or marketing automation system, where they can be scored, nurtured, and converted.

Why this matters for event marketers:

• Gather high-quality leads. LinkedIn's first-party professional data allows you to reach your target audience with an easy-to-complete registration form before, during, and/or after your event, reducing friction and improving completion rates.
• Drive more efficient, lower‑funnel outcomes. Because the objective is optimized for leads or qualified leads, LinkedIn prioritizes delivery to members in your target audience most likely to submit a registration form, helping improve conversion rates.
• Deliver cleaner data and faster follow‑up. Lead data can be downloaded directly or synced into CRMs and marketing systems, enabling faster sales or post‑event nurture and better measurement of event impact.

When every dollar of event spend is under scrutiny, optimizing for high-quality registrants, not just vanity metrics, is the difference between a campaign that looks good on a dashboard and one that actually moves pipeline.

Prove full-funnel impact with measurement enhancements

Event ROI is receiving more scrutiny than ever, yet measurement remains one of the biggest challenges event marketers report. LinkedIn is now introducing updates addressing common measurement challenges directly, with enhancements across both Event Details Pages and Campaign Manager.

New reporting capabilities connect event promotion activity to outcomes across the full event lifecycle:

• Pre-event: Reach, engagement, and registration metrics
• During the event: Live participation and viewership data
• Post-event: Influenced pipeline and revenue visibility

Specific additions include new event view and registration metrics in Campaign Manager reporting, event analytics on Event Details Pages, and attendance signals in registration downloads.The result: Marketers can validate their event strategy with finance-ready proof, reallocate budget to the highest-performing tactics, and build a repeatable case for event investment. Executives don't invest in impressions. They invest in outcomes. This is how you show them the outcomes.

Extend value beyond the live moment with event clipping

Not every buyer will attend your event live. Many will consume highlights on their own schedule, days or even weeks after the broadcast. Event clipping is designed to reach them.

This feature transforms long-form event recordings into shorter, LinkedIn-ready clips for post-event promotion. Those clips can then fuel new waves of promotion: Sponsored Content, retargeting campaigns, and lead capture keep your event content working long after the event itself ends.

For marketing teams, the efficiency case is clear:

• Fuel more ROI from existing event content. Your keynote, panel discussions, and product demos become a library of reusable assets.
• Align with how buyers prefer to consume content. Short form clips make it easier for audiences to consume high value moments on their own schedule, aligning event content with modern, snackable consumption habits without requiring net‑new production.
• Extend the life of your event for longer engagement. Clips extend reach to audiences who missed the live event, without the overhead of producing new creative from scratch.This post-event content keeps your brand in front of high-intent audiences during the consideration phase when buying decisions are being made.

What these features mean together

Each of these new features solves a specific problem, but together, they represent a more connected approach to event marketing on LinkedIn

• Off-platform Event Ads remove friction for marketers using third-party platforms for their events.
• Lead Gen for Event Ads drive qualified pipeline, not just registrations.
• Full-funnel measurement connects event activity to the metrics that matter.
• Event clipping extends content value and reach beyond the live moment.
• Persistent Stream Key reduces setup time and helps marketers execute livestreams with confidence.

Lastly, we’re committed to delivering an enterprise‑grade livestreaming experience on LinkedIn. Organizers now have access to Persistent Stream Key that allows them to instantly access a dedicated stream key and RTMP URL tied to their Page, powering early equipment testing, encoder configuration, and broadcast readiness ahead of go‑live.

Page admins can enable Persistent Stream Key to generate a unique stream key that persists across sessions, page refreshes, and browser exits—reducing setup time and enabling seamless execution of livestreams.

Our goal: to give marketing teams like yours the tools to run smarter, more efficient event campaigns and the measurement to prove it.

Ready to get more from your events on LinkedIn?

Log into Campaign Manager to explore these new features, or visit LinkedIn Marketing Ads to learn more about building a full-lifecycle event strategy.