Why marketers are paying to promote their publications on LinkedIn

Companies are spending ad dollars promoting a new product these days: Their publications. And the platform of choice: LinkedIn.

• McKinsey, which boasts a massive publishing operation staffed by over 75 editors, uses LinkedIn’s sponsored content ad formats to advertise its insights and articles. For example, a “document” ad offers targeted LinkedIn users a sneak peek at the content of McKinsey’s quarterly print magazine.
• The Trade Desk-owned publication, The Current, is using LinkedIn’s ads to directly have users sign up for The Current. An ad touts the publication as “what performance marketers read,” and uses LinkedIn’s lead gen forms to have people sign up to receive email newsletters from The Current. We’re “doing marketing on behalf of our products, like we do for OpenPass or UID2 or any other TTD led initiative,” said a TTD rep.
• Netflix’s advertising on LinkedIn often focuses on its brand publications. A recent post advertised an in-depth piece about “All Quiet on the Western Front,” which appeared in an issue of Queue, its magazine.
• Salesforce is advertising Salesforce+, specifically the livestream of its annual Dreamforce event, using a LinkedIn sponsored ad.