LinkedIn LinkedOut: New B2B Ad Network Launched

LinkedIn has announced Thursday its first major leap into ad tech, with the launch of a global display advertising network in partnership with demand side platform AppNexus. It’s the next stage of the strategy it set out last year to build out a $1 billion business-to-business (B2B) marketing businesses.

"This “gives brands the opportunity to engage professional audiences with display advertising both on LinkedIn and off-platform across thousands of publisher sites on the web,” according to head of marketing products Russell Glass on the site’s Marketing Solutions blog.

Also announced: the Lead Accelerator, intended to connect “companies to the right professionals with the right content as they make their way through the purchase decision process.”

Like Google and Facebook, LinkedIn is looking to target ads, content, and personalization based on users’ profiles, via social logins using those credentials on other websites and through cookies.

For a marketer, LinkedIn’s membership data is the world’s biggest candy store. With the best candy ever.

LinkedIn is also launching a widget brands can add to their website that allows visitors to autocomplete forms with their LinkedIn log-in information, and LinkedIn Onsite Display, which will allow advertisers to buy ads on LinkedIn’s mobile and desktop platforms.