Short answer
Thought Leader Ads promote a person's post, from an employee or, since 2024, any member who approves it, as an ad. For ABM they're a cheap way to put a credible face in front of a target account's committee: target the company list plus roles as usual. They run on awareness, engagement and video views objectives, not website visits. Benchmarks disagree on landing page clicks, so judge them by engaged companies, not CTR.
How they work
- Who: employees' posts without a partnership label; other members' posts with their approval, and a partnership label if they're paid.
- Permission: you request approval on the post; the author approves or denies and can revoke later, which stops the ad.
- Edits: you can't edit the ad; edit the original post.
- Targeting: the usual Campaign Manager targeting, including company lists and roles, with the 300-member minimum.
Where they fit in ABM
| ABM job | Good fit? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Make a named expert familiar to a target account's committee | Yes | A person's post reads as content, not an ad |
| Cheap reach on a tier 2–3 list | Often | Lower CPMs in published benchmarks |
| Driving demo requests | Weak | No website visits objective; few landing page clicks |
| Customer proof | Yes | Promote a customer's own post about results, with approval |
The honest numbers
| Finding | Thought Leader Ads | Single image | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median CPM | $49.37 | $59.15 | ZenABM, early 2026, 2,828 ads |
| Median effective CPC | $3.06 | $13.23 | Same benchmark |
| Cost per landing page click | $25.21 | $11.80 | Philip Ilic analysis, cited by ZenABM |
The two sources measure different clicks. All-clicks CPC counts likes, profile and "see more" clicks; landing page clicks count visits to your site. For ABM, neither is the right test: count target companies that engaged.
A setup that works
- Pick two or three people buyers would listen to: a founder, a product lead, a customer.
- Run four to six posts per campaign, rotating as engagement drops.
- Target the tier 1–2 company list plus decision roles; turn off audience expansion and the Audience Network.
- Budget from the account list with the LinkedIn ABM budget planner.
- Report engaged companies in Campaign Manager's company views. What it shows.
Questions
Can I promote a non-employee's post?
Yes. Since March 2024 brands can request to promote posts from any member; the author approves or denies, and can revoke permission later.
Which post types can be Thought Leader Ads?
Per ZenABM's 2026 summary of LinkedIn's help: text, single image, native video, article, newsletter and posts with third-party links. Not documents, polls, multi-image posts or reshares.
Which objectives can I use?
Brand awareness and engagement, plus video views for video posts. Website visits isn't available.
Are Thought Leader Ads cheaper than single image ads?
Often on CPM and all-clicks CPC; not always on landing page clicks. One analysis found them cheaper per landing page click in only 34 of 173 accounts.
Facts checked against the sources below on 19 October 2026. Ad platforms change quickly: if something here no longer matches what you see, tell us and we will update it.
