What are LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads and how do you run one?

LinkedIn's help page lists these as eligible:

• Public text, single image, video, and article or newsletter posts from employees, creators and other members.
• Eligible collaborative posts.
• Posts by attendees of a LinkedIn Live Event your Page created, if the post includes the event link.
• The member's profile must show their full name, and the post must be public.
• Not eligible: celebrations, documents, polls, multi-image posts and reposts. To promote a repost, ask the original author and promote their post.

Source: LinkedIn Help: Thought Leader Ads, checked 15 October 2026

On your side:

• Super admin, content admin or Sponsored Content poster access on the Page linked to the ad account, plus creative manager access or higher on the ad account.
• If the ad account is tied to a Showcase Page, you need one of those roles on the parent company Page.
• The member's permission for each post, or their auto-approval.
• On the member's side, LinkedIn asks them to disclose the relationship, for example their role in their headline or a hashtag such as #SponsoredPost, and says posts from members in DMA countries can't be sponsored.

Sources: LinkedIn Help: Create thought leader ads in Campaign Manager, checked 15 October 2026; LinkedIn Help: Thought Leader Ads, checked 15 October 2026; LinkedIn Help: Manage permissions to sponsor organic posts as thought leader ads, checked 15 October 2026

In Campaign Manager:

1. Create an ad set with a Brand awareness, Engagement or Video views objective and a format that matches the post (single image, video, article or newsletter, or event), or open an existing ad set that already has Thought Leader Ads with that objective and format.
2. On the Ads in this ad set page, click Browse existing content.
3. In the Content Library, click LinkedIn members.
4. On the Posts tab, search by member name or post URL.
5. Select the post, click Request approval, then click Send.
6. When the member approves, Campaign Manager notifies you and you can sponsor the post.

• Track requests on the Requests tab as Approved, Declined or Pending. To send a request yourself, click View Request, then Copy link.
• Campaign Manager search finds posts from your employees and 1st or 2nd-degree connections. For 3rd-degree and beyond, LinkedIn says to use Creator Marketplace.
• You can't duplicate a Thought Leader Ad.

Sources: LinkedIn Help: Create thought leader ads in Campaign Manager, checked 15 October 2026; LinkedIn Help: Thought Leader Ads, checked 15 October 2026

The ad format follows the post type:

• Single image and video Thought Leader Ads have no call-to-action button; put a link in the intro text instead. Event ads do have one.
• The ads can run in the LinkedIn feed and on the LinkedIn Audience Network.
• LinkedIn's business page mentions only single image and video ads; the newer help pages also list event, article and newsletter formats.
• LinkedIn suggests asking the member to save their post's organic results before the campaign, so you can compare afterwards.

Sources: LinkedIn Help: Thought Leader Ads, checked 15 October 2026; LinkedIn Help: Create thought leader ads in Campaign Manager, checked 15 October 2026; LinkedIn Marketing Solutions: Thought Leader Ads, checked 15 October 2026

The member gets an email with a link to the post. From their Sponsorship Permissions page:

1. Open the Requests and Posts tab and find the request under Requests.
2. Select Approve, or Decline.
3. To stop a post later, find it under My posts, click the More icon and select Revoke Approval.

• Members can approve one request or all pending and future requests.
• If they revoke, you're notified and the ad stops at once. If it was the only ad in the ad set, the ad set stays active but stops delivering.
• The member sees combined organic and paid impressions and reach on their post. Campaign Manager also reports follows of the member and clicks to their profile from the ad.

Sources: LinkedIn Help: Manage permissions to sponsor organic posts as thought leader ads, checked 15 October 2026; LinkedIn Help: Create thought leader ads in Campaign Manager, checked 15 October 2026; LinkedIn Help: Thought Leader Ads, checked 15 October 2026

Common problems:

Sources: LinkedIn Help: Thought Leader Ads, checked 15 October 2026; LinkedIn Help: Create thought leader ads in Campaign Manager, checked 15 October 2026; LinkedIn Help: Manage permissions to sponsor organic posts as thought leader ads, checked 15 October 2026

Zolyp, which publishes this guide, is our own product, so weigh this section with that in mind. Zolyp doesn't run LinkedIn ads. It writes and schedules organic posts for your profile or company Page and shows Page post analytics, which helps you see which ideas people respond to before you pay to promote one. LinkedIn is one of the 9 platforms it publishes to (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Business, X, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, and Threads), and you approve the week before anything goes live. Plans that create the posts start at $29 a month, with a 3-day free trial.