LinkedIn builds in-house marketing team to attract more business advertisers

LinkedIn has launched a dedicated in-house marketing unit called BrandWorks as part of a broad advertising push aimed at hitting a $100 million run rate in the next fiscal year. Reuters first reported the development, citing a source familiar with the matter.

A new team built for brand performance

BrandWorks is designed to develop and run high-performing advertising campaigns for a range of clients, from enterprise software giant SAP to web development platform Webflow. The unit is led by Alex Josephson, Vice President of BrandWorks, who previously built a comparable initiative at Twitter called Twitter Next.

"We're developing services that are designed to meet the marketer where they are," Josephson said.

Rapid expansion through aggressive hiring

In March, LinkedIn stood up a separate internal team that has since grown by 60 per cent, driven by targeted hiring from rival platforms including Meta, TikTok and X. That team is now running a programme called Top Voices 360, which pairs advertisers with creators for sponsored content. Clients participating in the programme include SAP, ServiceNow and IBM, and the team generated over $20 million between May 2025 and May 2026.

B2B advertising market heats up

The moves come as B2B social advertising in the United States is projected to reach $11.64 billion by 2027. Roughly 80 per cent of B2B marketing budgets are currently directed at search and social media, with Google and LinkedIn among the primary beneficiaries of that spend.

Video and Gen Z in focus

Video is emerging as a particularly fast-growing content format, especially among younger audiences. The Microsoft-owned platform is actively encouraging both creators and advertisers to increase video output through its BrandLink programme, citing strong engagement data.

"Gen Z is our fastest-growing demographic on the platform. They are our fastest-growing in terms of engagement with content," Josephson said.