# How to Run Thought Leader Ads on LinkedIn: Step-by-Step Guide (2026)

> Want to know how to run Thought Leader Ads on LinkedIn? This guide walks through the complete process – from setup to optimization. After analyzing 119 TLAs and over $300K in ad spend for our 2026 LinkedIn ABM Benchmarks Report, I’ve documented exactly what works.

Author: Emilia Korczynska
Published: 2026-01-24
Updated: 2026-03-14
Categories: Ad Formats & Creatives
Source: https://zenabm.com/blog/how-to-run-thought-leader-ads-on-linkedin

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![How to run LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads? cover with LinkedIn post screenshots behind the headline](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/How-to-run-LinkedIn-Thought-Leader-Ads.png)

Want to know how to run Thought Leader Ads on LinkedIn? This guide walks through the complete process – from setup to optimization. After analyzing 119 TLAs and over $300K in ad spend for our [2026 LinkedIn ABM Benchmarks Report](/linkedin-abm-benchmarks-report), I’ve documented exactly what works. **What you’ll learn:** Step-by-step instructions for setting up LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads, choosing the right content to promote, configuring your campaign for maximum performance, and avoiding common mistakes that kill results. TLAs deliver a **2.68% median CTR** – over 6x higher than single image ads. But only if you set them up correctly. Here’s how to run Thought Leader Ads on LinkedIn the right way, and how to track your TLAs performance – overall and per company targeted –[ **with ZenABM:** ](https://app.zenabm.com/signup)

![LinkedIn Thought Leader Ad benchmarks table from 119 TLAs showing median CTR of 2.68% and median CPC of $2.29](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/LinkedIn-Thought-leader-Ads-Benchmarks-ZenABM.png)

## How to Run Thought Leader Ads on LinkedIn: Prerequisites

Before you can run [Thought Leader Ads on LinkedIn](/blog/linkedin-thought-leader-ads-examples), make sure you have:

### 1. LinkedIn Campaign Manager Access

You need admin or campaign manager access to a [LinkedIn Ads account](/blog/how-do-linkedin-ads-work). If you don’t have one, create it at [business.linkedin.com](https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/ads).

### 2. Content to Promote

Identify LinkedIn posts you want to sponsor. These can be:

- **Employee posts:** Content from anyone at your company
- **Third-party posts:** Content from customers, partners, or industry experts (requires their permission)

### 3. Budget

Minimum recommended: $50-100/day per campaign ($1,500-3,000/month). Lower budgets won’t generate enough data for optimization. [Philip Ilic explains](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/philip-ilic_linkedinads-demandgen-leadgen-activity-7384873723016765440-_LXc): *“Make sure your budget matches your audience size. If you’re spending 2k/month and your audience is 300k people, no one’s seeing your stuff.”*

### 4. Ways to Track Company-level performance of your TLAs (e.g. ZenABM)

![ZenABM Companies insights table ranking accounts by engagement score, impressions and spend](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/companies-insights.png)

If you’re running Thought Leader Ads without company-level tracking, you’re flying blind.

LinkedIn will happily show you clicks, CTR, and engagement. None of that tells you which accounts are actually warming up. And in [ABM](/blog/signal-based-outbound), that’s the only thing that really matters.

You need a way to see:

- Which target [companies saw and engaged](/faq/see-companies-that-saw-your-linkedin-ads) with your TLAs
- How often they did so, including frequency and depth of engagement
- Whether those accounts later opened deals or generated pipeline
- Which posts and narratives are influencing revenue, not just clicks

That’s where tools like ZenABM come in. ZenABM de-anonymizes [LinkedIn ad](/blog/how-to-analyze-linkedin-ads-with-claude-code) engagements at the company level, scores accounts based on repeated TLA interactions, and pushes those signals into your CRM. This lets you measure campaign influence instead of last-click conversions and align your Thought Leader Ads with sales follow-up, retargeting, and ABM stages.

If your goal is pipeline and not vanity metrics, company-level tracking isn’t optional. It’s the prerequisite that turns Thought Leader Ads from nice [content into a repeatable ABM](/blog/abm-strategy-types) lever.

## **Step 1: Choose Your Campaign Objective**

![LinkedIn Campaign Manager highlighting Brand awareness and Engagement as valid Thought Leader Ad objectives](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/LinkedIn-Though-Leader-Ad-acceptable-campaign-objectives-ZenABM.png)

[LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads](/blog/linkedin-thought-leader-ads-ultimate-guide) only support two objectives:

- **Brand Awareness:** Maximize impressions to your target audience
- **Engagement:** Optimize for clicks, reactions, and comments

### Which Objective Should You Choose?

[Philip tested both extensively](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/philip-ilic_should-you-optimise-for-brand-awareness-or-activity-7389242953635991552-QN9k): *“I analysed 300k worth of TLA data. When optimising for Engagement, the average CPC to the landing page was 4.80, compared to 7.90-12+ for Brand Awareness – up to 2x more efficient.”* **My recommendation:** Use Engagement objective for most campaigns. It drives landing page traffic at roughly half the cost.

## Step 2: Create Your Campaign in Campaign Manager

Here’s how to run Thought Leader Ads on LinkedIn using Campaign Manager:

1. Log into [LinkedIn Campaign Manager](https://www.linkedin.com/campaignmanager)
2. Click “Create” and select “Campaign”
3. Choose your campaign group (or create a new one)
4. Select either “Brand awareness” or “Engagement” as your objective
5. Click “Next” to proceed to ad format selection

## Step 3: Select Your Ad Format

![ZenABM table of LinkedIn ad performance by format comparing median CTR across image, document and video ads](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/LinkedIn-ads-ABM-performance-by-format-CTR--scaled.png)

For Thought Leader Ads, choose one of these formats:

- **Single image ad:** For text posts or posts with images
- **Video ad:** For posts that include native video

[Tim Davidson notes](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tadavidson41_with-some-changes-this-feature-could-make-activity-7392589244566999040-BVV5): *“Currently, you have to separate out video and image into their own campaigns. It’s the most annoying for thought leader ads where you have to separate image and text from video.”* **Tip:** If you’re promoting multiple post types, create separate campaigns for image/text posts and video posts.

## Step 4: Configure Your Targeting

Set up your audience targeting as you would for any [LinkedIn](/blog/how-to-set-up-linkedin-campaign-manager-hubspot-integration-and-why-theres-a-smarter-way) campaign:

- Location
- Company (size, industry, name)
- Job function and seniority
- Skills and interests

For [account-based marketing](/blog/running-abm-on-linkedin-the-ultimate-guide), upload your target account list and layer in job title or seniority targeting. [Philip recommends niche targeting](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/philip-ilic_the-most-effective-thought-leader-ads-are-activity-7391062128289394688-lIYe): *“The most effective thought leader ads are niche-specific posts to niche-specific audiences. Design and release posts which are targeting your ICP more specifically.”*

## Step 5: Set Your Budget and Schedule

Configure your campaign budget:

- **Daily budget:** Minimum $50-100/day recommended
- **Total budget:** Optional cap on overall spend
- **Schedule:** Start and end dates (or run continuously)
- **Bid strategy:** Maximum delivery (recommended) or manual bidding

### Budget Recommendations

| Audience Size | Minimum Monthly Budget | Recommended Monthly Budget |
| Under 50K | $1,500 | $2,000-3,000 |
| 50K – 150K | $2,000 | $3,000-5,000 |
| 150K+ | $3,000 | $5,000+ |

## Step 6: Select Content to Promote (The Key Step)

![Search authors post linkedin TLAs ZenABM](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/Search-authors-post-linkedin-TLAs-.png)

This is where you actually select the Thought Leader content. Here’s how to run Thought Leader Ads on LinkedIn by finding the right posts:

1. On the ad creative page, click **“Browse existing content”**
2. The Content Library opens. Click **“LinkedIn members”**
3. Search for posts by member name
4. You can find posts from:
    - Employees at your company
    - 1st degree connections
    - 2nd degree connections
5. Review available posts and select the one you want to promote

### How to Choose Which Posts to Promote

[Ali Yildirim shares his process](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/aayildirim_weve-spent-hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars-activity-7359523260633423872-rZPt): *“When an organic post performs well, we wait for the natural engagement to slow down, then sponsor it. We focus on posts that directly address your target audience in the first two lines.”* **Look for posts that:**

- Performed well organically
- Address specific pain points your buyers have
- Use first-person “I” voice (65% of top performers)
- Are 1,000-1,500 characters long
- Don’t use hashtags

[Philip warns](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/philip-ilic_i-spent-16k-testing-thought-leader-ads-activity-7388601628465131521-lM4A): *“Most people are boosting the wrong content. Posts that do well organically aren’t always the ones that convert in paid. You need posts that directly address your target audience’s pain points.”*

## Step 7: Request Permission (For Third-Party Content)

![LinkedIn Campaign Manager Content Library with a post selected to sponsor as a Thought Leader Ad](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/select-the-post-you-want-to-sponsor-.png)

If you’re promoting content from someone outside your company:

1. Select the post you want to promote
2. Click **“Request approval”**
3. In the dialog, add an optional message explaining why you want to promote their post
4. Click **“Send”**

The author receives a notification and can approve or deny your request. Once approved, the post appears in your available creative. **Important:** Authors can revoke permission at any time, which immediately turns off the ad.

![Philip Ilic's LinkedIn post on conversation ad open rates, incentives and cost per open as a TLA example](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/Phillip-Illic-Conversation-Ads-2.png)

## Step 8: Launch Your Campaign

Review your campaign settings:

- Objective: Engagement (recommended)
- Targeting: Your ICP
- Budget: $50-100+/day
- Creative: Selected TLA post(s)

Click **“Launch Campaign”** to go live.

## Step 9: Monitor and Optimize

Once your campaign is running, here’s how to run Thought Leader Ads on LinkedIn effectively:

### Check which  Companies are engaging most in ZenABM

In ZenABM, the Companies tab shows which companies are engaging with your [LinkedIn Thought Leader](/blog/linkedin-thought-leader-ads-for-abm) ads. This is gold for ABM.You can also use Zena – [ZenABM’s](/) AI chatbot – to ask about your Thought Leader Ad performance and top engaged companies:

### Key Metrics to Monitor

- **CTR:** Target 2%+ (benchmark median is 2.68%)
- **CPC:** Target under $3 (benchmark median is $2.29)
- **Engagement rate:** Reactions, comments, shares
- **Landing page clicks:** If your post includes a link

### Connect to Pipeline

[Philip identifies the measurement gap](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/philip-ilic_most-ppl-fail-with-linkedin-ads-because-they-activity-7387416841826111490-xwOL): *“Most people fail with LinkedIn Ads because they can’t track influenced pipeline.”* In [ZenABM](/), I built tracking for this:

- [Track which companies engage](/faq/see-companies-engaging-with-linkedin-ads) at the account level
- Auto-assign [ABM stages based on engagement](/blog/abm-engagement-penetration-strategy)
- Trigger webhooks when accounts show buying intent
- Measure [pipeline influence with revenue attribution](/blog/abm-roi)

![ZenABM Zena AI showing account stage distribution, with 94.8% of targeted accounts in the Identified stage](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/Zena-AI-zenabm-company-campaign-stages.png)

## How to Run Thought Leader Ads on LinkedIn: Advanced Tips

### Run Multiple Posts Per Campaign

[Maximilian Herczeg advises](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/maximilianherczeg_6-dinge-die-ich-immer-%C3%A4ndere-bevor-ich-activity-7381214365577789440-8No_): *“Don’t run just 1 post as a campaign. Better: 4 to 6 variants with different content. This gives you comparison data and nurtures the audience with multiple perspectives.”*

### Structure Campaigns by Funnel Stage

[Philip’s three-tier structure](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/philip-ilic_they-have-a-million-campaign-groups-all-activity-7388867521699004416-dJJM):

> *“I set up accounts mostly with 3 campaign groups: Prospecting, Nurture, and Convert.* *1. Prospecting – Cold campaigns designed to [reach new audiences](/blog/abm-for-hard-to-reach-audiences).* *2. Nurture – Middle-of-funnel campaigns focused on education.* *3. Convert – Retarget TLA engagement with conversation ads.”*

![Phillip Ilic's client ad flow for LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads: reach, nurture, convert](https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/linkedin-thought-leader-ads-funnel-phillip-ilic.png)

### Add CTA Links to Posts

[Tim Davidson’s experience](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tadavidson41_demos-from-linkedin-thought-leader-ads-activity-7394746080606928896-1QxA): *“Demos from LinkedIn thought leader ads went from ZERO a month to 6+ a month. All from one small change: editing the post and adding a CTA link.”* Make sure posts include a clear call-to-action link. Place it in the bottom 25% of the text – 75% of top-performing TLAs do this.

## Common Mistakes When Running Thought Leader Ads

Now that you know how to run Thought Leader Ads on LinkedIn, avoid these errors:

### Mistake #1: Using Brand Awareness Objective

Engagement delivers CPCs up to 2x cheaper. Unless you specifically [need impressions over clicks](/blog/track-the-roi-of-linkedin-ads), choose Engagement.

### Mistake #2: Promoting AI-Generated Content

[Gabriel Ehrlich warns](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ehrlichgabriel_why-you-should-hire-remotion-to-manage-your-activity-7408835026361946112-8ab7): *“The whole post smells of AI – the em dashes, the vocabulary – it’s all AI. We make ads sound like humans, not AI slop.”*

### Mistake #3: Including Hashtags

[Gabriel](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ehrlichgabriel_i-just-got-targeted-with-this-thought-leader-activity-7405950632714817536-oV1k): *“Don’t use hashtags in TLA. We pay to reach the right people – hashtags are unnecessary if your targeting is set up correctly.”*

### Mistake #4: Budget Too Low for Audience Size

Match your budget to your audience. $2K/month on a 300K audience means no one sees your ads frequently enough.

### Mistake #5: No CTA Link

Posts without CTAs don’t convert. Add a clear next step at the end of every post you promote.

## Key Takeaways

Here’s how to run Thought Leader Ads on LinkedIn successfully:

1. **Use Engagement objective** – 2x more efficient than Brand Awareness
2. **Select posts that address buyer pain points** – not just high-engagement posts
3. **Run 4-6 posts per campaign** – more data, multiple perspectives
4. **Budget minimum $50-100/day** – match budget to audience size
5. **Include CTA links** – bottom 25% of post text
6. **Avoid hashtags and AI content**
7. **Monitor** [Companies tab – use engagement data](/abm-campaign-analytics-dashboards) for outbound
8. **Track pipeline influence** – use tools like ZenABM for attribution

**Ready to run LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads?** [Try ZenABM free for 37 days](https://app.zenabm.com/signup) and track which accounts engage with your campaigns.

## FAQs

### How do I run Thought Leader Ads on LinkedIn?

In [Campaign Manager](/blog/track-companies-engaging-with-linkedin-ads): Create a campaign with Engagement objective, select Single image ad format, click “Browse existing content,” choose “LinkedIn members,” search for posts, request approval if needed, then launch.

### What objective should I use for Thought Leader Ads?

Engagement. Data from 300K in spend shows Engagement delivers CPCs up to 2x cheaper than Brand Awareness for landing page traffic.

### Can I run Thought Leader Ads from someone else’s profile?

Yes, with their permission. You can promote posts from 1st or 2nd degree connections. They’ll receive a request and must approve before you can run the ad.

### How much budget do I need for LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads?

Minimum $1,500-3,000/month per campaign. Lower budgets don’t generate enough reach or data for optimization.

### How do I track which companies engage with my Thought Leader Ads?

[LinkedIn’s Companies tab shows aggregate engagement](/faq/see-companies-engaging-with-linkedin-ads). For CRM integration and ABM tracking, use [ZenABM](/) to sync company-level data to HubSpot or Salesforce.

## Images

- https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/Ali-Yildrim-Estimating-LinkedIn-Ads-Budget-post-with-basic-maths-1.png
- https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/Tim-Davidson-TOFU-MOFU-BOFU.png
- https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/Ali-Yildrim-posts-about-CPMs.png
- https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/companies-insights-e1755735737414.png
- https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/Top-engaged-companies-zena-ai-zenabm.png
- https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/Tim-Davidson-Thought-Leader-Ads.png
- https://cdn.zenabm.com/media/Gabriel-Erlich-TLAs.png