LinkedIn Tests Paid Boosting for Personal Updates

LinkedIn’s trying out another ad option, with some users now able to pay to amplify their personal posts, in addition to their business page updates, in order to get more reach in the app.

So, if you want to build your personal brand on LinkedIn, and establish yourself as an influencer in your sector, this could be for you.

The option is an expansion of LinkedIn’s existing “Boost” option for business posts, providing a quick and easy way to get more reach for a post in-stream. And now, some users can also Boost their personal updates.

LinkedIn has confirmed to SMT that this is currently being tested, in limited form, with only paying users able to access the option at this stage.

As per LinkedIn:

“We’ve heard from our members and customers that they want more ways to increase their visibility and build their brand, so we’re currently testing new ways to boost content with a small subset of members and Premium Business subscribers in the U.S.”

As noted, “Boosting” is a more streamlined version of LinkedIn ads, with fewer targeting options, designed for quick amplification of your best performing updates. 

In its overview of boosting for personal posts, LinkedIn explains that the option is currently only available for text, image, article, video and newsletter posts. Job posts, events, documents, polls, or group posts can’t be boosted at this stage.

Selecting the “Boost” option will give you limited objective and targeting options (LinkedIn says that it’ll use the content of your post to target the most relevant audiences), but could help you reach more people with your personal updates, and get more attention in-stream.

LinkedIn also notes that boosting personal posts is different from its Thought Leader Ads offering:

“Thought Leader Ads allow company pages to sponsor posts from members they’re affiliated with, while boosting allows individual members to boost their own posts.”

It’s an interesting consideration, especially given that LinkedIn users are far more likely to engage with personal posts, as opposed to business page updates. Maybe, then, this could be a valuable option to enhance the presence of both individuals and businesses, who may want to amplify their top experts through direct arrangement.

Or it’ll be of benefit to those looking to maximize their professional standing, by amplifying their thoughts in the app.

I can imagine many people will be keen to try it out, but as noted, it’s only available to a select group of users at this stage.

But expect to see it expanded in 2025, adding a new consideration for your LinkedIn process.