LinkedIn members have had the ability to post native video content on the social network for quite some time now, but the same option wasn’t available to advertisers. Now, the Microsoft Corp. subsidiary is moving to change that in a bid to open a new revenue stream.

LinkedIn on Thursday announced that it will roll out a new sponsored-video format over the next few weeks. The social network will enable marketers to target content based on factors such as users’ job title, seniority, industry and skills.

The depth of the data that LinkedIn possesses about the world’s working population also makes it possible to go a step further by narrowing down the audience to employees of a specific company. Moreover, brands can use the social network’s existing Matched Audiences tool to target individuals from their internal sales lists.

LinkedIn sees the new native video ad format finding use in several different scenarios. Phil Spitzer, an engineer with the social network, wrote in a blog post that companies can employ it to spread awareness about their products, drive website traffic and directly collect leads. The latter may be accomplished by embedding a call-to-action button at the bottom of an ad, or using LinkedIn’s Lead Gen Forms data collection feature.

To measure the results of a campaign, brands can use another existing tool called Conversion Tracking that displays key metrics such as sign-ups and site visits. LinkedIn sees a lot of potential in the new ad format: Spitzer’s blog post said members on average spend considerably more time viewing promotional videos than they do consuming static sponsored content.

More than 700 brands, including General Electric Co. and Philips NV, have adopted the new video ads so far. On top of expanding the availability of the format to all firms, LinkedIn also plans to roll out the ability to include native videos in Company Pages.

Providing more ways for brands to reach their target audiences will put the social network in a better position to make money from its 500 million-person user base. Advertising is a key component of Microsoft’s plan to realize a return on the $26 billion that it paid to acquire LinkedIn in 2016.

The company has also been working to integrate LinkedIn into its products as part of the effort. One of the latest fruits of the push is an Office 365 tool designed to help workers write better resumes.

Photo: Ben Scholzen