In a post on the company?s official blog today,
popular professional online network LinkedIn has announced the launching of LinkedIn DirectAds. DirectAds is a text advertising feature tailored
to the requirements of users wishing to promote their business, product or
service to a specific segment of the network?s membership.
The new feature is positioned alongside the
classic advertising service LinkedIn provides to larger brands and companies,
which will continue to be run through the company?s sales team. Through a combination of up to seven different
criteria, DirectAds enables members to pinpoint the audience to whom their advertisement
will be delivered.
Jack Chou from LinkedIn stresses the value he
sees in this self-customised approach to advertising, suggesting, ?maybe you're
a tax accounting firm looking to reach young professionals, or you're a design
agency looking to find potential new clients in key industries, or maybe you've
just written a new book on a career or business topic. You can use DirectAds to get the word out to
your target customers.?
LinkedIn says that DirectAds has been designed
to provide non-obtrusive advertising, an important consideration in preserving
targeted members? brand identification.
The post also underlines that the transparency drive is taken one step
further in the case of the new feature, since every DirectAds message includes
the advertising member's name and profile data, so the target audience members
can trace whoever is trying to get through to them.
DirectAds is currently available LinkedIn users
in the United States only. No date has
been announced for its extension to other regions.