LinkedIn Grants Ads API Access for Accepted Partners

Omri Shabath

For many advertisers and marketers, the self-serving ad platform of Internet companies they wish to work with is simply not sufficient and satisfactory enough for their needs. They prefer using their own tools to create and measure advertising campaigns. For that purpose, an ads API is necessary.

Until now and in spite of lots of previous pleads, LinkedIn didn’t offer marketers an ads API and the only possibility to advertise on the professional social network was through the service’s ads self-service platform. But now, LinkedIn finally opening its ads API portal for the public.

LinkedIn Ads API

Why an ads API is such a big deal you might ask? Many marketers, agencies and even individual advertisers are accustomed to start and track different campaigns from variety of sites through their own tools. It’s quite difficult to follow multiple campaigns across a handful of sites individually and obviously it’s much easier to do so through one centered familiar tool.

This is why an ads API could not only mean greater control for the marketers themselves, but very possibly a flock of new advertisers that will jump on the comfortable ads API wagon. LinkedIn just might enjoy a considerable surge in the company’s bottom line, which was worth $228 million in the second quarter of 2012.

It seems that LinkedIn has decided to step on the advertising gas as another public social networking company, Facebook, which its own ads API is already available since August 2011. On the other side, there’s the private social networking company, Twitter, whose ads API is yet to be publicly available.

In any event, through LinkedIn’s ads API authorized partners can do the following things:

  • Launching/ending campaigns.
  • Customize campaign settings and preferences with personal tools.
  • Receive and analyze the campaign statistics.
  • Advance targeting options.
  • Run multiple campaigns at once.

While the ads API program is already available for early premium partners like Adobe, Bizo and Unified, others needs to request access for it. Through this form, you can submit your ads API request but notice that LinkedIn states it would only reply if you aligns with LinkedIn requirements and been accepted as a partner.