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Affect Performance Team
|Linkedin|Jul 6, 2026

Creator Marketplace, BrandLink, Top Voices 360: How LinkedIn Is Productizing Expert Content

LinkedIn is expanding its creator strategy, but it is not copying the consumer creator economy model used by TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube. The core bet is not on mass influencers with broad entertainment reach. It is on professional creators, industry experts, executives, consultants, analysts, and subject-matter specialists whose influence comes from experience, seniority, industry context, and trust.

This is a logical move for B2B marketing. Buyers of enterprise software, cloud platforms, consulting services, analytics tools, HR technology, cybersecurity, or marketing technology rarely make decisions after seeing one ad. They read expert posts, watch videos, evaluate case studies, follow industry discussions, compare vendor credibility, and look for signals that reduce risk. In that environment, creator content on LinkedIn can work as more than a social post. It can become a trust-building asset that supports thought leadership, account-based marketing, demand generation, and pipeline influence.

The most important point is that LinkedIn's creator strategy is not one single product. It is a connected layer of products and workflows: Creator Marketplace, BrandLink, and Top Voices 360. Each one has a different role and a different level of availability. Creator Marketplace is already documented as a working section inside Campaign Manager. BrandLink is already active, but LinkedIn still describes it as a beta product with access through the LinkedIn Sales Team. Top Voices 360 has been launched as a premium creator sponsorship offering, but it does not currently appear to be a standard self-serve section that every advertiser can select directly in Campaign Manager.

Creator Marketplace

What It Is, What It Means, and Why It Matters

Creator Marketplace in Campaign Manager is LinkedIn's workflow for helping advertisers discover public LinkedIn posts that may be promoted as Thought Leader Ads. In simple terms, it gives brands a more structured way to find professional content from LinkedIn members and turn that content into paid media after the author grants permission.

This is especially important because B2B trust is often built through people, not only through company pages. A corporate ad can explain what a product does, but an expert post can explain why the problem matters, why a market is changing, or why a specific solution is relevant. Creator Marketplace gives advertisers a way to identify those posts, request sponsorship approval, and use them in campaigns.

According to LinkedIn's Help Center, Creator Marketplace can be used to discover public LinkedIn profile posts for Thought Leader Ads. It also supports in-stream pre-roll video content through self-serve BrandLink, but that BrandLink access is available only to select accounts. This means Creator Marketplace is both a creator discovery layer and, for some advertisers, an entry point into publisher or creator video inventory.

The practical value is clear: brands can move beyond only promoting their own Page posts. They can work with employee posts, expert posts, articles, newsletter articles, and public posts from first-, second-, and third-degree plus connections. If a credible LinkedIn author is already talking about the brand, category, product, or market issue, the advertiser can request permission to sponsor that content and amplify it to the right professional audience.

Current Status

Creator Marketplace is already live as a documented Campaign Manager feature. It is not just a roadmap item or a future announcement. LinkedIn's Help Center provides a dedicated page for the tool, including the types of content that can be discovered, the sponsorship approval process, and the permission statuses advertisers may see.

However, it is not completely unrestricted. Advertisers need the right Page and ad account permissions. LinkedIn states that advertisers need Page-level access, such as super admin, content admin, or Sponsored Content poster access, as well as ad account access such as creative manager or higher. The author of the post must also approve the sponsorship request unless an auto-approval relationship already exists.

There is also an important European limitation. LinkedIn notes that, due to the Digital Markets Act, content from authors and creators located in DMA countries is currently not supported in Creator Marketplace. In practice, those posts do not appear for discovery or sponsorship in the marketplace, even if they are public. This is a major operational detail for advertisers that want to work with European subject-matter experts.

Where to Find It in the Interface

Creator Marketplace is located inside Campaign Manager. The standard path is:

  1. Open Campaign Manager.
  2. Select the correct ad account.
  3. Use the left-side navigation menu.
  4. Click Creator Marketplace.

From there, advertisers can review posts that mention the brand, use filters, open the content list, select a post, and click Request to promote. Once the author approves the request, the advertiser can create a campaign from that approved content.

LinkedIn also describes several permission statuses inside this workflow: Permission Needed, Auto-approved, Approved, Requested, Declined, and Revoked. These statuses matter because creator advertising on LinkedIn depends on formal approval from the content author, not only on advertiser-side campaign setup.

Authors manage these requests through a separate sponsorship permissions workflow. LinkedIn explains that creators can approve or decline sponsorship requests for eligible public profile posts, and they can later revoke approval. If approval is revoked, the corresponding Thought Leader Ad stops running. LinkedIn Help explains this author-side process here .

What It Is, What It Means, and Why It Matters

BrandLink is LinkedIn's premium video advertising product for placing pre-roll video ads alongside video content from trusted publishers and creators in the LinkedIn feed. Instead of running a standard standalone video ad, a brand can appear next to contextually aligned professional content.

This gives BrandLink a different role from ordinary video advertising. It is designed to connect a brand with the credibility and context of trusted publisher or creator content. For B2B advertisers, that context can be valuable because professional buyers are often looking for informed perspectives, not just product messages. A pre-roll ad attached to relevant business content can support brand awareness, category education, executive visibility, and demand generation.

BrandLink is particularly relevant for high-consideration categories such as AI, cloud infrastructure, finance, cybersecurity, HR technology, business software, analytics, and consulting. These categories often require a longer education cycle, stronger trust signals, and repeated exposure across the buying committee. BrandLink can help advertisers reach professional audiences while borrowing contextual relevance from trusted content environments.

Current Status

BrandLink is already an active LinkedIn advertising product, but it is not fully open to every advertiser as a standard self-serve option. LinkedIn's official BrandLink page says that LinkedIn is currently beta testing BrandLink and that advertisers should connect with their LinkedIn Sales Team to get started.

LinkedIn has also started moving parts of BrandLink closer to Campaign Manager. In its March 2026 announcement, LinkedIn said that BrandLink campaigns with publishers became available as a self-serve option in Campaign Manager for select customers. This is an important distinction: the product exists and some advertisers can access it through the interface, but availability remains selective.

The official BrandLink page describes a managed workflow in which advertisers purchase creator or publisher content packages through a LinkedIn sales representative, upload a 3- to 30-second video ad in Campaign Manager, go through publisher or creator approval, and measure performance through metrics such as impressions, video view rate, completion rate, brand lift studies, and professional demographics.

Where to Find It in the Interface

If an account has access to self-serve BrandLink, the relevant workflow is connected to Creator Marketplace inside Campaign Manager. LinkedIn's Help Center describes a process where advertisers can:

  1. Open Campaign Manager.
  2. Go to Creator Marketplace.
  3. Select a publisher post or click See all publisher content.
  4. Use filters to find relevant publisher video content.
  5. Click Add in-stream videos.
  6. Upload or select the video ad creative.
  7. Continue to campaign setup.

The key limitation is access. LinkedIn states that self-serve BrandLink in-stream video content is available only to ad accounts with support from a LinkedIn Sales Team. If the account does not have this access, the advertiser may not see the relevant inventory or BrandLink workflow in Campaign Manager.

Therefore, the most accurate way to describe BrandLink today is this: BrandLink is live, but it is still limited. Some accounts can access parts of it through Campaign Manager and Creator Marketplace, while others need to work through a LinkedIn account team or may not yet have access.

Top Voices 360

What It Is, What It Means, and Why It Matters

Top Voices 360 is LinkedIn's premium creator sponsorship offering. It is designed for brands that want to partner with high-profile professional creators and LinkedIn Top Voices in a more integrated way than a single sponsored post.

LinkedIn describes Top Voices 360 as an integrated creator sponsorship model. A brand can start with an exclusive editorial show supported by BrandLink Ads and then extend the partnership through co-branded posts, industry event appearances, and other sponsorship activations. This makes Top Voices 360 more like a full creator partnership platform than a simple ad placement.

The strategic role is different from Creator Marketplace. Creator Marketplace helps advertisers discover and sponsor individual posts. Top Voices 360 is intended for larger creator partnerships where the brand wants to associate itself with a trusted professional voice over multiple touchpoints. This can be useful for enterprise awareness, thought leadership, category creation, executive positioning, and high-value B2B demand generation.

In B2B, this matters because buying decisions are often influenced by expert trust and professional consensus. A strong creator partnership can help a brand enter the category conversation earlier, shape how buyers think about a problem, and build credibility before a buyer is ready to submit a form or speak with sales.

Current Status

Top Voices 360 has been launched by LinkedIn as a premium creator sponsorship offering. In its March 2026 announcement, LinkedIn used the phrase "with the launch of Top Voices 360" and listed creators that brands can partner with, including Meghana Dhar, Corporate Natalie, Ramit Sethi, Aishwarya Srinivasan, Steven Bartlett, Cat Goetze, Bernard Marr, and Candace Nelson.

However, Top Voices 360 should not be described as a standard self-serve ad format. Based on LinkedIn's public materials, it appears to be a managed premium sponsorship program rather than a section that every advertiser can open and activate directly in Campaign Manager.

This status is important for advertisers. Top Voices 360 is not merely a future concept, but it is also not the same type of product as a normal campaign objective, ad format, or targeting option. It sits closer to a custom creator sponsorship package that involves LinkedIn's sales or account team.

Where to Find It in the Interface

At the moment, Top Voices 360 should not be positioned as a dedicated self-serve button inside Campaign Manager. LinkedIn's public documentation does not describe a path such as Campaign Manager → Top Voices 360.

The practical path is likely through LinkedIn's Sales Team or an account representative. A brand interested in Top Voices 360 would need to discuss available creators, editorial sponsorship options, BrandLink Ads, co-branded content, event appearances, and broader campaign packaging with LinkedIn.

In the interface, advertisers may interact with the related execution layers: Campaign Manager, Creator Marketplace, BrandLink, Video Ads, and Thought Leader Ads. But Top Voices 360 itself is best understood as a managed premium sponsorship layer that can use these tools, not as a fully open self-serve product.

Final Takeaway

LinkedIn is building a B2B version of the creator economy. The platform is not simply helping brands buy influencer reach. It is building a system where trusted professional voices can become part of a brand's advertising, thought leadership, and demand generation infrastructure.

Creator Marketplace is the most practical and visible layer: it is already documented inside Campaign Manager and helps advertisers discover public LinkedIn posts that can be sponsored as Thought Leader Ads. BrandLink is the premium video layer: it connects pre-roll video ads with trusted publisher and creator content, but access is still selective and LinkedIn continues to describe it as beta. Top Voices 360 is the premium sponsorship layer: it allows brands to build broader partnerships with high-profile professional creators, but it appears to be managed through LinkedIn Sales rather than opened as a standard self-serve format.

For advertisers, the bigger implication is measurement. These products should not be evaluated only by CPL. Creator-led B2B campaigns can influence trust, account engagement, buying committee awareness, pipeline quality, branded search, and the credibility of a brand inside its professional category. In LinkedIn's creator strategy, the real asset is not just the post or the video placement. It is the ability to connect a brand with voices that the target market already considers credible.