B2B advertising on LinkedIn: why it is once again a strategic priority for Italian companies

Introduction

For many Italian B2B companies, LinkedIn has long been the platform of choice for publishing press releases, company anniversaries, trade fairs, recruitment announcements and some corporate content. All of which is useful, of course. But today, this approach risks being too narrow, especially if your company sells to technical buyers, procurement managers, distributors, managers or senior management.

According to Social Media Today, which reported on the figures released following Microsoft’s results for the first quarter of the 2027 financial year, the time users spend on LinkedIn has increased by 15 per cent year-on-year. During the same period, there has also been a rise in paid video campaigns and adverts featuring creators. Taken together, these signs point to one simple conclusion: LinkedIn is seeking to become more relevant and more popular, not just bigger.

For an industrial, manufacturing or B2B company, this matters because qualified attention is a scarce resource. If you need to engage with decision-makers who are short on time, face long sales cycles and have to make complex assessments, you cannot simply ‘be there’. You need to understand the role LinkedIn can play within a broader digital strategy alongside content, advertising, your website, sales CRM and brand positioning.

LinkedIn data on time spent on the platform and creator ads

The most interesting figure is the time spent on the platform: up 15 per cent year-on-year. We’re not just talking about new users, but about people spending more time on the platform. For those involved in B2B marketing, this is a sign to watch closely, because advertising works best when it taps into a vibrant community, not an abandoned shop window.

LinkedIn has surpassed 1.4 billion members, up from the 1.3 billion reported in the previous quarter. However, the source highlights an important point: members and active users are not the same thing. According to the latest available figures, active usage remains at around 30 per cent of the total user base, with an estimated 420 million monthly active users.

Then there is the issue of advertising. Paid video adverts have grown by 25 per cent year-on-year, whilst creator-led adverts have increased by 63 per cent. This does not mean that every company should simply launch ‘creator-style’ campaigns, but rather that the platform is moving towards content that is more recognisable, more personal and better at capturing attention than traditional corporate communications.

LinkedIn is also working to improve the quality of the feed, taking action against inauthentic content and artificial behaviour. This is a development of great interest to businesses: if the platform manages to better safeguard the quality of conversations, the value of the environment in which your brand appears also increases. And this is where corporate social media work becomes less of a formality and more of a strategic endeavour.

LinkedIn in B2B social media

In the B2B sector, LinkedIn has a feature that sets it apart from many other platforms: users already log in with a professional identity. This does not eliminate the personal element; on the contrary, it makes it more interesting. A sales director, a technical manager or an entrepreneur reads content, comments on it and evaluates companies whilst already in a mindset closely related to work.

That is why LinkedIn should not be treated merely as a place to post a photo of your stand at a trade fair. It can become a platform on which to build authority, ensure consistency in your commercial messaging, reinforce the company’s positioning and support decision-making – a process that rarely stems from a single advert. In B2B, trust is often built up over time.

Consider a company in the home and furniture sector that sells to retailers and designers, or a manufacturing firm that wants to reach out to overseas buyers and production managers. In such cases, organic content alone may not be enough. Advertising enables messages to reach a wider audience that would otherwise only be visible to a limited section of the existing network.

The point is that LinkedIn should be viewed as part of the wider system, not as an isolated channel. If marketing communications say one thing, the website says another, and the company profile publishes generic content, the campaign risks losing its impact. In practice, the consistency of the message matters even more than the advertising format.

Objectives, target audiences and formats for B2B LinkedIn campaigns

When it comes to B2B advertising on LinkedIn, the first distinction concerns the objective. Some companies need to raise brand awareness within a vertical market, others want to support the launch of a new product range, whilst others still need to generate qualified leads for their sales team. These are different needs and require different approaches.

The audience is one of the channel’s key strengths, because LinkedIn draws on professional information: role, sector, function within the organisation, seniority and work-related interests. For a well-structured SME or a company with a turnover in excess of 2 million, this can be useful when the target audience is not ‘anyone who can buy’, but a specific category of decision-makers and influencers involved in the purchasing process.

Formats, too, should be considered in the context of the decision-making journey. In B2B, sponsored content, videos, documents, event-related messages, campaigns featuring contact forms, or initiatives that highlight influential figures within the company may all be appropriate. There is no single ‘best’ format: rather, there is the format that best aligns with the message, the level of trust already established, and the maturity of the audience.

This is where the evolution of artificial intelligence applied to advertising also comes into play. Not to replace strategy, but to better analyse data, creative content, signals and performance over time. At Dandicom, we work on social media and Google advertising campaigns, as well as AI solutions for advertising campaigns, based precisely on this approach: to help companies make more informed decisions, rather than simply chasing the latest trend.

Opportunities for industrial, manufacturing and B2B companies

For an industrial company, LinkedIn can be useful when a product cannot be explained in a matter of seconds. Machinery, components, technical solutions, plant, professional services and B2B supplies all require context. A campaign that is well integrated into the company’s communications can help highlight expertise, applications, the sectors served and the real differences compared with the market’s general perception.

The same applies to fashion, food and drink when the target audience is not just the end consumer, but distributors, retailers, buyers, business partners or supply chain operators. In such cases, LinkedIn does not replace other channels, but can bolster the company’s credibility amongst professional contacts. It is a different level of communication: less impulsive, more focused on reputation and relationships.

In some B2B projects we have worked on confidentially, the value of LinkedIn lay not so much in the immediate volume of contacts as in the quality of the conversations generated around the brand. People who had already been reached through events, trade fairs or sales activities found the same brand positioning online, with consistent content and campaigns designed to reinforce their memory of the company.

This is a significant difference. Web marketing for B2B companies does not rely on isolated, disconnected actions, but on continuity between visibility, authority and business leads. LinkedIn can contribute to this process when it is treated as a strategic platform rather than simply a company noticeboard.

Costs, limitations and risks to be assessed

LinkedIn advertising requires careful consideration because, compared to other advertising platforms, it tends to be perceived as more selective. This can be an advantage if the target audience is clear and the message is strong, but it becomes a problem when a company invests without a clear direction. The risk is not just wasting money: it is creating a presence that is of little relevance to the right people.

Another limitation concerns the quality of the content. On LinkedIn, an ad that is too generic is immediately recognised as a weak promotion. Whether you’re addressing a procurement manager, a technical manager or a CEO, you need to convey a message that makes sense in the context of their role and their decision-making process. It’s not enough simply to say that the company is a market leader, innovative or customer-focused.

Then there is the issue of measurement. In B2B, the sales cycle can last for months and involve several people, so judging a campaign solely on the basis of immediate engagement can be misleading. At the same time, failing to measure anything leads to decisions based on gut feeling. This is where a performance marketing approach helps to interpret the signals in a more balanced way.

The greatest risk, however, remains investing in the platform without a strategy. We have often highlighted this, even when discussing digital marketing in general: if the website, content, advertising and sales teams do not work together, the campaign simply eats up the budget without creating lasting value. LinkedIn is no exception.

When you need a specialist partner

A specialist partner is needed when LinkedIn is no longer just ‘the company page that needs updating’, but becomes an integral part of marketing, communications and business development decisions. This often happens in companies that already have an internal structure but feel the need for an external approach to bring order to their objectives, messaging, campaigns and data.

After 22 years in marketing and digital communications, there’s one thing we’ve seen time and again: the most effective partnerships are those in which the agency isn’t simply called upon to carry out the work, but to help the company gain a better understanding of the market and build continuity. This is how visibility can be transformed into authority and, over time, also support commercial growth.

This is even more true for industrial, manufacturing and B2B companies, where value isn’t determined by a single click but by the ability to get noticed by the right people. If you’re considering B2B LinkedIn advertising and want to understand what role it can play in your communications strategy, we can discuss this as part of a wider consultation with our digital agency, without pushing the channel if it isn’t really necessary.