LinkedIn Launches Creator Marketplace to Help Brands Discover and Partner With Creators: Why It Matters for B2B Creator Marketing
LinkedIn / Lindsey Gamble
One of my predictions for 2024 was that LinkedIn would emerge as a channel for creator marketing and eventually launch its own creator marketplace. The first part proved true. The second part took a little longer than expected, but it's here.
LinkedIn recently introduced the LinkedIn Creator Marketplace, a new centralized experience designed to help brands discover and work with creators. The feature is currently in alpha and available to select creators and brands in North America, with support limited to English-language content.
How the Marketplace Works
Available through Campaign Manager, brands can search for creators based on topics, industries, and content expertise. They can view follower counts, posts, engagement metrics, and more, as well as access contact information to reach out for collaborations.
Brands can also identify organic and sponsored content featuring their company and request permission to amplify it through Thought Leader Ads, LinkedIn’s creator-led advertising solution. Additionally, they can activate curated video inventory through the self-serve BrandLink program, allowing ads to run alongside select editorial and creator video content.
LinkedIn / Lindsey Gamble
Eligible creators can opt into the experience and showcase up to eight posts or feature their most recent content. They can also specify how brands can contact them, including a preferred email address and the option to list an agent or representative.
Creators will also have control over collaboration permissions, including the ability to approve or deny brands from boosting their content.
Why It Matters Now
B2B creator marketing on LinkedIn has exploded in recent years. Sponsored content in feeds is now common, and the numbers back it up: 82 percent of B2B marketers say creators increase credibility with decision-makers.
But one of the biggest friction points has been discovery. Brands have largely had to piece together their own approach, manually identifying creators, relying on cold outreach efforts, or working with a small ecosystem of LinkedIn-focused agencies and creator marketing technology platforms. With the number of creators on LinkedIn doubling between 2021 and 2025, discovery has become increasingly difficult to manage at scale.
The marketplace gives brands a centralized way to discover and evaluate creators through performance insights and analytics, while providing the contact information needed to initiate partnerships. That removes a significant barrier to entry and reduces friction for brands not yet investing in the channel, while helping those already active scale more efficiently.
That efficiency gain matters even more as AI search visibility becomes a growing priority for brands. LinkedIn is already one of the most-cited platforms across major LLMs, which means creator content on the platform can influence how brands appear in AI-generated answers. That's why I predicted for 2026 that brands would partner with creators to improve their visibility in AI-powered search experiences.
How It Supports LinkedIn's Ad Business
With the Creator Marketplace, LinkedIn joins Meta, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, and X in offering some version of a creator marketplace. These tools benefit both brands and creators, but they also serve a clear platform interest: advertising revenue.
At a high level, creator marketplaces make it easier for brands to discover and activate creators, surface organic content featuring those creators, and turn that content into paid amplification through built-in ad formats that improve reach, targeting, and business outcomes. The result is a tighter link between creator activity and advertising inventory. LinkedIn is no different.
EMARKETER
With 2028 projected to be the year brands spend more on amplifying creator content than on paying creators to produce it, there are significant ad dollars at stake. The platforms that make it easiest to turn creator content into performance-driven advertising will capture the largest share of that spend. LinkedIn, with the Creator Marketplace and Thought Leader Ads now working in tandem, is positioning itself to compete for that spend.
A Recent Focus on Monetization
The Creator Marketplace is the latest addition to LinkedIn's growing suite of creator monetization tools, something the creator community has been requesting for years. While progress has been gradual, LinkedIn's efforts to help creators earn on the platform have accelerated in the recent year, with the launch of programs like BrandLink, Top Voices 360, and Advice Sessions, along with recent pilots of live digital events with creators. It is also reportedly exploring additional monetization options such as subscriptions.
Regardless of what comes next, helping creators monetize their credibility, expertise, and trust will likely remain at the core of LinkedIn's creator monetization strategy.
