Why Thought Leader Ads Work So Well

#317 | Dave hosts a live session with Dasha Shakov (Head of Marketing, Proton.ai), Emeric Ernoult (Founder, CEO, Agorapulse), and Finn Thormeier (Founder, Project 33) to break down what’s working on LinkedIn right now. They discuss why LinkedIn is the most important channel for B2B, why social media is the best marketing channel available today, how founder-led and employee content drives growth, and what’s changed about how people use the platform over the last five years. The group also gets into LinkedIn’s thought leader ads, thoughts on measuring results when attribution is messy, and how to sell LinkedIn’s value to leadership and convince them to spend time there. It’s a look into how B2B teams can earn attention, build credibility, and make LinkedIn a massive growth channel in 2026.

Timestamps

• (00:56) - – Why LinkedIn is still Dave’s favorite B2B channel
• (05:01) - – Panel intros: Dasha, Finn, Emeric
• (07:25) - – Why LinkedIn changed and why it matters now
• (09:34) - – “Our buyers aren’t on LinkedIn” is mostly wrong
• (12:26) - – Who should post: CEO, team, or company page
• (16:47) - – Why promo posts flop (and why that’s okay)
• (21:44) - – What to actually post when starting from zero
• (38:13) - – Why thought leader ads outperform everything else

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