Szetela’s Scoop! Microsoft’s LinkedIn News May Imply More than LinkedIn Ad Integration for Bing Advertisers

Szetela’s Scoop! Microsoft’s LinkedIn News May Imply More than LinkedIn Ad Integration for Bing Advertisers was originally published on BruceClay.com, home of expert search engine optimization tips.

Microsoft’s announced acquisition of LinkedIn today has already sent ripples through the advertising industry. Marketers are predicting (or hoping) that the LinkedIn ad platform will be merged with Bing Ads, allowing PPC advertisers to run Bing Ads and LinkedIn ad campaigns from the same dashboard.

I think the acquisition could actually be the cornerstone of an important new Bing Ads strategy: the creation and expansion of a Microsoft Display Network.

Urgent Push for a Microsoft Display Network

Microsoft has never been a major player in display advertising. Currently Bing Ads advertisers can place text ads on Microsoft’s owned and operated sites (like MSN Money), but that’s just a handful of sites, and targeting options are limited to rudimentary demographics.

Facebook and Google display advertising account for billions in revenue for the two dominant players. Flexible hypertargeting capabilities have helped advertiser finally reap ROIs that rival those obtainable through search advertising.

Two recent developments underscore Microsoft’s sense of urgency.

1. Google just announced that they’re expanding their display network (already reaching, they say, 90% of all internet users) by the addition of Cross-Exchange Buying inventory.
2. And Facebook has been quietly building the size of its Facebook Audience Network to include people and sites outside the set of Facebook users. And they recently announced a new feature that will let advertisers target an even bigger audience.

3 Moves for Microsoft to Rival Google & Facebook

Look for Microsoft to muscle its way in and grab a big slice of the display pie. I see three big moves by Microsoft ahead:

• Step 1 will be the integration of Bing Ads and LinkedIn Advertising.
• Step 2 will be the introduction of additional ad sizes and formats for display advertising.
• For Step 3, I wouldn’t be surprised if Microsoft grows their display network through other means, like additional acquisitions, or the creation of a publisher program to rival Google’s AdSense.

Long-time Microsoft watchers know that the Redmond giant rarely gets it right the first time, but time and again has “versioned” its way to dominance. Could the Bing Ads we know today be the Windows 3.1 of PPC advertising — and is Microsoft about to go all Windows 95 on us?