• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, November 28, 2012

LinkedIn on Wednesday announced a new API (application programming interface) program for its advertising platform to help B2B marketers develop customized campaigns and have more control over their ad efforts on the professional networking site.
 
Until now, marketers on LinkedIn have been managing campaigns directly through its self-serve interface. LinkedIn said API access has been one of the most frequently requested features, and that its new program would “empower developers to build custom tools and solutions specifically to help social marketers meet their goals.”
 
LinkedIn follows in the steps of other social networking properties like Facebook, which offers an Ads API that marketers can use to create larger or more specialized campaigns on the site.

Working with LinkedIn on its API initiative are agency partners Adobe, Bizo and Unified, selected for their B2B and social marketing expertise.
 
In its blog post, LinkedIn highlighted the ability to do things like automatically generate dozens of campaigns and testing hundreds of creative elements through the API program, as well as adjusting marketing spend across marketing channels.
 
Earlier this month, the company reported that ad sales rose 60% in the third quarter to $64 million, accounting for a quarter of its overall revenue of $252 million for the period. LinkedIn says it now has 187 million members in 200 countries generating 3 billion page views a month.