• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, October 3, 2013

LinkedIn recently opened up its Sponsored Update ad unit widely to advertisers after testing it for months with beta partners including Lenovo. The professional networking site on Thursday touted results from a Lenovo campaign using the ad format that runs in LinkedIn users’ news feeds

The China-based technology giant ran Sponsored Updates in May and June targeted to IT buyers and aimed at driving brand and product awareness as well as building its follower base on LinkedIn. The campaign was built around four themes: brand, thought leadership, products and external trends.

One ad, for example, showed a black-and-white image of two soldiers, and invited LinkedIn users to post comments about some of the qualities that a leader should have.

Based on the campaign, Lenovo said it saw a 17% lift in brand favorability and four times the level of engagement compared to standard display ads. LinkedIn is in the process of shifting from traditional banners and custom units to Sponsored Updates as the focus of its ad business. A Macquarie Securities analyst this week estimated the new ad unit would generate $46 million in revenue next year.