As LinkedIn works to improve its ad tools, and better utilize its unique professional dataset, the professional social network has this week announced that it's acquiring data analytics company Drawbridge in order to utilize Drawbridge's advanced personalization AI, and further refine LinkedIn's targeting capacity.
As explained in the video, Drawbridge's system utilizes advanced machine learning - "on 100 billion edges" - in order to help marketers construct more accurate audience personas for targeting.
"Our graph combines billions of customer touchpoints, with a breadth and depth of online and offline interactions you won’t find anywhere else. Add your customer data to the mix, and Drawbridge’s patented AI enriches and completes your data to show you your customers with unmatched clarity."
Drawbridge, which already works with IBM, Adobe and Salesforce, among others, will integrate its technology into LinkedIn's systems over the coming months, which will eventually lead to a broader set of targeting and data options being made available to LinkedIn marketers.
As explained by LinkedIn:
"We believe Drawbridge’s team and technology will allow us to accelerate the capabilities of our Marketing Solutions platform, helping our customers better reach and understand their professional audiences and measure the ROI of their campaigns across mobile and desktop."
Since its acquisition by Microsoft back in 2016, LinkedIn has been working to expand the usage of its dataset, and its unique insights into the career progression and education histories of its now more than 600 million members worldwide. No other company has access to the data that LinkedIn has, which puts it in a unique position to capitalize - and while LinkedIn's data points may not seem as valuable as Facebook's in-depth psychological profiles, the applications for LinkedIn's insights, in a professional context, may actually be more expansive, and could make LinkedIn the go-to platform for career development and progression, along with B2B promotions.
The acquisition of Drawbridge will help the company evolve in this respect. Drawbridge's advanced machine learning tools will help LinkedIn's ad system provide even more accurate, viable audience matches, which should see improvements in LinkedIn ad performance.
And worth noting - LinkedIn also announced a data partnership with Adobe earlier this year, further boosting its targeting tools.