Hey, remember how LinkedIn suddenly re-added hashtags a couple of years back, and then started prompting users to add them wherever possible to better categorize and sort content on the platform? As it turns out, that wasn't just to help users find more relevant content - this week, LinkedIn has announced a new set of 'interest targeting' options within its Campaign Manager to help better focus your company's LinkedIn promotional efforts.

As explained by LinkedIn:  

"Interest targeting lets you reach members with relevant ads that match their professional interests - based on the content they share and engage with on LinkedIn. With these added options, you can more easily achieve your campaign objectives and grow your business."

At launch of the new option, LinkedIn's offering over 200 professional interest categories, including subjects like 'Artificial intelligence', 'Global economy' and 'Customer experience'.

"Since members are spending more time than ever on the news feed engaging with content and joining the conversations they care about, you can leverage these activities to create more tailored campaigns and reach the professional audiences that matter most to your business."

Indeed, according to parent company Microsoft, LinkedIn's currently seeing 'record levels of engagement', and with more than 590 million members and growing, it's professional dataset is unmatched. The addition of specific interest targeting adds a whole new consideration to your LinkedIn campaigns - now, rather than focusing on just job titles and locations, you can also expand your reach to people who are actually, actively discussing your focus topics, which may also help expand your campaign reach through flow-on sharing and engagement.

Of course, in a broader sense, interest targeting is nothing new - most social platforms have offered such for some time. But even so, given LinkedIn's unique, professional focus, the option may prove highly valuable.

Definitely something worth considering in your 2019 strategy.