Everything You Need to Know About B2B Influencer Marketing

Business leaders have to adapt rapidly to the current, dynamic digital world. Innovative social media platforms arise, features come into existence, and new influencers become popular. Decision-makers need to be shrewd to realize the required goals. Customers do not knock on your door automatically.

In a constantly changing market, you need to keep yourself informed on the latest trends to attract clients. B2B companies especially need to up their game. To reach new prospective customers, professionals must distinguish themselves from the average company.

So, the crucial question is:

How do you generate leads and clients for your company?

Influencer marketing is one option. According to the TopRank marketing blog, 86% of brands are successful with B2B influencer marketing.

What Is B2B Influencer Marketing?

B2B influencer marketing refers to all activities intending to address, target, and persuade a business-to-business target group via influencers.

However, B2B influencer marketing distinguishes itself from B2C campaigns. Most of the time, audience size is quite an important factor for campaigns. In B2B collaborations, you want to target a narrower audience such as decision-makers with budgetary responsibility in a particular field.

Even though follower size and engagement rates play a role, they do not have the same importance as in B2C campaigns. They are just one of several decisive metrics.

Other social media networks have become quite important too. It is much more likely to find a decision-maker on LinkedIn than on TikTok. You might have a chance on YouTube if your industry’s products or services are visually appealing.

Advantages of B2B Influencer Marketing

The latest beauty product, a new fitness wristband, or an innovative gadget: Most people have seen an influencer marketing campaign taking place. A majority of campaigns just target the average Joe.

However, decision-makers ask themselves:

- What are the precise advantages of B2B influencer marketing?

This particular type of marketing offers companies:

• the opportunity to address new target groups, consisting of leaders and experts in their field
• new perspectives that may enrich followers’ perspectives and lead to new business possibilities
• additional credibility through the presentation by opinion leaders

Define Decisive Marketing Aims

Alright. Let’s get straight down to the nitty-gritty. Before marketers can implement their first influencer campaigns, they need to ponder which goals they want to accomplish.

Is it reach, sales, name recognition, lead generation, or something completely different? You need to become aware of your overall aim, otherwise, you cannot plan your strategy properly.

If you want to generate more leads, you need to think about possible rewards for users entering their information. Do they get a free copy of your ebook or another gift?

Nearly everyone wants something in return for their data. The better you fulfill the requests of your users, the more likely you get what you want as well.

After determining your marketing goal, you should clarify whom you intend to target. Which gender, age, position, and interests does the standard decision-maker in your industry have?

The better you define your target group, the more results you get.

Best Content Types for B2B Influencer Campaigns

B2B marketers favor different content types in comparison to consumer-oriented firms. A survey from the Search Engine Journal shows that most professionals use:

• webinars,
• social media,
• blog posts,
• recorded videos
• interviews
• and podcasts.

It is recommendable to promote media files that let users submit their data in return for the information. Otherwise, you have no option to use the results for your client generation process.

Finding Suitable Influencers for Your Campaign

Every single campaign will succeed or fail due to influencer research. Finding suitable influencers is, thus, the most challenging task marketers have to face. Especially business-to-business influencers are tough to detect. It is like finding a needle in a haystack.

After all, you intend to select experts with credibility in their industry. Regardless of your hopes, without finding the right influencers, you cannot reach your business audience.

To achieve that, you should first create a profile of common influencer characteristics. These characteristics may include:

• audience size
•  paid compensation
• engagement rate
• niche (Your past experiences with similar influencers might play a role here. For instance, if you noticed that a particular did not work out, you can resort to another industry)
• past successful collaborations of your or other companies with the influencer

In the next step, you can utilize several ways of finding influencers. You can search for influencers via hashtags. However, this research method is strenuous due to the high volume of inapplicable posts.

If you want to collaborate with an influencer who has 1,000,000 followers, you have to search for a while before finding a suitable partner. Most users just have a fraction of likes and comments on their posts.

It is worthwhile to use the blue button with the downward arrow on Instagram. It is located on users’ Instagram profiles. The social media app will then display similar accounts. In addition, working with influencer agencies might be beneficial.

Why You Need Analyses for Your Marketing Campaigns

You might have some suppositions regarding your influencer campaigns. Maybe you believe that collaborations with marketers on LinkedIn work better than on Instagram. However, without actual data to back it up, it is just an assumption.

Tip: You will read a lot of information about B2B influencer marketing on the internet. Analyze and draw your conclusions concerning your results. It might be better for 99% of brands to post after 6 p.m. If this is not the case for your company, you should not do it. Therefore, only resort to tactics that you found out due to your analyses or assumptions.

Is B2B Influencer Marketing Worth The Effort?

Companies interested in B2B influencer marketing can achieve their overall targets. However, marketers need to adapt their approach to a B2B context. Even though there are many similarities between B2C and B2B influencer marketing, you need to carefully consider cooperation. The target group is one of the most crucial factors for your campaign.

If the target group does not align with your prospective customers, engagement will be low. Therefore, ensure that you gauge how well the influence covers your target group. You want to reach knowledgeable business leaders in your field and not marketing students in their last year.

About the Author

Niklas Hartmann is the author of the book "How to Become a Successful Influencer“ which took 433rd place among the bestselling books in Germany in its release week. The managing director’s tasks include the supervision of the influencer and Instagram marketing department. In addition, he has written 100+ articles about digital marketing.