In the realm of B2B marketing, where trust, credibility, and expertise are paramount, the influence of industry experts and thought leaders is a game-changer. Influencer marketing isn’t exclusive to B2C; it’s making waves in the B2B landscape as well. In fact, according to a poll conducted by InvespCro, 94% of marketers believe influencer marketing is a successful strategy for B2B businesses.

In this blog, we will delve into the role of industry influencers and experts in B2B marketing and explore strategies for building meaningful partnerships that drive success.

INFLUENCER MARKETING

In B2C, people are far more likely to take action based on the recommendations of their peers – and in the B2B world, this notion is no exception. Influencer marketing in B2B involves collaborating with individuals or entities that have established authority, knowledge, and a strong following within a specific industry or niche.

The top five goals B2B companies leverage influencer marketing to accomplish are:

Brand awareness – 91%
Generate demand leads – 85%
Build trust – 81%
Educate audiences – 79%
Nurture leads – 68%
Influencers offer the following:

A unique point of view that has the power to resonate with the target B2B audience.
Original thought leadership. That highlights the existing content and helps the brand become more visible.
Access to invaluable networks and professional contacts otherwise difficult to reach.
Authentic professional credibility that helps resolve doubts of the target audience.
According to GRIN Blog, the social media platforms CMOs predominantly used to execute their strategies in 2022 are as follows:

LinkedIn – 81.1%
Blogs – 7.8%
YouTube – 5.8%
Instagram – 4.1%
Facebook – 2.1%
The best influencer marketing platform depends on your campaign goals and target demographics. However, most CMOs choose LinkedIn as their B2B influencer marketing platform of choice because of its professional user base and significant presence of high-level decision-makers.

APPROACHES FOR INFLUENCER MARKETING

Social media takeover: B2B brands can turn over their social media to an influencer for a day. During this, the influencer might host a live Q&A on a topic related to the brand, go live from inside the company, or create a series of posts that share a story or provide tips.
Sponsored image or video: Sponsored images and videos are more eye-catching than long-form content, even though it’s more popular. This type of campaign induces influencers to take a picture or video with a product and share it, along with a message and strategic hashtags.
Hosting a giveaway: A giveaway is a low-effort, high-impact campaign that typically results in increased engagement and brand awareness. An influencer can be asked to host a giveaway of B2B products or services, such as free consultations or demonstrations.
Sponsored blog post: The brand provides the influencer with suitable information to focus on and the influencer crafts the content and shares it on their channel. B2B brands want to build relationships, so long-form content like e-books, guides, or blog posts are popular.
Participation in educational events: B2B brands can host an educational webinar, podcast, or live web chat with an industry expert. These valuable topics can solve common problems or streamline processes. An email marketing platform might offer a webinar to help businesses grow their contact list or understand spam filters.
STRATEGIES FOR BUILDING INFLUENCER PARTNERSHIPS

Finding the right influencer: The right influencer is someone who aligns well with the brand’s mission and values. Tools like social media monitoring and influencer marketing platforms can help in this search process.

Accurate calculation of engagement metrics: The most valuable influencers that help meet the brand’s marketing objectives can be found by accurately calculating engagement metrics from the influencers.

Collaborate on Content: This includes the co-creation of content like blog posts, webinars, whitepapers, or podcasts with influencers that resonate with the target audience.

Promotion of Thought Leadership: Encouraging influencers to share their insights and opinions on relevant topics of the industry can boost the brand’s thought leadership.

Creation of influencer contract/ agreement: To avoid the possible loss of successful, long-term influencers; a sustainable contract is needed, which helps maintain a great brand-influencer relationship.

MEASURING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF INFLUENCER MARKETING

The success of any marketing strategy lies in the numbers. Here’s a guide to measuring efforts:

Tracking Engagement: Metrics such as engagement rates, click-through rates, and conversions are essential indicators of a campaign’s success.
Influencer Performance: Keep a close eye on your chosen influencers’ performance. Are they delivering the desired results? Make adjustments as necessary to ensure alignment with goals.
Cost-Efficiency: B2B influencer marketing is not only practical but also cost-efficient. Analyze the return on investment to gauge the campaign’s overall impact on your business.
CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

While B2B influencer marketing can be highly effective, it comes with its set of challenges. These challenges can be overcome with proper planning and execution. These include:

Partnering with Irrelevant or Untrustworthy Influencers: Ensure that chosen influencers are relevant, authentic, and trustworthy within the niche and industry.
Lack of Clear Objectives: Clear objectives and expectations for the campaign need to be defined to measure success accurately.
Not Providing Direction and Support: Offer guidance and support to influencers so that the content is aligned with the brand’s messaging.
Opting for One-Off Campaigns: Long-term partnerships with influencers are more effective than one-off campaigns.
Ignoring Authenticity: Authenticity is key; and only those influencers who genuinely resonate with the brand should be collaborated with.
Overspending: Set a budget and negotiate with influencers to ensure cost-effective campaigns.
Overlooking the effectiveness of influencer campaigns: In the B2B space, the sales cycle is often longer and more complex, making it more difficult to directly attribute sales to an influencer campaign. Businesses must establish specific objectives for their influencer marketing initiatives and assess their effectiveness to create successful programs.
Ensuring compliance with regulations: It is important for B2B companies to ensure that their influencer campaigns comply with these regulations in order to avoid legal issues.
Managing multiple stakeholders: B2B influencer marketing often involves working with multiple stakeholders, such as marketing teams, sales teams, and external influencers. Ensure that adequate communication and collaboration take place to avoid any misunderstanding.
Some successful examples of Influencer Marketing include:

Bryan Harris, founder of marketing agency VideoFruit, produced an article for the OkDork Blog, a niche digital marketing publication with a healthy B2B following, and by offering a fresh tone of voice, coupled with valuable industry information, the results were rather incredible, VideoFruit’s page views increased by over 500%; the average visitor time went up by more than 8%. By using its internal talent to influence a large targeted B2B audience, VideoFruit reaped great rewards, increasing conversions and boosting brand awareness in a big way.
Maybelline, by using its very own Fashion Week 2016 as a promotional platform, Maybelline utilized a host of its corporate partners, as well as notable beauty experts affiliated with them to branch out to new consumers and businesses. It reached a host of new consumers in a relatively short space of time.
Microsoft’s campaign with National Geographic photographers to highlight women in STEM careers, and encourage young girls to pursue work in these fields, was done in partnership. The photographers took pictures of women scientists around the world, and these were shared via National Geographic’s Instagram. With the combined power of Microsoft’s and NatGeo’s audiences, the photos reached more than 91 million people.
IBM’s employee advocates: IBM uses B2B influencer marketing as one of the ways to stay relevant. In addition to one-off campaigns, IBM runs an ongoing employee influencer program, encouraging employees to share information about the products on their social media platforms.
Influencer marketing is a trend that will continue to expand as more companies adopt it. While B2B influencer marketing does have some certain pitfalls, by using influencer marketing platforms and agencies and staying up-to-date on the latest trends and developments, B2B marketing executives can effectively address these challenges and leverage their power to reach and engage with their target audiences. Hence, B2B influencer marketing is an effective strategy for increasing brand awareness, generating leads, and boosting sales for businesses.