B2B Influencer Marketing: How Does It Work?

If you follow any social media influencers, you likely have seen an influencer campaign in action when they promote a product or service. If you work in business-to-business (B2B), you may feel like similar campaigns can't drive sales in your industry. And you're right — lead times for B2B sales are too long to see the same results.

However, B2B influencer marketing is still a powerful tool you should try out for success. Keep reading to understand why.

What Is B2B Influencer Marketing?

B2B influencer marketing is a  strategy where you collaborate with subject matter experts in your industry to promote your products or services. These collaborative relationships with influencers help your business harness influencers' credibility to expand your reach to new possible consumers.

Generally, we think of influencer marketing and advocate marketing as business-to-consumer (B2C) collaborations, which bring in direct sales. However, B2B strategies focused on influencer marketing are more about driving brand awareness and affinity to access B2B selling opportunities.

This is useful for B2B businesses because their buying process is typically much more complex than B2C. The B2B purchase decision usually involves multiple decision-makers and more intensive competitor research. An influencer can build more trust in your brand and convince people you're the right option.

This difference means that B2B influencer marketing campaigns call for deep, longer-term relationships with an influencer and the brand, showcasing the kind of relationship B2B buyers can expect to build with your brand as well.

Benefits of Influencer Marketing for B2B

Any marketing campaign needs to show results to justify its budget. While B2B influencer marketing doesn't directly drive sales, here are ways in which it will help your brand grow.

Enhanced Credibility

B2B influencers are often industry pros with experience that lends credibility to their insights and recommendations. Companies collaborating with them tap into this credibility, gaining the trust of the influencer's audience.

Increased Reach

A recent Gartner study noted that B2B buyers value third-party interactions (reading reviews, talking to customers, and consulting influencers) 1.4 times more than their interactions with digital suppliers. As a result, you can extend your brand's reach and reputation by working with notable influencers in your field who aren't familiar with your product, brand, or mission.

Establishment of Thought Leadership

Influencers can boost your thought leadership by sharing original insights and ideas that put a spotlight on your existing content, raising your visibility within the industry. With more influencers showcasing your brand's expertise, you raise your chance of B2B buyers seeing you as an industry leader, fostering long-term engagement.

How To Build a B2B Influencer Marketing Strategy

Since influencer marketing in B2B is a long-term campaign, building your strategy is vital to succeed.

Identifying the Right Influencers and Platforms

When looking for the ideal influencer to partner with for your B2B influencer campaign, consider the person who best aligns with your goals rather than the one with the most followers. As they build their brand, your influence will organically grow with them.

But you need to pick relevant influencers who post on platforms that your target audience frequents. This is why so many companies ask what is the best influencer marketing platform for B2B.

LinkedIn is one of the best options since its users are mainly professionals in various industries. If you're targeting B2B audiences with buying power, you'll definitely find the highest concentration of companies' decision-makers there.

However, you should also look at other popular social media platforms, such as:

• YouTube — everyone's go-to long-form video content platform
• TikTok — the short-form video giant with a wide reach for diverse young audiences
• Instagram — a favorite for image-driven content where your brand's visual appeal can shine

Influencer discovery tools can help you spot the best B2B influencers to work with, giving you powerful insights into influencers' engagement. They will showcase the person's audience, and their fraud-detection features will steer you away from people who have built inorganic followings.

Collaborating With Influencers

The next question to ask yourself is how you engage with B2B influencers. Since you're looking for a long-term relationship, it's good to first show that you genuinely appreciate their content. Share and comment insightfully on their posts. This fosters goodwill, which helps you build a partnership down the line rather than a transactional relationship.

When you're ready to reach out about collaborating, make sure your communication is clear by first deciding how you want to work with them. Some B2B influencer marketing tactics include:

• Guest blogging
• Co-creating content
• Co-hosting podcasts or webinars
• Attending industry events
• Endorsing products or services

Figure out which tactics would help you reach your goals while adding value to your influencer and your target audience. Once you reach out, establish preferred communication methods — email, messaging apps, or regular meetings — so you can stay in touch as the campaign progresses. Based on your goals and discussions, draft clear contracts with details on:

• Scope of work
• Deliverables
• Timelines
• Legalities like intellectual property rights and disclosure requirements

These communication steps ensure everyone is on the same page throughout your partnership.

Aligning Influencer Content With Brand Goals

Any successful marketing effort requires careful consideration of the business goals it will help you reach. First, understand how your B2B influencer marketing strategy plays a role in your business plan. For example, are you trying to reach new markets? Support a new product line? Close a competitive gap? The influencer content you employ should help further these goals.

Measuring ROI of B2B Influencer Campaigns

In 2022, companies reported a return of $5.20 for every $1 spent on B2B influencer marketing. The returns you stand to make are massive. But, because the results aren't direct, you need to establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to help measure them, depending on your goals. Here are some typical KPI examples:

• Increase Brand Awareness: Followers, web traffic, total engagement, impressions
• Increase Reach: Engagement, new followers, content reach, web traffic, use of promo codes and trackable links
• Drive Pipeline: Calls or demos booked, sales, new sales-qualified leads
• Increase User-Generated Content: Testimonials, product reviews, social media posts, hashtag usage, influencers/brand advocates

Common Pitfalls in B2B Influencer Marketing

If you're new to influencer marketing, it's easy to get lost. Here are a couple of common pitfalls and how you can avoid them.

Misalignment of Brand and Influencer

Finding an influencer who is both relevant to your industry and aligned with your brand values can be challenging, and a misalignment can hinder results. Try working with an influencer discovery platform or a B2B agency that offers influencer marketing services to narrow your search.

Neglecting Audience Engagement

When you partner with a B2B influencer, it can be easy to overlook the people you reach. Audience engagement with your marketing materials is a strong indicator of success that you should pay attention to. Determining your KPIs upfront helps you hone the aspects of audience engagement you should focus on.

Unlock the Potential of B2B Influencer Marketing With Social HP

The traditional approach to marketing, which perceived companies as brands and people as buyers, has shifted. Today, people are also brands, gathering a strong social media following, awareness, and engagement that other brands can tap into. But finding the right ones to work with can be time-consuming, especially in B2B marketing, where the results feel more abstract.

Book a demo with SocialHP to see how we can help take this challenge off your shoulders, making social media marketing a contributor to your success and not a stressor.