Influencer marketing has proven to deliver eleven times more ROI than traditional advertising, and B2C marketers and brands have been benefitting from it over the past few years. It's unsurprising that B2B marketers are gradually embracing influencer marketing for their benefit.

When B2B marketers venture into influencer marketing, it differs from B2C influencer marketing, as they target individuals with deep industry knowledge. Influencers with this level of expertise are essential for effectively influencing corporate buyers and engaging in B2B conversations.

Here, we shall find what is B2B influencer marketing and how it can grow your brand with some real-life examples of popular brands driving exceptional results from their campaigns.

What is B2B Influencer Marketing?

B2B Influencer marketing involves strategic collaborations between businesses and respected industry figures to endorse the company. By harnessing the influence of these industry frontrunners, brands can extend their reach and reinforce their credibility.

For B2C brands, influencer marketing initiatives are geared towards enhancing sales figures and driving customer transactions. While B2B brands experiment with influencer marketing, measuring its impact remains a little challenging. 

Then how does B2B influencer marketing work? The core focus of B2B influencer marketing is expanding brand awareness and fostering positive brand sentiments. Brands can also expect to nurture leads, establish trust, and educate audiences through this approach. 

Best Platforms for B2B Influencer Marketing

When considering B2B influencer marketing, the immediate association is often with LinkedIn as the prime platform. It's worth noting that LinkedIn is the powerhouse for B2B influencer marketing. However, other platforms like Facebook, X, and WorkTok (TikTok's professional community) also offer fertile grounds. 

Here's the percentage representation of channels that host B2B influencer marketing campaigns.

How B2B Influencer Marketing Will Grow Your Brand

According to DHL, over the couple of years from 2021 to 2023, there was a 34% increase in businesses that embraced B2B influencer marketing best practices. Around 85% teamed up with industry experts for their campaigns in 2023.

Here are the benefits of B2B influencer marketing that enticed brands to incorporate it into their marketing efforts. 

1. Improves Brand Reach

B2B influencer marketing entails teaming up with industry experts to endorse their products and solutions. These experts have extensive following in your niche, representing your target market. By joining forces with them, you can effectively amplify your brand's reach and exposure.

2. Build Brand Loyalty and Trust

Due to widespread mistrust towards marketing messages, it's a tough task to persuade people about your product's benefits. Yet, when endorsed by an industry expert, doubt dissipates. Consequently, having an expert in your industry share their experience with your product becomes pivotal in building brand trust. 

3. Better Engagement

Much like B2C influencer marketing, B2B influencer marketing plays a significant role in boosting a brand’s engagement on social media. With heightened engagement, the social media platform’s algorithm broadens the post's reach across user’s feeds. 

4. High-Quality Content

Influencers, with all their experience in influencer marketing, are capable of creating appealing and high-quality content for your brand. When the Key Opinion Leaders of your industry endorse your product, the content not only exceeds expectations in quality but also authenticity. They ensure that the content resonates well with the audience.  

5. Stay Ahead of The Trend

It’s essential for influencers to keep up with the latest influencer marketing trends so that their content resonates well with followers. By partnering with them, brands also rise through the ladder of trends and innovations, adapting their strategies whenever necessary.

6. Enhanced SEO

When industry experts mention or link a brand, they enhance its credibility among both potential clients and the search engine. This dual benefit builds trust with customers and signals the search algorithms the brand's authority and relevance. Consequently, the brand's visibility and ranking are improved. 

Examples of Brands That Benefit From B2B Influencer Marketing

Here are some real-life brand examples to help you understand how to use influencers in B2B marketing.

Creative Voices Influencer Program: Adobe

Adobe joins forces with creators through the influencer program, 'Adobe Creative Voices.' Through the program, they join forces with respected graphic designers, photographers, and artists who share their experiences with Adobe's creative software solutions.

Here's how Anna-Alexia Basile, a travel, commercial, and fashion photographer, shares her journey with Adobe Express.

Tech Unknown Podcast: SAP

SAP's approach to B2B influencer marketing was revolutionary. They launched the "Tech Unkown' podcast featuring in-depth conversations with experts in their industry. The podcast involved discussions of the trends and technologies, attracting a lot of target audiences.

As a result, the potential reach spiked to over 52M, a 101% increase in industry downloads and a 66% increase in podcast downloads.

GoToMeeting

GoToMeeting, a simplified online meeting software, harnessed the power of B2B influencer marketing during the COVID. They offered a three-month cost-per-acquisition increase for the blog post or review from influencers.

By following the B2B influencer marketing best practices, GoToMeeting witnessed a whopping 725% increase in paid accounts period-over-period and a 701% increase in free trial signups.

How to Integrate B2B Influencer Marketing to a Brand’s Social Strategy

1. Connect Your Business Goals With B2B Influencer Marketing Goals

To initiate influencer marketing effectively, it’s crucial to establish clear goals first. Brands need to define what they hope to accomplish through the campaign - launching a new product or expanding into untapped markets.

Ultimately, the objectives pursued through B2B influencer marketing should seamlessly integrate with and support broader business goals. By setting these goals upfront, brands can ensure that their collaboration is strategic, maximizing the B2B influencer marketing effectiveness.

2. Examine Other B2B Influencer Campaigns in Your Niche

Brands should conduct extensive research prior to immersing themselves in influencer marketing. This research needs to focus on other relevant brands in the industry and their influencer marketing endeavors. This data aids in understanding what resonates within their niche and what falls short of expectations.

By harnessing this valuable data, brands can craft strategies that amplify the B2B influencer marketing effectiveness. 

3. Find Topics Thar Resonate With Your Audience

Maximizing B2B influencer marketing effectiveness hinges on brands having a keen understanding of their audience’s preferences. Seeking guidance from industry experts they plan to partner with can offer valuable insights and perspectives.

Alternatively, brands can use various influencer marketing tools to delve deeper into audience demographics, preferences, and emerging trends. By embracing these approaches, brands can tailor their strategies more effectively to connect deeply with their target audiences.

4. Develop Detailed Creative Brief

When crafting the creative brief, it's essential to provide clear guidance. It enables influencers to understand what you're looking for and add their creative flair to it. By giving them this freedom, you're empowering them to create content that resonates with their audience while still conveying your message effectively.

This collaborative approach ensures that the content they produce not only captures the attention of their followers but also aligns with your brand values and objectives. 

5. Allocate Your Budget

Over time, many brands have struggled to establish a budget and adhere to it. Before setting a budget, it's essential to determine the amount you can allocate for influencer marketing. Then, identify the types of influencers you can partner with within this budget constraint.

Additionally, consider who will oversee the campaign and handle contract negotiations. Taking these steps ensures that your influencer marketing efforts remain within budget while effectively reaching your target audience.

How To Find The Right B2B Influencers To Grow Your Brand?

What is the ideal profile of a B2B influencer that brands are looking for? Let's look at what marketers have in mind.

Out of all the influencers B2B marketers are working with, 77% are industry experts and analysts, while 56% of influencers are internal executives. Additionally, brand customers make up 12% of the influencers working with B2B marketers.

TopRank Marketing performed research to understand the B2B influencer marketing best practices for finding influencers. It was conducted in companies with 500 to 1000 employees. They found that 55% of the companies wish to work with an agency, while 27% think influencer marketing softwares is a more worthy option.

But which tool stands out as the most effective means of discovering influencers aligned with a brand's campaign?

Impulze.ai is a top-notch influencer search tool designed to fulfill all your requirements for finding the ideal influencer for your B2B influencer marketing campaign. 

With an extensive database boasting over 250 million profiles covering various niches. Additionally, impulze.ai employs meticulously designed filters to identify B2B influencers who can expertly promote your brand.

Once you've identified the influencers your competitors are collaborating with, you can use impulze.ai to discover lookalike influencers. Impulze.ai utilizes data-driven matching to find influencers who share common interests, values, and audiences aligned with your marketing objectives. 

If you're looking for a highly effective assistant to navigate influencer discovery, try the SocialiQ Chrome extension. This user-friendly Chrome extension for influencer marketing provides detailed insights into the B2B influencer's profile. 

The SocilaiQ Chrome extension illuminates the influencer's engagement rates, tagged locations, frequently used hashtags, average likes and comments, and posting consistency. The tool is free and works with Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, and Twitch.

That’s not all. Here’s a well-combined list of the best tools to find B2B influencers for your brand.

Takeaway

It's about time for B2B brands to embrace influencer marketing fully, and there's no denying that fact. To entirely reap B2B influencer marketing effectiveness, it's crucial to follow the B2B influencer marketing best practices. 

The real-life success of brands embracing B2B influencer marketing, like Adobe, provides solid evidence of its effectiveness. For many marketers, measuring the impact of B2B influencer marketing campaigns is a challenge. If this is a concern for you, consider teaming up with impulze.ai. 

Impulze.ai enables you to make informed decisions with real-time performance metrics, Bit.ly integration, and click tracking. Impulze.ai helps you understand your campaign's performance and refine your influencer marketing strategies accordingly. 

Impulze.ai is crafted with user-friendliness in mind, ensuring that everything is organized just like your campaign should be. If you think that sounds too good to be true, why not give it a free try? Impulze.ai now offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required!