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When you hear “influencer marketing,” you probably think of a B2C brand like Nike, Pedialyte, MyPillow, or NordVPN. All the people I know who’ve been influencers have been B2C for mommy blogger or athleisure brands.
But influencers aren’t just a B2C thing.
IBM, Samsung and other huge brands routinely use influencers for their B2B business — and they’re not alone. In fact, 75% of B2B businesses use influencer marketing, and almost all of them are planning to increase their use of influencers.
There is absolutely a place for influencers in B2B businesses.
Make B2B Influencer Marketing Personal
Influencer marketing is all about people, not brands. Whether it’s asking your neighbor for a good plumber or your accountant for a great marketing firm, we all capitalize on our personal connections. That’s the challenge for B2B marketers; too often, the messaging isn’t personal. As one anonymous executive stated in a Cartwright study on B2B influencers, “How do we use our people to tell our story of the brand, which is basically what social is all about, people to people, not brand to people?”
There are three main guidelines you need to follow for B2B influencer marketing to make it work.
1: Alignment
When you use influencer marketing, you’re handing your brand off to people who aren’t responsible for brand voice. That’s a little nerve-wracking. But it’s a lot easier if you make sure your audience and theirs are aligned.
Would you let your influencer give you input on your product or service? If not, don’t bother. They need to have both experience and expertise in your field and a personal connection to the audience you’re trying to reach.
If you choose the right influencer, they’re someone you’ll want to work with long-term. As a recent Ogilvy study noted, 47% of marketers surveyed believe that the biggest opportunity for B2B influencers is after the sale. Think of this as building a partnership, not handing someone an affiliate link.
Don’t get hung up on social media follower counts. For B2B, alignment means your influencer needs to have access to the right audience — decision makers. Better to have 50 people who are interested in what that influencer has to say about you than 5000 who don’t really care.
As you choose your influencer, make sure you’re aligned on campaign goals too — awareness, relationship-building or sales. People lose jobs over running campaigns that don’t hit the target, even if they’re successful at something else (it’s B2C, but Snoop Dogg’s recent Solo Stove partnership is a good example of this).
Whoever you work with, the focus must be on the audience’s needs, not yours or the influencer’s — and that means you have to be aligned.
2: Authenticity
With your audiences aligned, you know you’re talking to the right people. Now you have to offer them the right content. The audience has to believe the influencer is recommending something they actually believe in and care about, or it will hurt both your reputations.
There’s a little more leeway for some things like celebrity endorsements in B2C; no one really believes Blake Griffin was using a Kia as his daily driver. But the consequences in B2B are more dire, because it’s longer-term. B2B sales is relationship-based, not transactional; you’re in it for the long haul. That means your influencer really needs to make sure you’re bringing value to the table for their contacts — and you need to make sure they’re not just taking money for a product or service they’re never going to use again.
Cisco does a great job of this. Its Cisco Champion program gives opportunities for IT professionals to advocate for Cisco, and it focuses on people who are already using the products or services. The fact that they’re users gives authenticity to that influencer campaign.
3: Authority
Any influencer you work with has to be an authority in their field. Evaluate potential B2B influencer authority on:
- Trust. One of my contacts is a rare coin dealer named Mike Garofalo. Mike has been around the business for a long time; he knows everyone and everyone knows him. When RMDS was looking to expand our presence in this vertical, we started with Mike. Together, we built programs based on his authority to bring digital solutions to dealers that were uncomfortable even using email. That was only possible because of the trust those people had in Mike’s integrity and expertise.
- Activity. Good influencers need to be visible to the people you’re trying to reach. Whether they are active consultants to C-suite leaders, have a strong social media presence or regularly publish videos, articles or podcasts, the influencer has to be doing the work. And the people you’re trying to reach have to be aware that the influencer knows what they’re talking about.
If they don’t have authority in your field, they’re not a good fit for your brand.
Finding an Influencer
How do you find B2B influencers? It might be easier than you think.
Unlike B2C influencers that are selling access, most B2B influencers want to build mutual success. A good pitch to the right industry leader and you’re on your way. Some of the best B2B influencer campaigns examples have used unexpected sources:
- In-house influencers. Consider staff and management campaigns. Many professionals have audiences beyond the company, and larger firms (IBM being a prime example) run in-house influencer programs for their executives and foster talent within their own ranks. Borrow this concept. You may even want to consider hiring someone for their existing audience. Offer resources (graphic design, copy) to your influencer staff and help them build their voice as they help the company.
- Customer campaigns. Most B2B customers recognize that success is a two way street. They’ve strategically chosen you as their vendor and they need you to be successful so they can achieve their goals. Gone is the day that B2B is a winner-take-all relationship. Leverage happy clients to tell your story, generate awareness for both companies and create some FOMO envy.
Influence Isn’t Just for B2C
Want to build relationships with your B2B customers? Influencers are a great way to connect your brand to real people. Follow these three A’s to build your business — and if you need a hand, reach out to us. We can help. Just drop us a line, anytime.
Best Regards,
David Brandon
Copywriter
Rainmaker Digital Services