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![B2B Influencer Marketing: What It Is, Why Use It, And Our Influencers’ Awesome Tactics [Real Case Study + FREE Tools]](https://ghost.inbeat.co/content/images/2024/02/B2B-Influencer-Marketing-1.png)
According to a recent Ogilvy study, 75% of surveyed B2B marketers already use B2B influencers.
And 93% of CMOs plan to expand their influencer marketing budget.
The problem is you may have difficulties leveraging B2B influencer marketing.
For example, Ogilvy notes that none of their respondents tap into B2B influencers’ potential for after-sales, thus missing a tremendous opportunity.
Luckily, you’re on the right page to do better.
We’ll:
Let’s start.
B2B influencer marketing is a strategic approach that leverages the power of influential figures within a specific industry to promote products and services to professional audiences.
B2B influencer marketing focuses on building meaningful connections with industry experts and subject matter experts.
These content creators have deep industry knowledge and a strong following among B2B buyers and potential customers.
More importantly, these industry influencers share valuable insights that align with your B2B brand’s business goals.
Basically, B2B influencer marketing aims to:
The digital collaboration platform Miro used inBeat’s influencers to grow their user base on Miroverse, their template library.
As such, they needed LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok creators who were relevant opinion leaders in Agile, Product Management, and Diagramming.
And yes, our sister agency, inBeat, helped them reach their goals – but you’ll find out more about how they did that in the following sections.
For now, let’s answer this question:
As an influencer platform, we’ve seen first-hand that B2B influencer marketing is highly effective.
This strategy is successful, particularly for businesses looking to enhance targeting, build trust, and achieve a significant return on investment (ROI).
Here are the main advantages we noticed for our platform’s users and agency clients:
The precision in targeting that B2B influencer marketing offers is unparalleled.
By partnering with influencers who are subject matter experts, B2B marketers can ensure that their marketing efforts are reaching the right target market, meaning B2B buyers and potential customers actively seeking industry insights and solutions.
This targeted approach ensures that the content resonates with the relevant audience, leading to higher engagement rates and more informed decisions by potential buyers.
Insider tip: That’s why Miro used thought leaders in Agile, Product Management, and Diagramming like Shyvee Shi:
The brand reach achieved through influencer partnerships extends beyond traditional marketing channels.
Social channels are a powerful medium where influencers share compelling content that amplifies a brand's message to a broader yet highly relevant audience.
This expanded reach allows you to establish a presence in a competitive market and engage with professional audiences.
Pro tip: Use inBeat’s free ROI calculator to evaluate your reach and ROI for each influencer.
For example, one of the micro-influencers in our Miro campaign is David Pereira, with over 67,000 followers at the time of this writing.
But even one post from one nano-influencer could bring you an impressive reach of 4,000-90,000 impressions, depending on the social media platform you choose and the influencer’s audience engagement rate.
Trust plays a pivotal role in B2B purchases, which require more consideration.
Influencer marketing capitalizes on this by fostering genuine relationships with B2B influencers who have already earned the trust of their followers.
When these influencers share content, their endorsement is a powerful testament to your brand's credibility and value.
As such, B2B buyers can start to trust your brand and consider its offerings for their business needs.
The ROI associated with B2B influencer marketing is compelling.
Companies engaging in influencer campaigns are seeing remarkable returns, with InfluencerHub reporting that businesses are making $5.78 for every $1 spent on influencer marketing.
Besides, a Nielsen study with TapInfluence revealed that influencer marketing yields 11x the ROI of traditional advertising methods.
However, the Ogilvy study we initially cited shows that half of CMOs use B2B influencers for upper-funnel audience relationships and the other half to accelerate sales.
Remember: No brands use after-sales influence to its fullest. This strategy can help you build a loyal community and, therefore, facilitate upselling and cross-selling.
Miro chose influential people within the B2B space to build trust with their audience.
But more importantly, they wanted to build trust in their products – the Miroverse templates.
That’s why creators built and designed their complex template for the Miroverse to promote it in their posts.
Here’s one such post, with 52462 impressions over a 30-day period at the time of this writing:
Notice that Shyvee Shi explains very clearly how this template helps so more people can download it.
And indeed, Miro noticed an increase in app downloads and active users after starting this campaign using inBeat’s influencers.
A B2B influencer marketing campaign is different than a B2C one because:
As a result, B2B influencer campaigns hinge on fostering relationships with influencers who:
By contrast, B2C influencer marketing relies on trendsetters and tastemakers to create desire.
At inBeat, we emphasize that a deep understanding of your target audience is essential before launching a B2B influencer marketing strategy.
Insider tip: In B2B, you can’t simply rely on identifying the demographics of your potential buyers.
That’s because each CMO, COO, CEO, or business owner you target has different demographics.
Instead, you must craft a buyer persona based on their
Influencer marketing was the best way for Miro to:
This way, we could ensure that the audience reached would:
For example, Instagram micro - influencer Alec Fullmer built this template:
Professional networks help you find solid potential influencers.
However, the manual work can soon add up, so this isn’t a great method if you organize larger campaigns.
Besides, you must know where to get started, so here are a few tips:
Don’t just focus on individuals with significant followings.
Analyze their engagement rates to ensure they have an active and involved community.
Pro tip: This free engagement rate calculator will show you all the stats you need and allow you to find similar creators.
An influencer marketing platform is the best tool for influencer discovery if:
Pro tip: inBeat offers advanced tools and analytics to match your campaign with the most suitable influencers.
Plus, we focus on micro-influencers and industry-specific influencers.
That means we offer a curated selection that can provide more targeted and authentic engagement for B2B companies.
For example, this platform was able to find 318 influencers in tech in 40 milliseconds after inputting a few keywords:
And you can easily compare their stats to pick the best content creators for your needs.
After finding the right influencers, it’s time to pick the right tactics.
Here are five types of content that work extremely well in B2B based on our internal findings:
Video content is a powerful medium to convey complex ideas in an engaging and digestible format.
Leveraging video content on social media platforms allows influencers to showcase their deep industry knowledge and share industry insights in a manner that resonates with B2B buyers and professional audiences.
B2B influencers can consider:
This approach focuses on creating content that offers tangible benefits to the target market, such as:
That’s why your content strategy should include a mix of compelling content like blog posts, white papers, and social media posts.
These pieces of content are designed to engage the relevant audience, offering leadership content that addresses their needs and helps them make informed decisions.
Transitioning from one-off influencer partnerships to nurturing long-term relationships with brand ambassadors can significantly amplify your B2B influencer marketing efforts.
Long-term brand ambassadors become deeply familiar with your values, offerings, and strategic goals, enabling you to create more authentic and consistent content that aligns with the brand's messaging.
This sustained collaboration:
During our years of working in the influencer marketing space, we found that micro and nano influencers may have smaller audiences but are highly engaged.
As such, they possess a closer, more personal relationship with their followers.
Plus, they offer a level of authenticity and niche expertise unmatched by larger influencers.
Therefore, partnering with micro and nano influencers respected within specific industry segments can lead to more genuine connections and a higher conversion rate.
Influencer ads can extend your campaign’s reach and reinforce the messages your influencer partners share.
By transforming influencer-generated content into sponsored ads on platforms where your target audience is most active, you can enhance visibility and reach a broader segment of potential customers.
The Miro campaign with inBeat’s influencers included different content pieces on various platforms.
This combination allowed Miro to enhance its reach and keep Miro on top of its potential clients’ minds.
Here’s Instagram mid-tier influencer and UI/UX designer Ruben Cespedes connecting with his audience by offering his free Miro template:
Shyvee Shi contributed to a LinkedIn newsletter:
And David Pereira created a LinkedIn post about his free product roadmap template:
As you can see, all these content types are value-packed and highly visual to:
Ultimately, the point is to generate more conversions and ROI.
That brings us to the following point:
B2B influencer marketing can be used to increase your return on investment, targeting your B2B customers at the bottom of the sales funnel
But to maximize your ROI, you must track your efforts, zeroing in on the strategies that work and doubling down on them.
Then, you can scale your campaign with other strategies.
Here’s how you do that:
The first essential step is establishing key performance indicators aligning with your business goals and marketing efforts.
These KPIs might include metrics such as:
By setting these specific metrics before the campaign launch, you can effectively gauge the campaign's impact on your target market and make informed decisions moving forward.
Engagement rates are a critical measure of how effectively the influencer content resonates with the target audience.
High levels of interaction, such as likes, shares, and thoughtful comments, suggest that the content sparks interest and conversation.
Additionally, conversion rates provide a direct insight into how well the influencer marketing efforts translate into desired actions, such as:
Beyond quantitative metrics, the ROI of B2B influencer marketing also encompasses qualitative aspects such as:
Positive shifts in brand sentiment, increased brand mentions in industry discussions, and stronger collaborative ties with influential figures indicate a successful influencer marketing program.
While harder to measure, these qualitative outcomes are invaluable in establishing a brand's authority and credibility in the B2B space.
After reading so far, you now understand why B2B influencers can boost your brand’s visibility, trust, and sales.
You also have all the tactics and free tools you need to kickstart your campaign.
Just remember you need to find the right influencers first.
And for that, inBeat’s influencer platform is just one click away.
So, try it today – it’s free, fast, and flexible.