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Did you know around 85% of B2B brands leveraged influencer marketing partnerships in 2023? That’s a sharp increase from just 34% in 2020.
And this surge in demand highlights the undeniable power of influencers in driving B2B success.
However, the digital marketplace is crowded with countless voices. That’s what makes it challenging to identify the perfect partner who can truly move the needle for your business.
But worry not; this blog post will be your guide on this journey.
We’ll explore:
P.S: If you are looking to form a team of B2B influencers for your business, inBeat.co is here to assist. As a powerful influencer search engine, it enables you to find the right influencers and assess their engagement rates and authenticity. This ensures you're making informed decisions before investing a dime!
Seems interesting? Book a demo today!
B2B Influencer Marketing: Leverages industry experts to promote products/services to other businesses, focusing on decision-makers and corporate buyers.
Types of B2B Influencers:
Social Media Influencers: Engage followers on platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter.
Finding B2B Influencers:
Explore Google’s search engine for influential content and personalities.
Real-Life Examples:
Key Takeaways: Leverage tools, hashtags, events, and Google to find and engage the right B2B influencers for your brand. Consider using inBeat.co for efficient influencer discovery and assessment.
B2B influencer marketing leverages the credibility and audience of industry experts to promote products and services to other businesses.
Unlike B2C influencer marketing, which often targets broad consumer bases through social media personalities, B2B influencer campaigns focus on engaging professional decision-makers and corporate buyers.
Let’s overview 7 major types of B2B influencers along with their roles and importance:
These are well-respected experts within a specific industry who have a deep understanding of trends, challenges, and innovations. Their insights and opinions are highly valued which makes them influential voices in shaping industry standards and practices.
Collaborating with them can significantly enhance a brand's credibility and visibility within the market. When they support a B2B brand, it can achieve an impressive average engagement rate of 8.7%.
For example, Jamie Kern Lima is one of the thought leaders of the beauty industry.
Customer advocates are real users who share their genuine experiences with a brand's products or services. Their testimonials and case studies add a layer of trustworthiness. According to stats, almost three-quarters of B2B purchasers review at least three different advocacy sources before finalizing their buying decisions.
Below you can see customer advocacy example by one of our sister agency’s (inBeat) clients, Hurom
These are high-ranking professionals within a company, such as CEOs, CMOs, or VPs, who possess significant industry experience and authority. Their insights often influence key business decisions and strategies which make them powerful voices in the B2B industry.
Partnering with executives can help brands build trust, showcase expertise, and strengthen business relationships with other industry leaders. Consumers are more inclined to purchase from companies whose CEOs are active on social platforms, with 77% favoring these engaged leaders.
This group consists of individuals who have visibility and authority due to their public speaking engagements and publications. They often have a broad reach and can be influenced through speeches at conferences, seminars, or through the books and articles they publish.
A professional speaker, Anthony Tasgal, for a B2B event
Analysts provide data-driven insights and forecasts that are critical in shaping industry trends and decisions. They work in research firms or as independent experts.
Their studies, reports, and reviews can determine purchasing decisions, which makes them valuable influencers for B2B companies looking to back their marketing claims with data.
Here’s an example of Subscript’s session with Tomasz Tunguz, a well-known analyst
Bloggers and content creators specialize in creating detailed, informative content tailored to niche business audiences. They may operate independent blogs, contribute to industry publications, or produce pieces for company blogs.
With a preference rate of 71%, blog posts emerge as one of the top three preferred content formats in B2B influencer marketing.
A real-life example of bloggers and content creators in B2B influencer marketing is Neil Patel.
Social media influencers in the B2B context have significant followings on platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. Their ability to influence comes from their active engagement with followers and understanding of social media dynamics.
Since social media ranks as the third most effective source for generating leads for B2B organizations, these influencers have a crucial role.
Below is an example of B2B influencer marketing, where Rachel Karten, a social media consultant, shares insights from Rachael Goulet, the Director of Social Media at Sprout Social.
To get the maximum benefits of B2B influencer marketing, it’s important to find the right and relevant personalities.
Let’s have a look at some solid ways for this:
Influencer discovery tools, like inBeat.co, are ideal for campaigns that require a large number of influencers, often 20 or more. These tools are particularly effective if your business is operating with limited budgets and seeking more control over the influencer quality.
Let’s review a few key features of these tools:
Pro Tip: If you are hunting for fewer but highly specialized and professional creators, often with proven track records in specific industries, getting in touch with agencies is beneficial. For instance, inBeat Agency, our sister platform, offers you access to high-quality, niche-based content creators backed by data-driven results.
Below you can see how complete influencer profile looks like at inBeat.co
Searching social media platforms is another method to discover and engage with potential B2B influencers. Besides being spaces for social interactions, these platforms also serve as real-time databases of influencer activity, content trends, and audience feedback.
Let's explore some tips by inBeat experts to effectively leverage social media platforms:
Some B2B influencer groups on Facebook are:
Pro Tip: Employ machine-learning-based software solutions to analyze the sentiment and influence of potential influencers' posts. This technology can identify whether comments and shares are positive, negative, or neutral, providing a clearer picture of the influencer's true impact and alignment with your brand's values.
Attending industry events and conferences is an excellent strategy for finding and connecting with B2B influencers. These gatherings provide unique opportunities to meet thought leaders, industry experts, and influencers in person. Moreover, it helps form relationships that can be beneficial for both parties.
Let’s have a look at some proven strategies for doing this:
Pro Tip: Engage actively at industry events using live polls, Q&A apps, or feedback platforms. Contributing insightful comments or questions can boost your visibility by displaying your name and affiliation to attendees, including key influencers.
You can go as far as to organize an event yourself and use an event attendee management system to collect their information and contact them for any potential collaboration.
Using various types of hashtags can significantly enhance your strategy to find and engage with B2B influencers.
This method provides a structured way to tap into specific or broad audiences, align with trending topics, and connect with influencers who are actively engaged in relevant conversations.
To use this strategy constructively, you can follow these tips:
An example of this is inBeat's client, Miro, who uses these hashtags to engage with key influencers in the tech space.
Pro Tip: Stay updated with trending hashtags in your industry by setting up alerts and monitoring tools, such as Hootsuite, BuzzSumo, etc. This continuous tracking allows you to quickly identify emerging influencers who are actively engaging with trending topics for timely and relevant collaborations.
Leveraging Google’s search engine effectively can significantly enhance your ability to discover B2B influencers and understand the competitive dynamics.
Google offers a wide array of tools and features that can help you uncover valuable information about industry trends, influential content, and key personalities.
Let’s see how to use this search engine for optimized results:
Mastering these search operators can help you pinpoint precise information on B2B influencers. For example:
Google News about the business sector
Pro Tip: When searching for topics relevant to your industry on Google, pay close attention to the top-ranking articles and publications. Specifically, look for recurring author bylines in these high-ranking pieces. Often, writers who consistently appear at the top of search results for industry-specific keywords are recognized authorities or influencers in that field.
To better understand the impact of B2B influencer marketing, here are some real-world examples that demonstrate effective campaigns and their outcomes.
Miro, a client of our sister agency inBeat, has effectively used B2B influencer marketing by collaborating with prominent thought leaders and experts like David Pereira, Ruben Cespedes, and Alec Fullmer.
These social media influencers create sponsored posts for Miro on their platforms, which allows their audiences to discover and engage with Miro’s services. This strategy helped the brand reach a broader audience and build credibility through trusted voices in the industry.
IBM has consistently maintained a prominent position in the technology industry over several decades, thanks in part to its strategic efforts to stay relevant. A key component of IBM's ongoing success is its innovative approach to B2B influencer marketing. IBM’s influencer marketing strategy extends beyond traditional, one-off campaigns.
The company has implemented a continuous employee influencer program that empowers its employees to act as brand ambassadors by sharing product information and company updates across their social media platforms.
In the competitive era of enterprise software solutions, SAP has leveraged B2B influencer marketing to enhance lead generation and sales efforts. The brand engages with third-party influencers, including independent business consultants, academics, and authors, rather than relying solely on traditional analyst relations and PR functions.
For example, the live video content from Sapphire was repurposed into blog posts and other communications, further extending its value. Influencers’ engagement with the content helped amplify its impact which drew additional interest and validated SAP’s messaging.
Finding the right B2B influencers involves a mix of strategic approaches and a bit of detective work. Blending the methods as described above, you’ll be well on your way to connecting with the right influencers to boost your B2B marketing efforts.
A team of the right B2B influencers can help drive higher-quality leads, support content creation, and even shape the buying decisions of businesses.
Key Takeaways:
Still, wondering how to find right B2B influencers? Explore inBeat.co. We have a spam-checked database that lets you search for niche-based influencers. With the help of advanced search filters, you can find the influencers based on your needs within milliseconds.
In addition to helping you find influencers, our free toolkit also enables you to assess influencers potential and credibility.
