How B2B Marketers Can Really Harness the Power of Influencers

Great B2B marketing starts with specific ideas about how the brand wants to be known in the context of solutions provided for business customers.

Becoming “the best answer” for what buyers care about can be achieved by B2B brands in part, by finding influencers who are already authoritative for those topics. 

There are many ways to work with influencers from content co-creation programs to engaging influencers to participate in brand or industry events. B2B brands can improve their own credibility and influence by association with influencers who already have community trust.

Influencer Marketing is the practice of engaging internal and industry experts with active networks to help achieve measurable business goals. 

If B2B marketers think strategically about working with influencers, they will allocate time and resources to identify, recruit, engage and maintain influencer relationships on an ongoing basis. From inviting a group of relevant influencers to contribute tips to a blog post to partnering with influencers to do a series of events like Twitter Chats, Webinars, and in-person events, there are many ways for B2B brands to increase the reach and quality of their message to new communities of buyers. 

How can brands become more effective influencers in their industry?
Influence is both popularity and the ability to affect action amongst a community. I have Sam Fiorella to thank for making that point very clear early in my education about the world of influencer marketing. I suggest any B2B brand thinking of getting into the influencer marketing game understand that point as well because without action, there will be a lot of disappointment.  

Influence is fluid and is not something a brand or individual can achieve and then rely on in perpetuity without continued effort.

Achieving influence as a B2B brand is different than for individuals. In most cases, it is an individual who works for a brand that becomes influential because of their thought leadership, participation in the industry, and ability to attract and engage a community. Influence is fluid and is not something a brand or individual (or brandividual) can achieve and then rely on in perpetuity.

True influence is earned, not owned and not self-assigned.

Influence requires an ongoing effort since influence is not owned, it is earned by the respect and actions of a community towards a brand or person. 

Brands that work with influencers will, by association, become more influential. At the same time, brand messaging must inspire and engage the community in order for influence to take hold. Community engagement is the key to brand influence. When B2B brands are active in developing members of their community to become influential, the brand further increases its own influence. It’s a cycle of value exchange dependent on the mutual goals between influencer and the community that acts upon that influence. 

If you want your B2B content to be great, ask influencers to participate. 

For a framework of how B2B marketers can work with influencers to increase reach, include more authentic voices, scale content creation, variety and performance, here is a presentation I gave recently at the Oracle Modern Marketing Experience conference: The Power of Influence in B2B Marketing. 

B2B Influencer Marketing Takeaways:

1. Approach influencer relationships with an eye towards mutual value. Make something together for the greater good and good will come to all involved.

2. More than anything, make sure your focus, influencer targets, outreach and themes are relevant. Not "close match", but specifically relevant to all involved from the brand to the influencer creators you partner with to create content. 

3. Make saying yes to participation easy by providing succinct, specific and compelling information about what's in it for the influencers, how it works and why they should be a part. Make it easy to contribute by providing guidelines and make it easy to share the content you made together with pre-written social messages and other assets like images and embed codes for blog posts. 

For more great advice on B2B influencer marketing, be sure to check out our agency blog, Online Marketing Blog and find me on Twitter @leeodden.

Influencer Content for B2B Marketing is also a specialty area for our agency's consulting practice, so be sure to check our services out if you're thinking about developing an influencer marketing strategy and program.