How to make the best use of a B2B influencer list

Every week, someone seems to be publishing a new social media influencer list. Some are better than others, for sure. I like this list of AI influencers that Marktechpost published recently and IPFC Online posted this quality list of digital influencers late last year. 

Last week, Onalytica published a fintech influencer list. There were many familiar faces and names and, of course, lots of social media sharing and mutual congratulations. 

There are some folks who dismiss the value of influencer lists – including, ironically, quite a few of the so-called influencers included on the lists themselves. And there are credible arguments to be made against these lists: they exclude influential people who are not active online, they’re based on very limited data (mostly Twitter) and do not reflect the diversity of our actual communities. I can’t argue with any of these criticisms of influencer lists.

But to dismiss influencer lists outright is to toss out the baby with the bathwater. Influencer lists may be poorly named, but they are not without value to someone who knows how to use them. Let’s start by calling them what they are: lists of people who are most active in sharing and discussing a set of topics online. Some of these folks are deep subject matter experts, while others are knowledgeable curators and amplifiers, while others are just gaming the social media system. True, the social analytics data is largely based on Twitter because LinkedIn offers NO access to organic engagement data. Yet, it is easily observable that many of these top ranked sharers also get good engagement on LinkedIn as well. 

Source: Fintech network map, via Onalytica.

In other words, influencer lists may capture people with an overly broad range of expertise, but these people are access points to online networks and audiences with interest in the topic.

See: How to Become a Social Media Influencer in Any Industry

Top mistakes to avoid with influencer lists

While influencer lists can contain valuable data that can be used intelligently in digital marketing, outreach and engagement activities, let’s dive into a few of the big mistakes to avoid with influencer lists.

1. Don’t obsess on ranking – it doesn’t matter. If you’re on a list and you rank higher than others, it doesn’t really matter, so don’t make too much out of it. Please read that line again. The social media data that is used for ranking is invariably limited – for instance, there’s lots of Twitter data available through their API, but virtually no data is available on LinkedIn engagement. In addition, the criteria used for ranking is highly subjective and changing the criteria can significantly impact the ranking order. Are you ranking by follower count, actual engagement rates, connections to other influencers, etc.? In my view, what matters more than any individual’s ranking is the collective community of influencers and the interconnected networks and audiences whose trust and attention those people have earned. Influencers as a whole matter more than highly ranked individuals.
2. Don’t stuff your social shares with gratuitous influencer mentions and tags. Yes, people do it, and yes it can increase your vanity metrics. But it’s annoying and inauthentic. Many influencers feel that way – they just don’t say it. Sure, tagging people is fine, but make it contextually relevant. If you share an article someone wrote, then tag them. If you compile an article with several contributors, then tag them. And if you share a list, sure, go ahead, tag the people on the list. But don’t tag ten people on every single social share you publish just to get engagement. 
3. Don’t pitch and don’t market to influencers. Yes, influencer marketing is the business model that underlies the very lists we are discussing here. But it’s not the only way to use an influencer list – nor necessarily always the best way. Think of a list as identifying the high-value, high-visibility people in your industry that you should get to know – and who you want to get to know you. Think more like a networker and less like a marketer. You’ll get way more value from influencers and the audiences they command by building real relationships with them and offering mutual value.

Three principles to guide your use of influencer lists

When it’s all said and done – what is the real value of an influencer list and how can it be used most effectively?

In my experience, there are three common use cases for influencer data and how this information can be of strategic value to you and your business:

1. INFLUENCING: You want to grow your own visibility and influence. 

There are many people in any given market vertical, say, in fintech or AI or wealthtech, who could benefit by increasing their online visibility. Perhaps you’re a leader in a startup, or an investor, or a journalist and you want to establish your profile and increase your visibility within the online #tech community. An influencer list is a guide to who already has visibility, credibility and audience. It’s a road map to who you should be investing time in getting to know.

See: B2B Influencer Outreach Strategies that Actually Deliver Results

2. COMMUNICATING: You want to get a message out to the target online community.

We can quibble about whether any person on any given list belongs there or not, but it’s a waste of time. Influencers, advocates and amplifiers who have made it onto a well-crafted influencer list have indisputably accumulated an interested group of followers who trust them and rely on their informative social media feeds. Perhaps you are promoting a conference, a publication, or a product/service. You have every reason to want to be leveraging this group of influencers to get your message out because they have the reach you want.

3. LISTENING: You want to stay on top of news and developments.

Maybe your primary interest is in staying on top of news and developments in the rapidly changing fintech, AI or digital transformation space. There’s too much information out there, so using influencers and their social feeds to filter out the noise is an efficient strategy. Get the news, but also get the background and insights into the controversies and debates. Too often, businesses overlook the value of the insight and intelligence that comes through social networks because they’re too obsessed with getting attention for themselves. Smart ones know the value of listening.

Here are 8 tactical things you can do with an influencer list now

Which brings us to action steps you can take now with any given list you encounter:

1. Follow the influencers on Twitter.
2. Create a Twitter list (public or private) and use it to track what the top influencers are sharing. This can be a great source of content for your own social feeds.
3. Look the influencers up and follow them on LinkedIn.
4. After you get to know each influencer a bit, initiate connection requests with them on LinkedIn.
5. Share good lists you find and tag top influencers who stand out for you on LinkedIn and Twitter. In other words, share the lists, but emphasize the people who really stand out to you as offering the most valuable insight.
6. Grow your own visibility by curating and sharing influencer content systematically.
7. Focus on individual influencers and get to know them better – and help them get to know you. Be generous sharing influencer content and compliments when warranted. 
8. Reach out to influencers for quotes or contributions when writing articles or creating content.

There are more things you can do, but this should get you started. If you have questions or need some help, don’t hesitate to reach out.

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