Influencer partnerships are becoming a powerful strategy for businesses aiming to enhance brand awareness, credibility, and lead generation. In fact, 89% of marketers believe that influencer marketing ROI is comparable to or better than other marketing channels.
The rise of B2B influencer marketing
Unlike B2C influencer marketing, which often focuses on mass appeal, B2B influencer marketing is focused on building relationships with industry experts and thought leaders who can sway business decisions within targeted or niche markets.
The rise of B2B influencer marketing is reshaping how businesses engage with their target audiences. Working together with industry experts allows businesses to tap into established networks and gain trust through authentic endorsements. This approach moves beyond traditional advertising, focusing on value creation, trust-building, and collaboration.
Why B2B influencer partnerships work
Future trends indicate a shift towards long-term partnerships and dynamic collaborative formats, such as co-created content and exclusive access to influencer communities. These developments create a more collaborative and mutually beneficial environment, enhancing the impact of influencer marketing in the B2B sector.
Key steps to a successful B2B influencer strategy
Here are some key steps to consider taking before you start your journey of B2B influencer marketing:
- Defining your objectives: Clearly articulate what you aim to achieve through influencer partnerships, such as increasing brand awareness, generating leads, or entering new markets.
- Influencer identification: Look for individuals who have a strong presence in your industry, possess expertise in areas aligning with your business, and that has a following that matches your target market. For most B2B companies, this will likely be LinkedIn, as 80% of B2B leads originate from LinkedIn – and typically at a 90% lower cost per lead.
- Asses their authenticity: Evaluate potential influencers based on the authenticity of their content and the level of engagement they maintain with their audience. High follower counts are less important than genuine interactions and influence.
- Relationship building: Approach influencers with personalised communication, showing an understanding of their work and proposing mutually beneficial collaborations.
- Create content together: Work together to develop content that resonates with both the influencer’s audience and your brand’s messaging.
Measuring success: Proving ROI in B2B influencer marketing
Once you’ve considered the alignment of influencer marketing to your business objectives, the next step is to set expectations around ROI. This involves defining the KPI’s you will use to measure success – such as engagement rates, website traffic, lead quality, or conversion rates.
Next, you’ll want to consider tracking the content. To do this, implement tracking URLs and unique landing pages for each influencer to monitor the traffic and leads they generate. This enables precise attribution of results to specific influencers.
Once you’ve launched your partnership, keep track of the performance by monitoring likes, comments, shares, and other forms of engagement to assess how the content resonates with the audience.
But beyond, be sure to also assess the quality of leads or traffic generated through influencer campaigns by tracking their progression through the sales funnel and their conversion into customers. That way, you are able to establish that the content is not only receiving in-platform engagement but also turning into tangible results for your business.
Lastly, compare the revenue generated from influencer-driven leads to the costs associated with the campaign to determine the return on investment. You should also consider measuring against other types of digital activity your business is investing in to see how influencer marketing performs for you.
Making B2B influencer marketing work for your business
B2B influencer marketing presents a valuable opportunity for businesses to leverage the credibility and reach of industry thought leaders. By carefully identifying suitable influencers, fostering authentic partnerships, and diligently measuring campaign outcomes, companies can enhance their marketing efforts, build trust within their target markets, and achieve meaningful business growth.
Unlock the power of B2B influencer marketing
Partnering with the right industry experts can transform your brand’s reach, credibility, and lead generation.
Ready to explore how influencer marketing can fit into your strategy? Get in touch today to start building meaningful partnerships that drive real business impact.