B2B influencer marketing keeps gaining importance at great speed. Only with the right strategy will your influencer marketing help you sell your offers successfully.
The word «influencer» probably makes you think first of YouTube and Instagram videos by young people promoting products online. They tell casual stories from their lives and make recommendations along the way.
Influencer marketing is widespread in B2C, and not without reason if you look at the statistics.
While influencers from the DACH region generated revenue of 569 million euros in 2017, it was already 1 billion in 2020.
That raises the legitimate question of whether influencer marketing can be transferred to B2B. The answer is yes and no. B2B companies can certainly use influencer marketing, but it works differently than in B2C.
The path to successful marketing with B2B influencers
B2B influencer marketing is not about having a world-famous pop star sing and dance on stage with your company logo. The aim is rather to send the company's core message to potential customers with honest content and authentic people. If you have created a good product, you want to sell it successfully to many prospects. For that, as many people as possible have to know about it. But it is just as important to find the right prospects who really need your product. Product promotion through influencers on different channels is an increasingly important factor.
What distinguishes B2C from B2B influencer marketing?
An influencer does not just promote a particular product but also talks about their personal experience with it. In B2C this is usually about spontaneous buying decisions for consumer products.
- Which shoes and clothes do you absolutely have to have?
- Which products help you eat healthily?
- What are the must-haves from the cosmetics industry?
The scope of decisions in B2B influencer marketing is much more complex. It is about larger investments, usually made rationally on the basis of facts. In addition, expert content and the personal reputation of the speakers are clearly the focus in B2B influencer marketing. That matters more here than the greatest possible reach.
The different types of B2B influencers and channels
While TikTok, YouTube and Instagram are the most important influencer marketing channels in B2C, the focus in B2B is on these:
- YouTube
- X (formerly Twitter)
Social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook can also make sense in B2B influencer marketing but are usually less common. How to use LinkedIn specifically is covered in our article on LinkedIn for B2B lead generation.
There are five types of B2B influencers:
- Employees as corporate influencers
- Event ambassadors
- Customers with recommendations
- Users and business partners
- Experts
Let us look at them in more detail.
Employees as corporate influencers
At the top is the social CEO, who represents the company's interests after appropriate training. But employees from specialist departments can also be involved as influencers. An ordinary employee, for example, builds trust with interested applicants by reporting positively about everyday work at the company.
Event ambassadors
Their job is to represent the company's interests as brand ambassadors at trade fairs and events. Visitors are glad to take in expert knowledge, which then leads to buying decisions.
Customers with recommendations
The most authentic influencers are customers who promote you because of their positive experience. Case studies work particularly well here, with the influencer explaining the individual steps one by one.
Users and business partners
Complex products are often made by several companies. Business partners who make components, or users involved in final assembly, can therefore be helpful as influencers by providing references.
Experts
Especially when it comes to conveying deeper expertise or specialist knowledge, experts are the right partners. What matters is that they come across as credible, which can also happen on an emotional level. A related approach is covered in our article on micro-influencers in B2B.
Challenges and pitfalls in B2B influencer marketing
The recipe for success in B2B influencer marketing is finding the right influencer, and that is not necessarily the one with the most followers. It makes little sense to sign up the most popular influencer for highly paid assignments right at the start of a campaign.
In B2B, credibility and expertise clearly come before the influencer's popularity and potential reach.
Not every influencer known from the media is an expert in every field. What matters is finding the right expert who credibly and engagingly sends the right messages as a representative of your company.
Further pitfalls to avoid:
- In B2B influencer marketing, expertise beats quick reach
- Your own customers with authentic content are more credible in B2B than Instagram stars
- Do not communicate immediate sales through influencers, because B2B buying decisions take time and expertise
Conclusion
Influencer marketing has long been successful in B2C, and this sales strategy is steadily gaining importance in B2B too. What matters is using the right B2B influencers on the right channels. Our advice:
- Before you engage external influencers, look around your company. Are there employees or even customers who are suitable?
- Reach should not be the main criterion, but which target group the influencer speaks to and whether they actually reach it.
- Instead of paying a lot for posts, make sure your B2B influencers publish them because they are convinced of your offer.
If you master the challenges and avoid the pitfalls, your B2B influencer marketing will succeed.
