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News flash: your buyers’ behaviours have changed. They’re increasingly turning to thought leaders and peers as their source of truth and trust. These are the influencers of the B2B world.
We unpacked this, and explored insights and strategies from leading marketers, during our B2B Influencer Event at LinkedIn. Hosted by Brands2Life Digital & Social Media Managing Director, Kinda Jackson, our panel of experts included:
Everyone was in agreement: there’s a lot of scepticism around influencers in B2B marketing. People either associate them with B2C or want to embrace the opportunity in B2B but struggle to make it happen.
Andrew Monu explained:
That difference is creators and video, with 81% of B2B leaders saying video is the language of the internet. 70% say they don’t even go to a company website. That means if you want to gain visibility and trust to influence today’s buying process, you need to appeal to a new generation of buyers. That’s where influencers come in.
Influence isn’t defined by the scale of an influencer’s audience. B2B brands need to look at different criteria to find the right partners – and it’s not easy. Kinda highlighted how “it can be really challenging for B2B brands to identify the most appropriate influencers to partner with. That’s why at Brands2Life, we always use our PUNCH evaluation process, creating a bespoke selection criteria around four key pillars of Authority, Engagement, Relevance and Authenticity to find the right creators for brands.”
If you want to find the right partners, “listen,” said Karen Smith. “[Think about] who already has influence in the space where you are and with the audience you’re trying to target. Who cares passionately about the same things you and your audience do? Who’s a trusted, expert voice?”
Jason recommended looking beyond scale or popularity to find influencers who will really deliver value:
Sometimes, the most valuable influencers are your own people. At AtkinsRéalis, Holly Kerr and her team leverage their employees: “We call them thought leaders. We’ve done that for as long as I’ve worked in marketing… It’s just now, there’s a different way to reach our audience. We have to accept they’re on LinkedIn.”
Holly started small to build up an employee advocacy programme: “We looked at a focused group of people who were already [posting on LinkedIn]. We brought them in and said, we love what you’re doing and want to support you further. That’s grown into a more targeted and structured approach as we got buy-in from leadership.”
You can’t let influencers do whatever they want, but you shouldn’t tell them exactly what to do either. The very best influencer work shapes a brand’s narrative, rather than just amplifying it. And the key, according to Andrew, is relevance.
His team’s work with AI orchestration platform Zapier is a great example of B2B influencer marketing done right. “[The thinking was], what if we get creators to tell the story instead?” Andrew commented.
That approach empowered influencers to create relevant content based on their own pain points – the very ones Zapier helped them solve. “Give them the strategic brief. Don’t tell them the story. Give them the problem and let them tell that story in their own voice,” he advised.
For brands facing strong regulations, it might seem impossible for legal and brand restrictions to co-exist with an influencer’s creativity and authenticity. But Karen was confident that’s not the case.
In cases where legal, brand and compliance teams are at odds with your influencer strategy: “Start small,” said Karen.
Budgets are tight. You need to be able to show ROI to leaders.
But Andrew isn’t a fan of talking about influencer marketing as a standalone thing: “When you do that, you make it incredibly hard to get the sign-off you want on the budget you want. You need to look at this as part of a broader strategy.”
That mindset shift is essential for you and your business.
Focus only on influencer marketing (with metrics like posts, reshares and comments), and you’ll struggle to get buy-in. Instead, shift the conversation from standalone influencer marketing to something bigger.
To wrap, Kinda asked each panellist for one piece of advice to set you up for success.
Holly said: “Look inward first. Start with your people and prove that it works. Then you can look outward.”
Jason recommended: “Understand your ideal customer profile. Understand their pain points. Then, leverage influencers with stories of what’s worked before. They’re going to know how to write that hook and headline to pull audiences in.”
Karen commented: “Talk about it as influence, not influencer, internally. You need to move away from that B2C stereotype.”
Andrew concluded by stating: “The truth is people buy from people, and some people have disproportionate influence. They can help you with your marketing strategy.”
Want to know more? Explore our B2B Social & Influencer Forecast or contact us at [email protected] to see how you could leverage influencers for greater influence with buyers.
What are B2B influencers?
B2B influencers are independent creators with existing credibility in your industry. Professionals, including potential buyers, trust these individuals to deliver valuable, informative content.
How B2B Influencers build influence for brands
B2B influencers already have influence with buyers. When a brand partners with an influencer, they “borrow” that existing influence to strengthen their reputation, enhance buyer confidence and drive more favourable purchasing decisions.
How to find B2B influencers
Start by defining your goals and target audience. Look for credible, relevant voices who already influence the people you’re targeting and align with your values. They could be visible on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, podcasts, publications or somewhere else. Don’t focus on audience scale. Sometimes micro-influencers, with high trust in niche spaces, are the answer to breaking through to buyers.
What is PUNCH?
PUNCH is the Brands2Life influencer methodology and evaluation framework. It takes subjectivity out of creator selection to ensure brands work with influencers who will deliver results. Our approach is based on quantitative and qualitative benchmarks, using both human expertise and AI-powered identification tools to deliver a PUNCH score for each influencer.
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