The Impact of Influencer Marketing in the World of B2B

For many years in the world of marketing, and with the rise of social media, influencers have been utilized to promote brands and products as a way to reach a new audience. We often see this strategy used in business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing, but how can companies in the business-to-business (B2B) sector use the strategy of influencer marketing for their benefit?

What is B2B Influencer Marketing?

According to Forbes, B2B influencer marketing is a strategy in which companies collaborate with subject experts or influential figures in a particular industry to produce content, and ultimately, sell products or services to another business. Studies have shown that 92% of consumers trust earned media, or content and recommendations coming from a specific individual. Consumers tend to receive recommendations from those that they trust, and in this case, influencers. Figures in the B2B marketing space have the ability to create an authentic and genuine relationship with their audience, thus enticing B2B brands to tap into an already well established audience. 

Benefits of B2B Influencer Marketing

According to a survey by Sprout Social, half of all marketers considered elevated engagement rates on social media platforms as the most valuable opportunity in influencer marketing. Utilizing industry influencers is a way for businesses to slowly merge into new feeds and algorithms, thus exposing the brand to a new audience. As your content with the desired influencer starts to gain traction, your brand ultimately benefits not only from increased engagement, but overall brand awareness to new eyeballs. 

Partnering with influencers in your industry can help your business to tap into influencer audiences that tend to have a genuine and loyal following. Usually, audiences tend to trust influencers for an honest opinion or review, and not one that is influenced by a sponsored content post or a script behind the camera. B2B companies have the ability to tap into this already established audience to increase brand awareness. 

Top Platforms for B2B Marketing

B2B influencer marketing can occur across all social media platforms, however LinkedIn is the most popular platform for the strategy. This platform of professionals holds more than one billion users in 200 countries worldwide. Additionally, the platform contains more than 58.4 million companies, making it the perfect platform to utilize influencer marketing to increase awareness to other companies on the platform. LinkedIn has many features to increase engagement, including the ability for influencers to promote events and reshare posts.

Another platform to keep an eye on for the strategy of B2B marketing for the future is TikTok. With the app having the highest user engagement per post out of any other social media platform, this may be a way for companies to feature B2B influencers on their channels and/or engage with influencers. 

The WTWH Approach for B2B Influencer Marketing

We here at WTWH have dabbled in the idea of B2B influencer marketing, specifically on the retail and hospitality brands. 

Club + Resort Business (CRB) hosts many webinars throughout the year featuring different industry leaders in the industry. Those that are involved in the webinars, or the “influencers”, are able to repost or post individually about the event to their audience. Like mentioned above, this brings in a new audience to the event and expands brand awareness for CRB. 

So, who are your industry influencers? How can you connect with them to increase brand awareness and possibly build a positive connection? B2B influencer marketing is a powerful tool and strategy on the rise – one not to underestimate!