Influencer Marketing News and Tips

Your B2B Influencer Marketing Program Checklist

Katelyn Drake on Sep 22nd, 2022
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

Ready to launch your B2B influencer strategy, but not sure where to start?

We’ve got you covered! Get started on the journey toward boosted brand awareness (and more!) with this quick guide detailing the first steps of initiating a B2B influencer marketing program.

First, identify your purpose.

Dive deeper into understanding your clients, their true objectives, and how your business serves them. Through client surveys and interviews, you’ll learn how your clients feel, gain new insight into their influences, and strengthen your overall relationship.

Next, it’s time to invest and execute.

Use your newfound understanding of your buyers to create a small pilot program. Start by collecting new data, testing overall program effectiveness, and identifying areas for improvement. A pilot program is a learning opportunity that prepares you for long term strategy. Kind of like an hors d’oeuvre before dinner.

Your B2B Influencer Marketing Program Checklist

Turn Influential Fans Into Brand Ambassadors With B2B Influencer Marketing

Joshua Nite on Aug 22nd, 2022
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

What turns an influencer into a brand ambassador?

One answer you might be hearing more often is, “A big ol’ wad of cash.”

But while it’s true that B2B influencers want to get paid (don’t we all?), there’s an enthusiasm and authenticity that money alone can’t buy. And once you have a group of true brand ambassadors on board, you’ve got something wonderful that your competition can’t duplicate.

At the heart of it, creating brand ambassadors means pulling your influencers into a purposeful community united in common interests and goals. It means making an ongoing effort to engage and delight these folks so they can engage and delight their audiences.

Turn Influential Fans Into Brand Ambassadors With B2B Influencer Marketing

How B2B Marketers Can Benefit From Working With More Diverse Influencers

Joshua Nite on Aug 1st, 2022
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

When was the last time you saw someone in a wheelchair in your day-to-day life? Someone just going about their daily routine, who also happened to be in a wheelchair?

Now, when was the last time you saw someone in a wheelchair as a main character in a movie — a movie that wasn’t entirely about being in a wheelchair?

You can apply that same thought experiment to any type of diversity: race, gender, sexuality, body size and shape are all underrepresented in the media.

If a cisgender, heterosexual white man like me can see this lack of representation, how does it look and feel to those who are in marginalized groups? What is the entertainment industry missing out on by ignoring these voices?

How B2B Marketers Can Benefit From Working With More Diverse Influencers

Triple Take: How to Make B2B Content Marketing More Influential, Authentic, and Credible

Nick Nelson on Jul 25th, 2022
B2B Marketing, Content Marketing, Influencer Marketing

When it comes to creating effective B2B marketing content, these three traits arguably rank as the most essential: credible, authentic, influential.

Credible: Does the content position its author or brand as a knowledgeable and authoritative expert in their space? Enough so that it aids in justifying a decision to invest in their solutions?
Authentic: Is the content reflective of what that person or brand is really about? Does it instill trust through truth and transparency?
Influential: Does the content actually shift perceptions and drive the reader or viewer toward some sort of action?

These three qualities, in a nutshell, differentiate marketing content from plain-old “content.” When all three are realized in the hearts and minds of your audience, a piece of content is almost guaranteed to achieve its objectives — provided you have the right promotion plan in place.

Triple Take: How to Make B2B Content Marketing More Influential, Authentic, and Credible

10+ B2B Influencer Marketing Predictions From Top Experts & Influencers

Lane Ellis on Jul 20th, 2022
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

What does the future of B2B influence look like, and how will top global brands succeed with B2B influencer marketing in the push to 2023 and beyond?

With the recent launch of our all-new 59-page 2022 B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report, there’s no better time to put these questions to some of the top B2B industry influencers, leading B2B marketers from major brands, and influencer marketing technology platform executives.

The popularity of influencer marketing is on the rise, as 85 percent of respondents to our extensive survey expect activity to increase over the next year, with B2B marketers increasing their level of maturity and sophistication and shifting towards always-on, relationship-based influencer communities.

Let’s jump right in and take an eye-opening look at the future and power of B2B influence from 10 of the world’s top experts and influencers.

10+ B2B Influencer Marketing Predictions From Top Experts & Influencers

4 Secret Successes of B2B Influencer Marketing

Joshua Nite on Jul 19th, 2022
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

Does B2B influencer marketing work?

We asked marketers that question for our new 2022 B2B Influencer Marketing Report. The result: 86% said their programs were either moderately or very successful.

But what’s more interesting is how the marketers we surveyed are defining success.

We tend to think of influencer marketing as a top-of-funnel tactic. While it’s definitely effective for raising awareness and building credibility, the benefits don’t stop there.

Here are four surprising benefits that B2B marketers are seeing with smart influencer marketing.

#1 — Lead Gen & Revenue

Influencer marketing can bring in prospects to your brand, even without having the influencer endorse your solution or give a sales pitch. In fact, over half of our respondents said their influencer program is directly responsible for generating new leads. What’s more, 33% said they can directly attribute revenue to their program.

4 Secret Successes of B2B Influencer Marketing

Spotlight on Talent: 20 B2B Influencer Marketing Experts to Follow in 2022 and Beyond

Lee Odden on Jul 18th, 2022
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

On the heels of publishing our 2022 State of B2B Influencer Marketing research, there are many questions that go beyond what can be contained within a robust 59 page report, especially when there’s so much optimism around the practice. For example:

73% of B2B marketing organizations are working with influencers
95% of B2B marketers that work with influencers have achieved one of their top marketing goals
72% of B2B marketers have improved brand reputation working with influencers
86% of B2B Marketers working with influencers are successful

While we’re ready and happy to answer any questions about influencer marketing here at TopRank Marketing I also know there are many smart B2B marketing practitioners working at companies of all sizes that have important insight, experience and perspectives to share.

Spotlight on Talent: 20 B2B Influencer Marketing Experts to Follow in 2022 and Beyond

Infographic: 20 Key Insights From The 2022 B2B Influencer Marketing Report

Lane Ellis on Jul 13th, 2022
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

What are some of the key B2B influencer marketing insights that B2B marketers can use to create more authentic, trusted and meaningful experiences as we forge ahead to 2023?

In the following infographic, we share 20 valuable insights and statistics taken from our all-new 2022 B2B Influencer Marketing Report, which our CEO and co-founder Lee Odden recently launched here on the TopRank Marketing blog.

Let’s jump right in with an array of helpful and sometimes-surprising B2B influencer marketing insights.

You can download a full-resolution PDF version of this infographic here.

Infographic: 20 Key Insights From The 2022 B2B Influencer Marketing Report

2022 B2B Influencer Marketing Report: New Data, Insights, Case Studies, Predictions

Lee Odden on Jul 11th, 2022
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

Click play on the video above for a highlight of the 2022 B2B Influencer Marketing Report or you can download the full PDF here.

With 2022 in full swing, the team and I at TopRank Marketing are happy to share our second report on the B2B Influencer Marketing. As the business world has overcome challenges, pivoted, adjusted and innovated we’ve had a similar experience getting this research completed, analyzed and visualized for the B2B marketing world.

Without question, the pandemic has impacted all aspects of business including B2B marketing, with 74% of respondents in our survey saying they made adjustments to their go- to market strategies.

The good news is that many B2B marketers have emerged from the pandemic as confident: Nearly half of the marketers we surveyed consider their marketing very or extremely successful.

2022 B2B Influencer Marketing Report: New Data, Insights, Case Studies, Predictions

Marketing Fireworks: The Increasing Importance of B2B Influencer Marketing

Lane Ellis on Jul 4th, 2022
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

As our U.S. readers celebrate the Fourth of July holiday with summer gatherings and fireworks, B2B influencer marketing is generating its own fireworks, having taken on significantly increased importance since the pandemic began.

We’ll soon be releasing our official 2022 B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report — nearly 60 pages filled with the latest strategy, tactics, operations, software, best practices, integration, measurement, budgeting, trends and predictions from the world’s top influencers at major global brands including LinkedIn*, SAP, Adobe, Intel, Cisco, Demandbase, Oracle, SAS, Deloitte Digital and many more.

Let’s take an Independence Day sneak peak at just a few of the hundreds of deep-dive insights into the current state of B2B influencer marketing the forthcoming comprehensive report will contain, beginning with a few words from our CEO and co-founder Lee Odden.

Marketing Fireworks: The Increasing Importance of B2B Influencer Marketing

Instagram’s Enhanced Creator Tags: Implications for B2B Influencer Marketing

Lane Ellis on Jun 22nd, 2022
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing, Social Media

How can B2B marketers make their content stand out and highlight the talented subject matter experts, creators, and influencers they partner with?

Earlier this year Instagram rolled out new enhanced tagging features that allow digital marketers to do a much better job of indicating and crediting the various influencers and creators involved in the creation of content shared on the platform.

Instagram’s addition of enhanced tagging — which is also available for use in video Reels — offers significant new exposure opportunities for B2B content that has been created by multiple professionals, often precisely the type of content that is either made or co-created by industry influencers.

Let’s take a look at some of the advantages provided by Instagram’s enhanced creator tags, and how B2B marketers can best put them to use.

Instagram’s Enhanced Creator Tags: Implications for B2B Influencer Marketing

5 Ways Influencer Marketing Builds Trust for B2B Brands

Joshua Nite on Jun 20th, 2022
B2B Marketing, Influencer Marketing

Ever notice that the people who say, “trust me,” are the least trustworthy people around? Something about those two little words immediately puts people on guard. If you were really trustworthy, we think, you wouldn’t have to ask.

Right now, we have a serious trust gap in our cultural institutions. The Edelman Trust Barometer for this year shows a continued downward spiral. Nearly half of respondents view the government and the media as divisive forces in society, rather than sources of reliable information.

“Trust me,” says the senator. “Trust ME,” says the pundit. And most of us say, “no, thank you.”

This trust gap may seem like the perfect opportunity for business to step in. After all, B2B brands want to be trusted advisors to potential clients. The only problem is, even if consumers trust us more than the government or media… they still don’t trust us all that much.

5 Ways Influencer Marketing Builds Trust for B2B Brands