Who said influencer marketing is only limited to the B2C realm? This cost-effective and impactful marketing strategy is now used extensively by B2B companies. They understand how peer companies’ case study-type examples can help businesses understand how products and services can help them solve problems easily and quickly.B2B influencers help enterprise brands get the necessary publicity without spending much. Getting hold of these B2B influencers is easily said than done. That’s why many companies turn to influencer marketing platform like quikplace.io to hunt for the right B2B influencer who’ll help them reach the right people in their niche.
Difference between B2C and B2B influencer marketing
There is one main difference between the two, B2C influencer marketing is transactional in nature while B2B influencer marketing automation is all about building long-lasting business relationships. A B2B influencer has to point out how his client company has helped solve problems with the help of case studies, best practices, strategies, and other technical aspects. The B2B influencer has to be a subject matter expert, he should be able to build and sustain long-term business relationships with salesforce b2b commerce
The other differences include-
Scale: – As we are dealing with a niche audience, even the most famous B2B influencers have only up to a million followers. It is not uncommon for some influential B2B influencers to have just about 10,000 followers as they represent a particular niche.
Decision-maker: – Unlike B2C influencers which impact individual decision making, B2B influencers have to convince entire ‘buying teams’ of companies. They do this by sharing their opinions, judgments, and insights to help companies make an informed buying decision.
Content vs. imagery: – B2C influencer content tends to be more image and video-driven, while B2B influencers tend to use text and diagrams in the form of blogs, testimonials, and product reviews as the best way to help the buying teams take an informed decision.
How to benefit from B2B influencer marketing?
More emphasis on engagement: – B2B influencer marketing emphasizes more on engagement than following. Brands take the help of these influencers to help reach the right people interested in buying their product/service within their niche. This can take more time as against B2C influencer marketing.
Trust: – The B2B influencer has worked hard to attract the right niche-based audience. He posts informative content that helps the audience make an informed decision. These influencers can give an honest review of the product without implying their collaboration with the brand.
Brand awareness: – The best way for new brands and startups in the B2B realm to get noticed is through a recommendation from an influencer who has the right niche following. Conventional ways of getting noticed, like, through participation in exhibitions, advertising in industry-specific print media, or word-of-mouth marketing may not be enough. With an influencer, these new brands can reach practically the entire market as these influencers have a niche following.
Content strategy: – For maximum impact, many brands share their B2B influencer’s content on their social media handles to attract people in the right niche. Sometimes, this content could be how-to videos and blogs which may not be relevant to the brand’s offerings. Nevertheless, this can help the brand get the right following to their social media handles.
Reaches the target audience at the right time: – For most B2B brands, spreading the word across to the right target audience is crucial. If done the conventional way, there would be no certainty that it would yield the right results. When partnering with relevant b2b marketing companies, brands can get to the right audience in a short time and even get the Returns on Investment(ROI) for this as quickly as possible.
Adds value: – Just demonstrating the product isn’t everything. The content created by the B2B influencer guides the relevant company authorities to solve problems that they face. This value-added creation helps improve goodwill for the B2B brand.
Gives an authentic opinion: – Brands endorsed by leading B2B influencers to help it gain trust in the market. Just the recommendation by such an influencer can help brands to get new clients as these clients trust their B2B influencers.
Helps create winning partnerships: – For many B2B influencers, partnering with an equally influential brand can be a win-win scenario for both. It could go both ways, the brand could get clients with the help of the influencer and the influencer’s following may increase due to the goodwill of the brand.
Audio and video content: – People find the content interesting when it is presented in a user-friendly way. Earlier, many B2B influencers relied heavily on text to engage with their audience. Now, most influencers within this niche have moved on to podcasts, video tutorials, and video interviews to get their message across.
Wrapping up
Influencer marketing is one of the best ways to get your brand known in the shortest possible time. B2B influencers working in a specific niche could help newer brands and startups gain significant exposure to the right audience with their help. Getting the right publicity was never so easy.
