09/07/2022
𝐁𝟐𝐁 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝟐𝐁 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬, 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.
Its idea is not to generate immediate sales, but to push key executives who manage business spending toward specific products.
𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝𝐈𝐧? It sure does.
While B2B marketing channels can include everything from live meetings to Twitter posts, The Microsoft Corporation-owned social network is the most important forum.
As of December 2021, 𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝟏𝟒𝟒,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 "𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫" 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐬, up 16% from the previous year, according to LinkedIn.
LinkedIn also encourages influence by enabling a newsletter, and more than 18,000 people now regularly post on the platform, including prominent business figures.
Of course, B2B influencer marketing still represents a fraction of the huge sum of 💵 in influencer marketing — one estimate suggests it could generate $11.7 billion in revenue by the end of the year — which is itself a tiny fraction of traditional campaigns.
Still, many traditional business marketers are jumping on the bandwagon.
Ryan Bares, IBM's global head of social influencer marketing, said that when he joined the company in 2016, there were hardly any influencer programs.
Now it's a 🔑 component of a marketing strategy, he said.
A recent campaign used influencers to spread awareness of IBM's cloud computing platform — not unlike the content of a TikTok dance video.
“They’re not there to sell the mainframe, they’re there to talk about the topics around the mainframe — that might be cloud computing, that might be security,” says Bares, mentioning his budget has increased about 15% annually for the past few years.
𝐍𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐟𝐟.
That is what B2B influencer marketing can give.
Try it, and you’ll probably mention amazing success both this year, and beyond.
