86% Of B2B Brands Find Success With Influencer Marketing
A new study found that eighty percent of B2B businesses have successfully used influencer marketing. Please find out more about the strategies that are effective for them.
A study on the current state of B2B influencer marketing offers information on business opportunities for 2022 and beyond.
Influencer marketing is a key factor for most marketing professionals, per the study.
The study by Lee Odden’s TopRank Marketing blog finds that 86% of B2B businesses successfully use influencer marketing.
With Influencer marketing, B2B companies achieve success by increasing the brand’s reputation and awareness and directly increasing sales.
Third the companies say that influencer marketing has resulted in more revenue. 85percent believe that their interest in working with influential people will rise over the coming twelve months.
The report addresses questions regarding the most effective practices and essential qualities for B2B influencers and pinpoints the most critical areas for future growth.
Here are some of the highlights from the report’s 60-pages.
Does B2B Influencer Marketing Do the trick?
The maturation of B2B influencer marketing is comparable to the development of content marketing in recent years.
After seeing the success of one-off campaigns, many companies are now integrating influencer-based marketing within their overall plans.
The study asks B2B professionals in marketing, communications, and sales about their experiences in influencer marketing.
- 86% of respondents say it’s hugely or moderately successful.
- 72% believe it improved brand recognition
- 70% of people say it has improved brand recognition.
- 56% believe it has helped to generate leads.
- 33% of them say that it is a direct revenue source
Who is a B2B Business Influencer?
How do you determine who is authentic, reliable, trustworthy, and trustworthy enough to collaborate with to be B2B influencers?
Based on the research findings, it is essential to consider more than irrelevant metrics like followers and subscribers.
“Audience size is not as important as the quality of the audience. The amount of followers isn’t nearly as crucial to marketers as the credibility, relevance, and authenticity. People with large followings can increase the impact of a campaign. However, it’s crucial to attract more influential people with smaller audience sizes.”
In response to questions about influencers with that they collaborate, B2B professionals and marketing professionals respond:
- Analysts and experts from the industry (77 percent)
- Internal executives (56 percent)
- Experts in niches (48 percent)
- Customers (46 percent)
- Professional influencers (45 percent)
- Employees (42 percent)
- Prospects (12 percent)
Top Qualities of a B2B Influencer
For more information on the most essential characteristics of an influencer in B2B, TopRank Marketing asked survey respondents to determine if they would rate a set of traits as necessary, good to have, or essential.
The results are:
- Relevance of the audience (98%))
- They are viewed as trustworthy by the public (87 percent)
- Subject matter expertise (78%)
- Values are in line with the image (69 percent)
- Influencer’s posts are published via at least one social media platform (65 percent)
- Capability to develop content (54 percent)
- The size of the audience (49 percent)
- Professional qualifications (42 percent)
- Supporters of our brand (33 percent)
The Most Effectual Types Of Content for B2B Marketing Influencers
The content that poll respondents say is most effective is the trend toward multimedia and interactive collaboration.
Blog posts were at the top of the latest report’s list of top blog posts. For 2022, webcasts were the most popular.
When asked which kinds of content are most popular within the B2B market influencer environment, the respondents responded:
- Webinars (81 percent)
- Social media (74 percent)
- Blog posts (71%)
- Video recorded (67 percent)
- Interviews (62 percent)
- Podcasts (52 percent)
- Live video (48 percent)
- Case studies (38%)
- Industries (33 percent)
- Interactive content (31 percent)
- Analysts from third parties (29 percent)
- Social audio (22%)
- Infographics (17 percent)
Top Influence Opportunities B2B
While this B2B influencer marketing market may be maturing, there’s plenty of room to grow.
The report suggests that the most significant potential lies in developing strategies:
- Just a quarter of B2B marketers claim to have a proven influencer strategy
- 28% of businesses say they have an undocumented/informal strategy
- 25% say they’ve got no plan at all