10 Creative Ways to Use B2B Influencers in Your Marketing Campaigns

Influencer marketing, long a staple in the B2C eCommerce world, is now making significant inroads into the B2B sector. This emerging trend sees businesses beginning to harness the power of B2B influencers - a move distinct from the typical B2C influencer strategy. 

B2B influencers bring a deep knowledge of specific industries, offering insights and connections highly relevant to businesses' unique challenges and requirements within these sectors. 

In this article, we explore 10 creative ways to tap into the wealth of expertise B2B influencers possess, enabling your brand to connect with their dedicated audiences and infuse your marketing efforts with greater authenticity and value.

1. Co-Creating Content

By co-creating content, you're not just sharing your message but augmenting it with the influencer's unique insights and expertise. This collaboration results in content that resonates more deeply with your target audience, combining your brand's knowledge with the influencer's perspective and reach.

The possibilities for co-created content are many. 

• Co-write a series of insightful blog posts
• Produce detailed whitepapers
• Make engaging videos
• Conduct original research

Each incorporates the influencer's industry-specific knowledge and viewpoints. This type of content benefits from the influencer's expertise and their promotional efforts, as they are likely to share the final product with their audience. 

This collaborative process can also lead to fresh content ideas and new angles on existing topics, making your content stand out in a crowded digital space. Ultimately, co-creating content with B2B influencers is about building a relationship that enriches your content strategy and extends your reach to a broader, more engaged audience.

Want to generate leads using influencers?  Read our guide ‘How To Work With B2B Influencers For Lead Generation’.  Read it here.

2. Sponsor Influencer-Created Email Campaigns

This program involves partnering with influencers to design and send emails to their opt-in subscriber list, promoting your products or services. Such collaborations can tap into the influencer's trusted relationship with their audience, offering a personalized and direct channel of communication that can effectively drive engagement and leads. 

Here’s how you can make the most of sponsoring influencer-created email campaigns:

• Customized Content: Work with the influencer to create content that resonates with their audience while aligning with your brand message, such as product reviews, industry insights, or exclusive offers.
• Authentic Endorsements: Encourage influencers to share their genuine experiences and opinions about your product or service, lending authenticity to the campaign.
• Tracking and Analytics: Implement tracking mechanisms to measure the performance of the email campaign, such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversions.
• Follow-up Strategy: Plan a follow-up strategy to engage the leads generated from the campaign, like personalized follow-up emails or special offers.

Sponsorship of influencer-created email campaigns allows you to leverage the influencer's credibility and direct line of communication with their audience, providing a unique and effective way to amplify your marketing efforts in the B2B space.

3. Hosting Joint Webinars and Podcasts

Leveraging the expertise and audience of influencers through joint webinars and podcasts is a strategy that is both effective and engaging. This approach provides valuable content to your audience and benefits from the influencer's added reach and credibility. 

Webinars and podcasts are excellent platforms for in-depth discussions on industry-specific topics. Hosted with an influencer, they can significantly enhance your brand's visibility and authority in your field. Let’s delve into how you can make the most of this strategy:

• Selecting the Right Topics: Choose topics that are relevant to your industry and align with the influencer's expertise. This ensures the content is both informative and engaging for the audience.
• Promotional Collaboration: Utilize your and the influencer's marketing channels to promote the event. This expanded promotion can lead to a larger and more diverse audience.
• Interactive Sessions: Make these webinars and podcasts interactive by including Q&A sessions, polls, or live discussions. This engagement keeps the audience involved and provides real-time insights.
• Repurpose Content: After the event, repurpose the content into blogs, social media posts, or infographics. This extends the life of your content and maximizes its reach.
• Consistent Scheduling: Establish a regular schedule for these webinars or podcast episodes. Consistency helps in building a dedicated audience over time.

Using influencers in webinars and podcasts not only brings a fresh voice to your content but also leverages their reputation, enhancing the credibility and appeal of your marketing campaigns.

4. Roundtables

Organize roundtable discussions featuring multiple influencers. These can be virtual or in-person events where influencers debate or discuss industry trends, challenges, or innovations. This format provides diverse perspectives and positions your brand as a thought leader by association.

5. Social Media Takeovers

Social media takeovers by influencers are an innovative and interactive way to amplify your message and engage with a broader audience. When an influencer takes over your brand’s social media account for a day or during a specific event, it brings a fresh and authentic perspective that can captivate both your existing followers and the influencer’s audience. 

This strategy diversifies your content and leverages the influencer’s expertise and following to boost your brand’s visibility. 

Here are some key points to consider when planning a social media takeover with a B2B influencer:

• Setting Clear Objectives: Determine what you want to achieve with the takeover - For example, increasing brand awareness, promoting a product, or driving engagement.
• Planning Content: Collaborate with the influencer to plan out the content for the takeover. This could include live Q&A sessions, behind-the-scenes glimpses, or sharing industry insights.
• Promoting the Takeover: Announce the takeover in advance on your social channels and encourage your audience to engage with the influencer’s content during the takeover.
• Engagement and Interaction: Encourage the influencer to interact with your audience by responding to comments, messages, and creating interactive content like polls or quizzes.
• Post-Takeover Analysis: After the event, analyze the engagement metrics to understand the impact of the takeover and gather insights for future collaborations.

By utilizing social media takeovers with B2B influencers, you can infuse new energy into your feeds and pull in potential buyers well beyond your usual audience reach.

6. Influencer-Driven Case Studies

Collaborate with influencers to develop case studies. They can provide an unbiased view of how your product or service has solved a particular industry problem. This approach adds credibility to your case studies, as they are seen as marketing materials and genuine success stories validated by an industry expert.

7. Guest Blogging Opportunities

In the intricate tapestry of B2B marketing, guest blogging opportunities with influencers are a potent tool for expanding your content's reach and enhancing your brand's authority. Inviting influencers to contribute to your blog offers a fresh perspective to your audience and leverages the influencer’s expertise and following. 

This collaboration brings valuable insights to your readers and extends your content's visibility across the influencer's network. Here's how you can effectively use guest blogging opportunities with B2B influencers in your marketing campaigns:

• Identify Industry Experts: Look for respected influencers in your industry. Their reputation and knowledge will add substantial credibility to your blog.
• Diverse Content: Encourage influencers to write on various topics, from industry trends to deep insights, which can attract a broader audience to your blog.
• Cross-Promotion: Use influencers and your platforms to promote the guest blog posts. This reciprocal promotion can significantly increase reach and engagement.
• SEO Benefits: Collaborate on content that's engaging and SEO-friendly to drive more organic traffic to your website.
• Building Long-term Relationships: Use guest blogging as a stepping stone to establish long-term partnerships with influencers, which can lead to more collaborative opportunities in the future.
• Interactive Elements: Consider adding interactive elements like webinars or live Q&A sessions that tie into the blog post topic, offering a more engaging experience for your audience.

Guest blogging with B2B influencers can be a strategic move in your content marketing plan, bringing a new dimension to your blog while strengthening your position as a thought leader.

8. Video Interviews and Q&A Sessions

Video content is highly engaging and can be shared across multiple platforms. Conduct interviews or Q&A sessions with influencers. These can be about industry insights, tips, or discussions on current trends. The video format adds a personal touch, making the content more relatable and engaging.

Once you have the core video recorded, you can edit it into snippets that can be used on your website, social feeds, and video-sharing sites like YouTube and TikTok.

9. Influencer Panels at Events

If you host or participate in industry events, include influencers as panelists or speakers. Their presence can increase the event’s credibility and attract a larger audience. Additionally, their expertise can contribute significantly to the quality of discussions and presentations.

10. Collaborative Research Projects

Engage influencers in collaborative research projects relevant to your industry. This could involve market research, industry surveys, or trend analysis. The influencer’s involvement can lend credibility to the study and help promote the findings through their channels.

Takeaway

Integrating B2B influencers into your marketing campaigns can significantly enhance their effectiveness and reach. It’s not just about leveraging the influencer's network; it’s also about tapping into their industry expertise and credibility. 

From co-creating content to hosting webinars and participating in collaborative research, there are numerous creative ways to involve influencers in your B2B marketing efforts. The key is to choose the right influencers who align with your brand values and have a genuine influence in your industry. 

By doing so, you can build more authentic and impactful marketing campaigns that resonate with your target audience. Remember, in B2B marketing, the quality of your connections often matters more than the quantity, and this is where influencers can genuinely make a difference.

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