So, you’ve decided to test micro-influencers for your business to business (B2B) marketing. With influencer marketing on track to grow over 40% in 2019 compared to 2018, it’s a timely decision on your part. But where do you find knowledgeable, socially engaged and highly credible influencers for B2B marketing? And how do you choose one?
With business to consumer (B2C) influencer marketing, you can use any of a dozen low-cost platforms to source a partner, review their following, understand their other brand partnerships and hire them — all in the space of a few hours. Finding the right B2B micro-influencers to fit your bill, however, can take on a life of its own. Before you start Googling and ‘gramming to generate a list of names, consider the following tactics.
Customer Interviews
The reason you’re partnering with an influencer is in hopes that your target audience listens to what he or she has to say and weighs it into their decision making. Logically, you should straight-out ask your current and prospective customers who they watch, listen to and read. Who do they quote or borrow data from when making their own business cases? You can use any online survey tool to help you do this efficiently.
When creating the survey for your customers and prospects, be sure to use real-life examples. One of your questions could be, “Who of the following [name of your sector] experts do you follow?” Then list names of real experts along with space for write-ins. Another question could be, “What media do you subscribe to regularly?” Having used this tactic for dozens of clients, I find the results are consistently surprising and invaluable. You are guaranteed to come away with new, specific names and channels (plus, bonus points for leveraging the data to update your buyer personas).
Social Listening
I’ve spent hours reading through comments, clicking through to social profiles and going down thousands of rabbit holes to root out organic fans with a following of their own. It’s more efficient and productive to use technology to examine social media chatter and the relative influence of everyone who follows your brand. Once I identify the top engagers, I do some sleuthing such as “hearting” and commenting on their content to see what happens next. When their engagement style and personal brand values are a match for my client’s brand, I approach them.
A tool like this can pay for itself in that it instantly surfaces your most organic brand advocates and volunteer ambassadors who are genuinely enthusiastic about what your products do.
Conferences And Podcasts
There are lesser-known people, that you may not have heard of, whose opinion matters to your potential customers. Many of these micro-influencers are speaking at conferences, moderating panels and guesting on podcasts. They are often part of online communities or industry subsectors. These are people you want to know more about, meet and evaluate as a B2B influencer.
Once you watch a few videos or listen to a couple of podcasts featuring these thought leaders and decide you want to meet to discuss further, you can usually simply reach out through email, their website or LinkedIn.
Bring Out The Best Of Both Sides
Now that you have a few ideas for who you might work with, the next order of business is to decide what sort of story to tell. This can be tricky. B2B marketing can be predictable in its messaging (i.e., robust, flexible, next-gen, leading-edge and modular, too). When you work with an influencer, you have a real live-and-kicking person as the face of your brand, and IRL people don’t speak in B2B marketing jargon.
What I’ve learned is to not take the influencer out of the medium he or she is successful in. If you’re using a YouTuber, stick to video and leverage the style and feel the influencer is known for. Collaborate to build your narrative into the influencer’s native context and speech.
Make It A Formal Engagement
They may not be famous, but micro-influencers can undoubtedly provide high-value service to your company. Before you meet to discuss collaborating, decide what you can offer the influencer for their services. I’ve worked with an array of client budgets and brands, and have found most influencers are open to creative forms of compensation for collaborating. The more brand power, the higher the potential for creative value exchange. Here are a few models I’ve tested:
• Engagement with the brand’s large social media following: Influencers need to grow their audience, too.• A PR firm that can turn up the volume on the story: Your PR team will be advocating for the influencer for the life of the campaign.
• Free products or early access to new products: If your influencer talks about how he or she uses or would use the product even without compensation, this model retains the authenticity message.
• Travel expenses: If your marketing campaign includes a conference or video shoot with a hefty dose of personal Instagram potential, paying for business-class travel and meals might be all that’s needed.
• A relevant gift or gift card: Are you selling software? A $500 gift card to Apple or BestBuy might be a welcome “payment.”
• Monetary compensation: Include your client/brand’s ownership of photography and video assets in this traditional arrangement.
Your contract will need to capture all of this.
Power To The People
B2B influencers are experts in their niches and are powerful because they can tell a story about your product, present a use case, or deliver a how-to training in a way your target audience can easily relate to. Working with influencers is an opportunity to explain your brand in relatable terms to people who are receptive to your product and message, but may not know you exist. Your audience actively seeks advice and validation from these industry geniuses. Influencers can bring a human element to your B2B brand, infusing it with a sense of relatability. Embrace it!
