THE GROWING TREND OF B2B INFLUENCER MARKETING: 7 BRANDS DOING IT RIGHT

The field of Digital Marketing is growing with the increasing demand of Influencer Marketing. Influencer marketing has been the backbone of B2C marketing for some time now, it is a not much common practice when it comes to B2B. The trend is growing and it will reveal new challenges for brands and industry experts as well.

Finding relevant influencers for B2B is different as it requires highly skilled people with deep expertise in the specific niche.

To help you understand how brands are driving results with influencer marketing, we have jotted down together ten examples of brands that represent a mix of approaches and performance outcomes.

1. Dell Influencer Marketing Programs

This one a good example of B2B Influencer Marketing. But instead of partnering with influencers, Dell works with industry experts for increasing brand leadership such as guest blog posts, podcast interviews, and inviting influencers to Dell events. Dell launched the Dell Luminaries podcast which worldwide tech experts share their views over different topics from technology to Formula One. Through the program, the business can see and analyze the importance of technology for every business which in turn, will help Dell to reach more business partners.

2. American Express

American Express is one of the top companies that invest heavily in their marketing not only in B2B marketing but also in B2C marketing. So, when it comes to influencer marketing, they are not far behind in joining the bandwagon.

AmEx has implemented campaigns for acquiring both corporate clients as well as consumers.

Here’s an example of they are leveraging influencer marketing:

American Express collaborated with influential bloggers, Grace Bonney and Emily Henderson, to reach out to small businesses and the campaign was called “Love My Store.” The only objective was to let their customers know that small businesses also accept credit cards. This was a great strategy to promote American Express. The campaign led to the distribution of 400,000 Amex decals. The campaign also earned 5 million impressions.

3. Microsoft

Microsoft’s influencer marketing campaign can be explained as miracles happen when creativity and intelligence meet.

Microsoft partnered with National Geographic’s photography influencers with 30 women scientists and adventurers. The main objective of the campaign was to motivate women to participate in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics). It was therefore launched on International Women’s Day 2017. The name of the campaign was Make Whats Next. These influencers provided free workshops to those women who were interested.

4. HubSpot

If you are familiar with SEO, social media marketing, content marketing etc related topics, you must have heard about HubSpot. This software company is well-known for its content. In case you have missed out, let us bring to your notice that HubSpot has been leveraging influencer marketing for ages. They have partnered with various influencers in sales and marketing niches during their journey and those influencers have contributed to HubSpot’s
blog.

5. HP

HP leverages influencer marketing with a series of influencer videos as they partnered with Olympic medalist and influencer, Samantha Peszek. They also partnered with an influencer marketing agency to create videos and those videos showed Samantha using the HP Spectre x360 notebook while practicing her gymnastic routine. To promote their HP x2 detachable PC they also partnered with New York City Ballet dancer Sara Mearns and D.J. LCAW.

6. SAP

SAP is a well-known brand in the market and is also the leader in enterprise application software with thousands of corporate customers who have gained benefits from their software.

SAP influencers are top corporate executives and they also invite their influencers to events which helps them increase social engagement and brand awareness.

Now you might be thinking of what is the use of having influencers at the event? Their influencers drive 50% of all of the social media mentions about their event. Their influencers also go live and answer the questions from people who could not attend the event due to some reason. And, later SAP used those content on their blogs and social media profiles.

7. Cisco

Cisco is a market leader in B2B communications and they took an innovative approach towards influencer marketing by creating the Cisco Champions program. They started with Cisco Chat on Twitter. The Cisco Champions were also invited to many events.

B2B influencer marketing is more focused on building valuable relationships, community, and content. Influencer marketing gaining more popularity with time and we are not far from the time when businesses will entirely replace traditional marketing with influencer marketing.

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