We all know what influencer marketing is at this point. But how does business to consumer influencer marketing differ from business to business influencer marketing? First and foremost, it must be understood that B2B influencers must be an expert in the field of business that you are recruiting them for. This means that they may not have the social media skills as most B2C influencers do. It’s also important to think of them as a partner in your B2B influencer marketing campaign together as you build a relationship together for brand credibility. Let’s note some similarities between the B2B and B2C influencer marketing strategies.
1. Expertise in a particular field. Both types of influencers will be experts in the field they are collaborating with.
2. Social media presence. Both will have a good amount of reach on social media. Although, B2C will be much larger.
3. Appeal. They will both be people that other people are interested hearing. They have a charm about them that intrigues or call others to attention.
Some key differences:
1. Type of content. Where B2C influencer are photo and video content heavy, B2B influencers will generally be more text based
2. Scale. As noted above the B2B influencer will have a smaller scale following on social media.
3. Decisions making versus influencing. B2B influencer will share insights and opinions that are for buying teams doing research.
Influencer marketing is on the rise and B2B is not immune to how well this strategy works. Some examples for B2B influencers would be analysts, journalists or those that work for brands in a particular field. HubSpot expect to see B2B influencer marketing grow exponentially as it is currently, “underdeveloped and largely unmonetized.” They also found that B2B clients consider sponsored third party or co-branded content more trustworthy than content straight from a vendor. It’s clear that this style of B2B marketing has its benefits.
