SHOULD YOUR B2B BRAND WORK WITH INFLUENCERS?
Influencers feel very B2C, right? You open up Instagram and the latest beauty influencer is doing a collaboration with MAC, or a big techie is testing out the latest Samsung handset. There’s probably a whole bunch of campaigns you’ve encountered, some good and some very, very bad – but mostly in the consumer space, yeah?
What if I told you that B2B companies can partner with influencers? And why your B2B brand SHOULD be working with influencers – creatively and in the right way, of course.
Not convinced? Here’s why 👇
The term influencer is pretty broad
To be an ‘influencer’ literally just means that a person has amassed a larger than usual, engaged audience. Influencers tend to have a personal IP, which is what attracts a substantial following in the first place – this IP can be *anything*. The important part here is that they have a dedicated audience that trusts in their expertise within their particular space – they have influence.
Speaking to untapped target audiences
To build on my first point, the relationship between an influencer and their audience offers up a pretty sweet pool of people for a brand to engage. Let’s say you’re an AI-powered brand. Imagine that everyone who loves AI is in the same room. Individuals who could love your brand (now or in the future) are in the room to engage and talk to.
To us, it’s like networking at a physical event, but the “event” occurs via the influencer’s access to their online audience. Same kind of concept, right? Well, creatively partnering with influencers means leaning on and tapping into their credible relationships – which you can convert into your own followers/brand advocates.
Just make sure you’re partnering with the right people
A partnership is exactly that – two people working together. This means you need to get the best out of each other. Speak to the influencer you’ve identified first, work out who their audience consists of, where they are and what content they consume. If it works for your brand, it’s creative, and it can be delivered to the target audience in a way they like to consume, you’re on to a winner.
In short, your B2B brand is not excluded from the possibilities of influencer marketing – it may just work in a different way than you’ve experienced or consumed yourself before. The world of influence opens your brand up to new advocates, high engagement and new product users. When done correctly.
It doesn’t stop there! When worked with in the right way, influencers can be the gift that keeps on giving. They can open up doors within media spaces, giving access to their own already established connections, or acting as a spokesperson for your brand. There’s also opportunities to share the content with your own audience to inject a little extra creativity into your social posts or even utilising paid media to spread the word of your partnership to new and engaged people. The possibilities are endless.
When. Done. Right. Are you bored of me saying that yet?