Top influencer marketing trend analysts predict that this business will exceed $22 billion in revenue by the end of 2022, surpassing even branded social media marketing. In addition, according to Hubspot’s 2022 Marketing Industry Trends study, influencer marketing is the #1 tactic marketers plan to adopt this year.

This is true even for brands that had not previously considered it, thanks partly to the emergence of smaller or specialised influencers across social media platforms. Employees, consumers, or industry experts can all be considered; they do not need to have a large following. They do, however, require a devoted following. Partnering with micro-influencers to reach a highly targeted portion of your audience provides a high Return while remaining cost-effective.

B2B Brands with The Best Influencer Marketing Campaigns

Here are some of the most well-known B2B brands whose influencer marketing campaigns are amongst the best in the industry:

1. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the largest professional network today, with over 500 million professionals, including 61 million influencers and 40 million decision makers. LinkedIn, the “black horse” of social media sites, links businesses with professionals. Their platform may assist recruiters in attracting and engaging talent and businesses in attracting customers. In partnership with B2B influencers, they published “The Sophisticated Marketer’s Guide to LinkedIn,” a convenient 48-page reference. These influencers are a diverse group of specialists in social media marketing and digital marketing. Each chapter of this guide concludes with a “Ask the Expert” segment that includes enlightening Q&As with these influencers. LinkedIn says 25 social media experts that readers should be aware of in addition to these ten experts who have given their expertise.

2. Microsoft 

Microsoft collaborated with NatGeo on a fantastic campaign to encourage more women to pursue STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) careers and improve the world. This campaign, dubbed #MakeWhatsNext debuted on International Women’s Day in 2017, worked with some of the best adventure photography influencers and featured real-life inspiring stories of female scientists. These female influencers also held free classes for women. As a result, one of the most successful influencer marketing initiatives in history was born! Microsoft was able to contact over 91 million people because of this!

3. American Express

You would believe that promoting financial services through influencer marketing campaigns would be challenging. That is where you are incorrect. American Express did an excellent job with its #AmexAmbassador campaign. They collaborated with small business owners who discussed the advantages of possessing an American Express card. The goal was to recruit additional firms, and it was successful!

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4. Cisco 

Cisco is a corporation that develops, manufactures, and distributes hardware and software and various other technological products. For their Cisco Champions B2B influencer marketing programme, they invited top IT specialists to share their industry knowledge on podcasts, radio, and video. As a result, these champions have early access to products, allowing them to test them and share their observations and opinions on social media. This worked quite effectively because it helped buyers to make educated choices!

5. IBM 

IBM, the international technology organisation, understands that employees are the strongest advocates for any company. As a result, they ask staff to promote them on social media, including bespoke tweets. This is referred to as employee advocacy. The IBM Watson campaign, on the other hand, was one of their most effective B2B influencer marketing projects. IBM Watson is the company’s collection of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for making business easier. They collaborated with fashion designer Gaurav Gupta to develop the world’s first AI-inspired saree to demonstrate this. It would change colours if outfitted with colour-changing LED lights and IBM’s technology!

6. SAP

SAP creates software to assist you in managing your business operations. It hosts the Sapphire Conference annually, which brings together industry professionals and users. They recruited important industry figures to participate as keynote speakers via live video streaming at one of their conferences. The experts they invited all greatly impacted SAP’s target audience. The speakers provided expertise in the Internet of Things, machine learning, and data analytics. Viewers were urged to ask questions and clarify any doubts they had. This campaign not only served as a “how-to” session, but it also allowed consumers to ask particular questions from the comfort of their own homes. SAP later repurposed these videos on their social media platforms.

7. TopRank Marketing 

TopRank Marketing is a B2B marketing agency that attracts businesses through B2B marketing campaigns. Content marketing, social media marketing, and influencer marketing are their specialities. They worked with prominent marketing gurus from companies like Facebook and LinkedIn to advertise their services. All of these marketers helped by offering excellent marketing recommendations. TopRank then condensed all of the advice into four free eBooks. Other professionals also shared their unique marketing thoughts in interviews, which were also published. This campaign was a huge success, generating over 1000 leads for TopRank.

Given the facts, it’s evident that the genuine promotion that B2B influencers can provide is far more effective than, say, a banner ad. This corresponds to what we currently know about customer preferences. They do not want to be sold anything. Instead, people want to be amused, informed and educated. B2B influencer marketing is the ideal method for accomplishing this. So, while you plan your marketing budget and strategy for this year, know that B2B influencer marketing will be well worth your investment if you use the correct tools and approach.

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Also catch, Episode 187 of The SalesStar Podcast: Building End-to-end Digital Campaigns that Boost ROI: with Curtis Tingle, EVP and CMO at Vericast

Also catch, Episode 184 Of The SalesStar Podcast: Al and Its Influence on Marketing: with Adri Gil Miner, CMO of Iterable