Nobody talks about anything when it comes to successful B2B influencer marketing

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What No One Talks About When it Comes to Successful B2B Influencer Marketing

Whether you're just starting to explore B2B influencer marketing efforts or you're on your way to putting influencer content in the right place, there are countless articles that can help you map out the steps. key to success. However, many of those articles don't quite go into some of the often overlooked but very important details that happen in between those important steps.

Sometimes that understanding comes from experience. In this case, that's our experience, and we're happy to share it so you can avoid common mistakes and blunders on your B2B influencer's path to success.

You need more B2B influencer meetings than you think

Whenever anyone talks about the process of starting a B2B influencer marketing effort, they make it look like all you need is identify influencers , reach out, agree on scope, and then the content magically appears. While that process is correct, it is not the whole picture. It really leaves a lot of meetings.

No one wants another meeting on their calendar, but conducting a meeting a lot of the right meetings is essential to the success of B2B influencer marketing. Instead of a big meet-and-greet-scope-launch-contract, schedule smaller, more purposeful meetings:

Meet and greet for the first time: You're forming a new business relationship, so use this time to get to know the influencer on a personal and professional level. Talk about what they like to create, what they don't like to create, topics they often cover, upcoming availability, and overall bandwidth. Also, let them know about you and/or your team.

Vision/goal setting meeting : After the meet and greet call, return to the table with some initial ideas and options for how you and the influencer can work together, but make sure the influencer also has brainstorming and brainstorming. This will be the time when the two of you talk about your goal of working together.

Official scoping call : Once you and the B2B influencer are on the same page in terms of vision and goals, put together a formal scope of work based on your conversation. Be sure to include the necessary information, such as exactly what is being generated, when, and in how much. Then, get through it all together. Make sure that any gray areas are cleared and all questions are answered.

Kick off the official project : Officially kick off the project(s) to signify the official start of scope. Get on the same page on deadlines, assign key influencer contacts, and set creative expectations. While this may seem overwhelming, it also creates a fresh start and gives everyone clear direction on how and when to move forward.

Periodic inspection meeting (if necessary): Depending on the final reach of B2B influencers, you may want to sign up weekly, biweekly or monthly, just to do it make sure you are on the same page and give yourself a chance to exchange about any details or problems that may arise in this process.

Of course, the pace of your meeting and schedule will entirely depend on what you're using B2B influencer marketing for, and how wide the engagement is. Just be prepared to have more meetings than you might think is necessary.

Also, remember to keep every meeting focused on completing next steps or a specific set of goals. That way, meetings will never feel superfluous and they'll feel more like work sessions instead.

Tailor your B2B Influencer Marketing Requires Influencer Talent

Not all influencers are writers. Not all influencers are speakers. Not all influencers are content marketing and social media strategists. It's really rare to find a B2B influencer who can do it all, so don't jump into conversations with a B2B influencer expecting that they can. Instead, tailor your content to their talents.

While this may seem obvious, it can be difficult to remember when you have the big vision and eventually find a B2B influencer that best fits your goals and organization or end up in a brainstorming process. . Of course you'll want them to create all sorts of amazing things and be part of exciting co-creation endeavors! They may also feel pressured to meet those expectations or feel as though it's a deal breaker if they can't, so don't put them out there to begin with.

Just keep in mind that you may not be the world's best writer, editor, videographer, speaker, social strategist, and content marketing expert, all rolled into one. , so don't expect your B2B influencers to do the same.

Get Ready to Get B2B Influencer Content in Other Ways

Let's say you've tailored your influencer's marketing requirements to the influencer's talent, but they don't have the bandwidth to work on a giant e-book project, or the willingness to host an influencer. Host a full webinar or even time to put together a blog series. That's okay, because you can get creative with how B2B influencers can create and contribute:

Interview with B2B influencers: Get them cameras ready and sit down for an old fashioned interview. Asking them questions can help you get the content you need to put together an e-book, a social series, a blog, and more. As a bonus: since they're camera-ready, you can shred and reuse the recordings of that interview, with the influencer's permission of course.

Ask them to record a short video: B2B influencer contributions don't always have to be large. Just having a great idea + short form video can be really powerful. This is exactly what Oracle Marketing Cloud's did for their on Chain Fly in which B2B influencers jotted down short on-the-go marketing tips at airports, train stations, and more.

Use an editor to work with influencers : Sometimes you may just need to help a B2B influencer get their thoughts out of their head and onto paper, which may require a copywriter to work directly with them. In this case, ask the writer to set up multiple sessions with the B2B influencer. The writer can then bring the influencer's own words to life.

Yes, it can be ideal to let B2B influencers create and deliver their own content from start to finish, but that may not be possible all the time. Thankfully, there are plenty of fallback options for still getting great B2B influencer-sourced content.

Treat B2B influencers like a contractor and a customer

While you can technically "Hire" a B2B influencer, they don't work for you. They are working with you. Instead of viewing the relationship when you hire someone to create content, view your B2B influencers as more like contractors or customers. It was a working relationship that took a lot of work and they also had other clients and a business of their own.

Also, B2B influencers are very very very connected to a much larger network and they know through the little expert who is great to work with and who they will no longer work with.