Influencer marketing is happening right in front of us every day. And don’t be fooled into thinking that it's a well-fitted form of marketing only to consumer goods brands, not at all. More and more B2B companies are actively and very successfully leveraging influencers on platforms such as LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, and some even attempt to conquer Facebook and Instagram.
If your company is among many who are exploring ways to diversify marketing channels and efforts this year, you’re on the right track considering B2B influencers to partner with. It has been proved to be one of the most effective ways to drive brand awareness, build trust, and relationship with new audiences. And despite the long-term approach the sales and business conversions eventually follow soon after.
Before you kick-off your first campaign, there are a few key questions to think about beforehand. Take time to rethink them to secure the best possible outcome of your campaigns. Here we go:
Also in this topic: 6 Reasons why to run a LinkedIn B2B influencer campaign
1. How well and what do I know about my customers?
No matter which marketing channel you choose you should always take time to really drill down who are your customers and what is important to them.
Knowing what matters most to your customers will help you develop the right content format, messaging, campaign delivery style and method.
Consider building your ideal customer persona profile to build a full understanding of who you are talking to.
2. What is my message?
The campaign is not necessarily about the product or the influencer, it all falls back to a very specific and well-thought message.
Essentially influencers are helping you to bridge the gap with the audience by building relationships and trust. The message is what makes it interesting to the audience to remember you and continue coming back.
Instead of selling your product right away, think about the mission, the value. What does your company help other companies to achieve? What does your solution stand for? Remember what was important to your customer in the first place. What would resonate with them?
3. Who is my partner on this?
Before you even start influencer marketing campaigns you must know who you want to work with and what you expect of such collaboration with influencers.
Not every influencer can offer the same thing, not every influencer is the right influencer for your market, customer, or product.
The best way to avoid failure is to think about the influencer campaign as a business partnership. Collaborate with experts who care about your campaign and business goals, who can connect you with correctly matched influencers.
4. How does my success look like?
Influencer marketing is not a quick win game where you can start counting $$ next morning. That's why it's important to think about how else you can track the success before the sale is completed. Are you tracking new LinkedIn company followers, page engagement, traffic to the company’s website, your personal brand strength?
If it's not immediate sales, what does success look like to your team?
Your long term vision and clearly defined goals will play a crucial role to keep you motivated. The understanding and well-formed expectations will help you not give up before you can really see the real impact of influencer marketing campaigns.
In a nutshell, know your customer inside out, tailor your campaign message to something bigger than your product - a value, an idea, a mission that will resonate with your customer. Based on this information you will be able to define who could be your right influencers to help you spreading the word. Collaborate with experts who can qualify and match you with the right influencers for your market, product, and solution. And last but not least, manage your expectations by clearly defining what success looks like for your team when running influencer marketing campaigns. Know what measures you can track and keep an eye on to prove it’s worth it.
Continue reading: How to work with influencers on LinkedIn
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This article was prepared by BrandRefer, your trusted full service influencer marketing agency for LinkedIn.