Spotlight on Talent: 20 B2B Influencer Marketing Experts to Follow in 2022 and Beyond

On the heels of publishing our 2022 State of B2B Influencer Marketing research, there are many questions that go beyond what can be contained within a robust 59 page report. While we're ready and happy to answer any of those questions at TopRank Marketing I also know there are many smart B2B marketing practitioners working at companies of all sizes that have important insight, experience and perspectives to share. At our boutique B2B marketing agency, we're bold and ambitious enough to think we can help elevate the industry in several ways. We're working with ambitious and results driven B2B marketers at brands ranging from a mid-market financial technology company to the #1 B2B social network to one of the biggest global telecommunications brands in the world that understand the value (and effectiveness) of creating content and connections that are more authentic and experiential. There are many ways to do that and for our part, we're helping these B2B brands tap the expertise, influence and audiences of industry experts to create more meaningful content experiences. Another way we're working to elevate the B2B marketing industry is by putting a spotlight on marketing talent. A favorite way to do that is by curating and publishing thoughtful lists of professionals that are both practitioners and publishers of useful information. When it comes to influencer marketing in the B2B world, there's a lot to learn and luckily the B2B marketing pros on the list that follows have a lot to teach us. That's right, this is a list of influencers about B2B influencer marketing.

20 B2B Influencer Marketing Pros to Follow and Learn From in 2022

Rani Mani @ranimani0707 Head of Employee Advocacy at Adobe On the value of working with B2B influencers, Rani mentioned in our interview with her, "Something we’ve seen firsthand is crisis management and reputation management. When folks are misconstruing who we are and what we stand for, it’s so nice to have trusted advisors swoop in and save the day and explain what’s happening in a way that’s relatable and digestible for the everyday person. And it’s so much more believable when it comes from a peer vs. an executive from the company or a brand channel." Patrick Jones @whopjones Commercial Client Influencer Relations at Dell Technologies Evy Lyons @evylyons CMO at Traackr On the Renegade Podcast, Evy shared how B2B brands can break free using ideas from B2C influencer marketing: "What B2B is trying to do more of is be more creative and become more bold and find opportunities to stand out because everyone is using the same tactics. I think a B2B brand looking at a B2C company doing influencer marketing can get some ideas on how to creatively partner with folks outside their organization to create interesting content and experiences to reach their audience in an engaging way." Lina Forrestal @linaroque Influencer Marketing Program Manager at Cisco Ursula Ringham @ursularingham Head of Global Influencer Marketing at SAP Ursula share her thoughts in the report on what makes a B2B influencer: "To understand if an influencer is authentic, trustworthy and credible to partner with, first figure out who they are as a person. Read, listen and watch their content. What separates them?" Anton Shulke @anton_shulke Head of Influencer Marketing at Duda Justin Levy @justinlevy Director, Social and Influencer Marketing at Demandbase For the report, Justin offered his thoughts on the value of influence for B2B marketing: "Influencer marketing has accelerated amongst B2B brands and we’ll continue to see roles dedicated to influencer marketing since research shows buyers prefer to rely on industry experts." Treasa Dovander @treasadovander Head of Social Media, Leadership profiling & Influencer Engagement at Ericsson Digital Services Ryan Bares @RyanBares Global Influencer & Advocacy Lead at IBM To help B2B marketers get the most from influencer marketing vendors, Ryan shared: "For an effective B2B influencer marketing program, platform partners need to deliver impactful insights into the audiences of the influencers - line of business, interests, engagement, title." Kenny Gold @KRG Managing Director, Head of Social, Content and Influencer at Deloitte Digital Click Play - This post is brought to you by the 2022 State of Influencer Marketing Research Report - Check out the preview here or download the FULL Report. Rani Mani @ranimani0707 Head of Employee Advocacy at Adobe On the value of working with B2B influencers, Rani mentioned in our interview with her, "Something we’ve seen firsthand is crisis management and reputation management. When folks are misconstruing who we are and what we stand for, it’s so nice to have trusted advisors swoop in and save the day and explain what’s happening in a way that’s relatable and digestible for the everyday person. And it’s so much more believable when it comes from a peer vs. an executive from the company or a brand channel." Rob Hilsen @rhilsen VP, Influence Marketing at Genesys Paul Dobson @svengelsk Senior Director, Social and Influencer Marketing at Citrix In our previous interview with Paul, he talked about the ongoing value of B2B influencer relationships: "What I love most about working with influencers is the kind of range of “aha” moments that you have as you go along. And you work with them to form and build campaigns. Because the plans that you start off with, they kind of wiggle a bit. But you get there in the end and they change ever so slightly based on the interactions that you have with your influencers." Lucinda Henry @lucindarhenry1 Influencer Marketing Strategist at HPE Srijana Angdembey @srijanaa Director, Social Media & Influencer Marketing at Oracle On the topic of finding the right B2B influencers for the 2022 report, Srijana shared, "First ask, does the influencer fit your brand persona? Do your core values align? That doesn’t mean the content the influencer is creating is in your branding, it means that the content is authentic to both the company and the influencer’s audience. It is a win-win for both." Vasudha Badri-Paul @VasudhaBPaul Marketing and Sales Director/Advisor at Alan AI Angela Lipscomb @AngelaLipscomb Influencer Relations Manager at SAS On the future of influencer marketing for B2B companies, Angela shared, "B2B brands will start looking to new platforms to help reach a millennial and Gen Z audience. TikTok creators will join traditional technology influencers on the ‘influencer starting team’. Influencer managers will need to learn the nuances of working with these creators, but the basics will always hold true of being authentic, collaborative and relationship-oriented." Leah Marshall @LeapCast Director, Influencer Marketing at ANA Amisha Gandhi @AmishaGandhi SVP Marketing at Tipalti Amish shared a prediction about B2B influencer marketing: "The future is all about integrated marketing and customer experience. Marketers will need to plug the influencer component into the complex process of B2B purchasing cycles across all the touch points (from blog content to gated experiences to ABM to advocacy) to drive engagement and ROI." Ashley Zeckman @azeckman VP Strategy & Customer Success, North America at Onalytica Drew Tambling @drew_tambling Director of Analyst & Influencer Relations at Sprinklr By no means is this an exhaustive list because there are many more B2B marketing professionals working at B2B brands of all sizes that are actively engaging experts inside and outside the company to build influence - and that's great news to us. The number of dedicated and leadership influencer marketing roles at B2B brands has steadily increased every year since we started providing professional influencer marketing services to B2B companies back in 2012. Publishing and promoting lists like this over the years is truly an example of "a rising tide lifts all ships" as we do our small part to shine a spotlight on the talented marketers and B2B brands establishing the art and science of influence as part of the B2B marketing mix. I encourage you to follow these B2B marketing professionals on Twitter, LinkedIn or your preferred social platform of choice. To find out the best practices this group of marketers relies on for collaborating with influencers to create successful, authentic and meaningful content, be sure to check out our research highlights or download the full 2022 State of B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report.

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