How the Most Successful B2B Marketers Approach Influencer Marketing in 2021

According to the 2020 State of B2B Influencer Marketing Report, 96% of B2B marketers that engage influencers consider their program to be successful and 90% expect their budget for influencer marketing to increase or stay the same over the next 12 months. Why the confidence? 77% of marketers say their prospective customers rely on advice from industry experts with 84% engaging influencers to create brand awareness and 69% counting on influencers for lead generation. Influence plays a role across the entire B2B customer lifecycle from awareness to advocacy and with B2B marketing going decidedly digital during the pandemic and uncertainty of 2020, the importance of peer, expert and influencer recommendations through social and digital media are more important than ever. Without question, the uncertainties driven by economic, political and public health have affected business customers in a variety of ways from pausing on purchasing to taking more time to do research on solutions. How B2B marketers adapt to these changes is essential for success in 2021 and beyond. So how are B2B brands like LinkedIn, SAP, monday.com and others finding marketing wins during a time of uncertainty? One way is through understanding which voices are most influential to their customers and then partnering with those influencers to collaborate on content used for thought leadership, brand engagement and lead generation. Based on research of hundreds of B2B marketers, several best practices have emerged to optimize content with influence. The most successful B2B influencer marketing programs share certain characteristics including:

• Engaging in ongoing (Always-On) influencer marketing vs. periodic campaigns
• Rely on industry experts and analysts vs. purely social influencers
• Use blogs as content publishing platforms
• Use software to identify and qualify influencers vs. gut feel
• Create interactive content with influencers
• Have a centralized influencer marketing program
• Have a documented influencer marketing strategy

But what can B2B brands expect from influencers? Everything from increased social reach to improved credibility of brand content to increases in leads in sales.

Working with the right influencers, you build credibility with the audience you are trying to reach. influencers can help you deliver content that solves problems, educates and inspires your intended audience. The biggest benefit is the engagement, how you can work with your influencers to create meaningful engagement that leads to the right outcomes for your brand. Amisha Gandhi, VP Influencer Marketing and Communications at SAP

B2B Influence in Action: Monday.com

When the pandemic swept through the world in 2020, monday.com identified an opportunity to help support teams that had gone from working in-office to working remotely. To help position itself as a valuable resource for remote teams, Monday.com partnered with TopRank Marketing to develop an influencer marketing program featuring remote work experts that could reach and engage teams facing remote work challenges more effectively than the brand on its own. By engaging influencers with audiences hungry for information about remote work best practices, the Monday.com influencer program added value to the target audience and increased awareness of Monday.com's solutions.

• 1,790% above goal social reach from influencer shares
• 300k organic brand social impressions from influences
• Nearly 3k video views of a livestream featuring 2 influencers during the first week

Learn more about Monday.com's best practices approach to working with B2B influencers in this case study. Engaging influencers creates a competitive advantage for B2B brands.

Influencers' industry expertise lends credibility that results in convincing and converting your target audience. Rani Mani, Head of Employee Advocacy at Adobe

Our research supports Rani's insight with 77% of marketers saying their prospective customers rely on advice from industry experts. What B2B marketers can do to take advantage of the influence opportunity is to decide what topics the brand wants to be known for that customers are seeking. Using topics of influence, a content marketing program can be developed that incorporates industry experts that are influential about those same topics. Collaborating on content of mutual value provides influencers an incentive to help share that content with potential customers that are likely ignoring ads and formal brand marketing. As B2B brands continue to engage influencers, benefits include content for demand and lead gen as well as relationships with trusted voices that can organically advocate for the brand. For many B2B marketers, the challenges of this past year have forced an even greater focus on marketing that is more in line with how buyers are discovering, engaging and acting on digital information. These challenges have also put a greater emphasis on marketing strategies that create a true return and impact on the business. Engaging with relevant, trusted influencers provides an opportunity to do both. Learn more about B2B influencer marketing best practices from the most successful B2B brands by getting your copy of the State of B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report.

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B2B Marketing News: LinkedIn’s 2021 Planning Report, Traits of Top B2B Performers Study, Google’s Question Hub, & Apple’s Search Aspirations

LinkedIn Shares New Usage Insights for Your 2021 Planning [Infographic] Microsoft-owned LinkedIn (client) has released updated usage statistics showing that the professional social network's LinkedIn Live video streams have increased by 89 percent since March, along with strong levels of member engagement — two of numerous statistics of interest to digital marketers. Social Media Today Google Question Hub Is Open & It's A Great Way To Find Content Ideas Google has rolled out a new service showing unanswered search question data, offering U.S users access to its Question Hub for the first time — a feature previously only available in three non-U.S. nations. Search Engine Roundtable Why B2B marketers need to bet big on ‘The Big Long’ Brand investment is key for providing business value according to data from the 2030 Marketing Trends report from Linkedin’s The B2B Institute, and Marketing Week explores five of the key benefits that come from building a B2B brand. Marketing Week The Top 20 Content Marketing Hashtags, Topics, and Searches 71 percent of content marketers use a digital marketing hashtag alongside their content marketing tag, while strategy, SEO, and social media are the top three topics discussed with content marketing, according to newly-released study data from SEMrush examining more than 600,000 tweets and Google searches, the firm announced. MarketingProfs Most Covered Terms Of 2020: 'COVID-19,' 'Digital,' 'Personalization,' 'Meaningful' COVID-19, "meaningful" and "personalization" led the way when it came to the most covered search terms during 2020 at MediaPost, in its annual look at the most-referenced terms of the year. MediaPost Bing Webmaster Tools adds crawl requests, crawl errors & indexed pages to performance report Microsoft's Bing has added new functionality to its Bing Webmaster Tools utilities, with additional metrics that can aid marketers in spotting potential trouble-spots, the firm recently announced. Search Engine Land Emerging New Brand Role: Enabler Of Personal Innovation Brands increasingly see success when they create conditions that foster personal innovation, according to recently-released annual trend report data showing a variety of new forms of interaction and brand-shaping. MediaPost Amazon acquires podcast network Wondery Amazon has acquired the podcasting network Wondery, the firm recently announced, noting that the newly-acquired podcast network will be added to Amazon Music, offering new opportunities for digital marketers seeking to promote podcast content. TechCrunch Apple Granted Patent Supporting Further Development Of Search Technology Apple has received a patent that will allow it to delve further into search engine functionality, with domain-based influencer scoring among the firm's search technologies that were granted a patent, Apple recently announced. MediaPost Fortella Releases “State of B2B Marketing: 2021” Report, Examines the Traits of Top-Performing Marketing Departments 64 percent of B2B marketers find budgeting resources to be a top challenge, followed by tracking, quality data, and finding the right talent, according to recently-released survey data exploring top challenge strategies and tactics employed by marketing executives at leading B2B companies. MarTech Series ON THE LIGHTER SIDE: A lighthearted look at “we’re going agile” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist Adweek’s Most Popular Online Stories of 2020 — Adweek TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• SAP — Global CMO of SAP Discusses Intersectionality in The Business of Marketing — Adweek

Have you found your own top B2B marketing story from the past week of industry news? Please let us know in the comments below. Thanks for joining us for another edition of our B2B marketing news, and we hope that you will return again next Friday for more of the most relevant B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news.

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How B2B Marketers Can Get Closer to Their Customers

Last year I finished up my fifth full year as a B2B marketer. A lot has changed in that half decade. When I started, there was a growing movement: “B2B marketing doesn’t have to be boring.”  Now we’ve finally moved on to, “B2B marketing can’t afford to be boring.” We’ve finally acknowledged that B2B buyers are people — they want useful information, they want to be entertained, and they’re just as bored by corporate-speak-laden white papers as everyone else. To our credit, I think marketers already knew this. We just had to convince the rest of the organization.  For the most part,  we marketers have more leeway to choose the best way to reach our audience. And, of course, with that freedom comes responsibility.  How do we hit the sweet spot of what our audience wants to hear, and what our brand is trying to get across? How do we give them that value that inspires reciprocity? Here’s how B2B marketers can get closer to their audience in 2021.

#1: Ask the Sales Team

Let’s make 2021 the year we finally ditch the sales v. marketing mentality for good. Tighter alignment between the members of the Revenue Squad can only benefit everyone.  The sales team has a wealth of insights about your target audience. They’re the ones taking meetings, answering questions, talking one-on-one with members of the buying committee. In short, sales can tell you where the sticking points are, where more persuasion is needed, and what type of content ultimately sways people toward a purchase. Tight alignment with sales will make your content more relevant to your audience and more useful for your sales team.

#2: Flip the Script on SEO 

Are you still thinking of SEO as, “The way to get search engines to recommend our content?” If so, it’s time to update that mentality.  The most valuable function of keyword research right now is to determine what humans are searching for and how those queries are worded. It’s all about guiding content creation to match your audience’s demand, from the planning stages through execution. The best SEO strategy is to create content that genuinely meets — and exceeds — your audience’s needs. If your content doesn’t meet a proven need, no amount of keyword stuffing or H1 tagging will grant it visibility. Make your keyword research a tool for understanding your audience. What do they want? How are they trying to find it? How can you be the best answer?

#3: Broaden Your Horizons

B2B buyers don’t spend their entire waking lives thinking about work. If we want to know our audiences better, we need to think about the broader context of their lives, too.  When we see our potential buyers more holistically, we have a much broader canvas for relevant content. We can talk about maintaining work-life balance, the challenges of remote work, even the challenges that working parents face in relating to their children.   Any topic for content is relevant, provided that 1) Your employees or brand has expertise on it, and 2) It serves to make your audience’s life better in some meaningful way.  If you’ve been stuck writing “X more reasons you should try our solution” style content, let this broader context inspire you to write more useful, helpful content that takes the whole person into consideration.

#4: Explore Influence

At the heart of it, marketers are trying to earn people’s attention. It makes perfect sense to take lessons from the folks who have already captured that interest — people who are already engaging and serving your target audience. Tools like Traackr and Buzzsumo can help you determine which voices your audience is listening to. From there, you can see what type of content they’re creating, how they’re capturing interest, and let that inform your own content creation. And, of course, you can take it to the next level: Co-creating content with these influencers and reaching their audience directly (see our 2020 State of B2B Influencer Marketing report for more).

#5: Above All, Be Useful

When we see our target audience as people, rather than B2B buyers (or a target audience, for that matter), we can begin to practice truly radical empathy. Not just the empathy that lets us walk in someone’s shoes long enough to sell them something, either.  I mean the type of empathy that leads us to find out how to improve their personal and professional lives, to be genuinely useful, to lift people up because we care about them. Content that sets out with this aim in mind is guaranteed to pull you and your customers closer together. And, of course, helping people and caring about their success is a great way to earn attention, build relationships, and develop long-standing loyalty to your brand.  In fact, it may be the only way we have left to do all of the above. Need help creating content that gets you closer to your customers? We’ve got you covered.

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5 More Handy Tools For 2021’s Busy B2B Marketers

Most B2B marketers in 2021 are busier than ever due to the pandemic, remote work challenges, and increased expectations to show results. Thankfully, keeping pace with the swift changes marketers face today are a whole slew of tools tasked with streamlining busy marketing efforts. We’ll take a look at some of these helpful tools for busy marketers, and several new social media platforms that are poised to rise during the year ahead, all to help refine and augment your B2B marketing strategy. Sorting through lists of the seemingly endless number of available marketing tools and platforms can be frustrating as well as a hit and miss proposition, however we’ve put this collection together so that you can skip the search and get right into tools you can use today to help you create unforgettable B2B marketing stories. Let’s jump in with our collection of handy tools and platforms to boost your marketing experiences.

1 — Awario

Awario is a social media and web monitoring tool offering a variety of real-time social listening and analytics features, focused on bringing brands insights about their customers, competitors, and industries. Awario also hosts an active industry blog, which our CEO and co-founder Lee Odden has mentioned in “Over 50 Top Social Media Marketing Blogs.” The competitive intelligence and instant social listening feature set Awario offers can also be helpful for B2B influencer marketing, providing insight into whether mentions are positive or not, as well as other functions including global location data, topic clouds, and additional demographic information that can help ward off potential customer care issues.

2 — Descript

Descript allows marketers to create podcasts, videos, transcripts and more through a collection of powerful collaborative tools, highlighted by the ability to edit audio using text instead of traditional wave-forms. The collection of utilities Descript has brought together aims to make video editing similar to a video word processor, to speed up development time and increase productivity and efficiency — all areas busy marketers are looking to do better in 2021.

3 — Telegram

While more a platform than a tool at heart, by recently courting the half billion user mark, cross-platform, cloud-based instant messaging and video call platform Telegram — noted for its word-of-mouth insight — now represents a wealth of opportunities for marketers looking for new customer engagement sources. In 2021, marketers will likely see the free service launch its first advertising platform, presenting opportunities via its public one-to-many channels.

4 — Clubhouse

Audio-based social platform Clubhouse has generated considerable interest for a limited-release service, in part due to Silicon Valley backing that has led to some 600,000 invitation-only users registering to use its pop-up audio chat room features. Active involvement of celebrities on the platform has also played a part, and the app’s recent “Creator Pilot Program” has also increased interest among curious marketers. Marketers have for the most part cautiously observed Clubhouse, yet 2021 is nearly certain to see more brands — undoubtedly including certain B2B firms — testing the waters at Clubhouse when it becomes publicly available. Some marketers including industry veteran Dennis Yu have shared their initial forays into using Clubhouse, while others such as A. Lee Judge are actively seeking marketing perspectives for embracing the new platform. Creative professionals in multiple industries are weighing in as well, such as photographers and those in technology.

5 — DATAtab Statistics Calculator

Bringing complex statistical calculation functionality to private and secure web browser sessions is the specialty of DATAtab, a simple and swift tool marketers can use to perform browser-based data analysis without having to send important data to the cloud. The service forgoes tracking cookies and third party providers, offering more secure handling of sensitive data. An additional bonus spreadsheet-related tool from Microsoft allows marketers to incorporate certain elements of machine learning into Microsoft Excel data, providing a glimpse of how artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being used in various aspects of marketers’ lives.

Get Off The Marketing Assembly Line With Helpful Tools

via GIPHY We hope you’ve found several new-to-you marketing tools and up-and-coming platforms among those we’ve taken a look at here, and that you’ll find them helpful as you build new campaigns in 2021, and that they'll also help build your own team’s knowledge. Need more helpful tools? Here are several articles we’ve written exploring additional tools for B2B marketers:

• Inside Influence 13: Tim Williams from Onalytica on Optimizing B2B Influencer Experiences
• Inside Influence 11: Marshall Kirkpatrick from Sprinklr on Elevating B2B Content with Influencers
• Inside Influence 7: Pierre-Loïc Assayag from Traackr on Influencer Marketing Technology
• 5 Unheralded SEO Tools for Content Marketers
• 10 Fresh Social Media Marketing Tools To Boost Brand Storytelling
• 31 DIY Marketing Tools To Create Remarkable Experiences
• 10 Smart Question Research Tools for B2B Marketers
• How B2B Marketers Can Make the Most of Interactive Content Tools
• The Content Marketer’s Toolbox: 3 ‘Real-Life’ Tools for Gaining Insight, Inspiration, & Amplification

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Pitfall! Steering Clear of 5 Common B2B Content Marketing Missteps

It’s been almost 40 years since Pitfall!, the classic side-scrolling platformer for the original Atari, was first released. David Crane’s creation went on to become one of the first console video game hits, selling more than 4 million copies, and is now remembered as an influential breakthrough for the medium. Why did Pitfall! gain such rampant popularity? Because it was realistic and relatable! I’m not talking about the pixelated 2D graphics or exotic jungle setting. I’m talking about the basic premise of problem-solving. The game is full of traps, hazards, and challenges, but there’s always a way around them. “Oh hey, a giant pit full of alligators. How will I get to the other side? Perhaps by grabbing hold of that swinging vine…” via Gfycat Today’s B2B content marketers may feel like they’re navigating a landscape filled with pitfalls — dangers or difficulties that are easily encountered but not immediately obvious. To help you on your journey, we’ve identified five of the most pervasive pitfalls so you can spot them and avoid them.

5 Pitfalls in B2B Content Marketing & How to Steer Clear

From messaging to strategy to execution, these are five of the most counterproductive missteps that are commonly made by modern content marketing practitioners. 1 — Speaking to the Many Instead of the Few If you’re talking to everybody, you’re talking to nobody. This is a critical guiding philosophy, which may run counter to the way many marketers and writers were trained. (Especially those with backgrounds in journalism or media.) There’s a natural compulsion to make B2B content as accessible and broadly applicable possible, in order to maximize the potential reach. But with so much information and so many resources at the fingertips of today’s decision makers, marketers need to get more specific and direct. Joel Goobich of Vestorly called out “vague, generalized content” at the top of his recent list of B2B content marketing mistakes shared at Forbes. “Why would your B2B audience want to consume content that doesn’t speak directly to them and their interests?” he wonders. “Often B2B content is overly generalized and lacks a target audience and specific industry focus.” What To Do: Narrow your scope. Get a clear handle on the audience(s) you want to reach, and the unique qualities, characteristics, or challenges that differentiate them from other segments. Don’t be afraid to turn away those readers or viewers who won’t find the content useful. Then, make sure your measurement strategy aligns with this selective approach. In other words, de-prioritize vanity metrics like impressions in favor of those measuring business impact. 2 — Strategizing SEO Around Keywords Instead of Intent Keywords have been the driving force in search engine optimization for many years, serving as a cornerstone in the strategic framework for many content strategies. And keywords still have a valuable purpose. But more and more, achieving success with SEO initiatives is about understanding search intent and aligning with the motivations of searchers. There are several reasons for this:

1. Unless you operate in a novel industry or vertical, it’s likely that the most valuable keywords you’re targeting are highly competitive. Focusing on search intent lends itself to longer-tail keywords and semantic searches, opening up more topical areas to pursue with your content.
2. Accounting for intent rather than solely looking at keywords makes the content better. Traditionally, businesses have had a tendency to say, “This keyword has high volume and is relevant to our industry, let’s write blog posts that tie it to our product.” But if it’s not a keyword with transactional or commercial intent, then such an angle will likely miss the mark with searchers.
3. For this reason, intent-based SEO content is more successful. It moves creators away from outdated tricks like keyword-stacking, and toward methods that actually help content rank today. A recent post from Backlinko notes that “satisfying Search Intent is ultimately Google’s #1 goal,” while pointing out that Google’s latest Quality Rater Guidelines (released in October of 2020) are “OBSESSED with Search Intent.”

What To Do: Make search intent the foundation of your SEO strategy, giving keywords and search phrases the context they need to be meaningful. The informative post from Backlinko above, as well as Google’s report on how intent is redefining the marketing funnel, are enlightening reads on the subject. [bctt tweet="“Make search intent the foundation of your SEO strategy, giving keywords and search phrases the context they need to be meaningful.” — Nick Nelson @NickNelsonMN" username="toprank"] 3 — Failing to Connect with Relevance One reason Pitfall! was such a hit back in the early 1980s is that it struck a resonant chord with audiences, who were transfixed by its treasure-hunting adventure theme following the 1981 theatrical release of Raiders of the Lost Ark. This same dynamic was at play with early arcade breakthroughs like Space Invaders and Asteroids, which channeled the sci-fi enthusiasm fueled by movies like Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. What do the people in your audience care about? Don’t limit your thinking to their professional interests. One of my favorite case studies from our clients at LinkedIn highlighted a company called SolarWinds, which recognized that its IT customer base tended to share a special affinity for sci-fi and Star Wars especially. So they did a promotion on LinkedIn that involved giving away a multitool in the shape of the Millenium Falcon. SolarWinds’ manager of demand and marketing later said the campaign’s engagement was “probably the highest I’ve ever seen for any campaign that I’ve run across any platform.” What To Do: Scrutinize your content hooks — the introductory sentences of articles or the early seconds of a video — to confirm you’re drawing an immediate thread of relevance with your audience. Never put yourself or your solutions first. And, in accordance with item No. 1 on this list, aim to be narrow instead of broad. 4 — Speaking to the Mind and Not the Heart Business decisions are made on the basis of rational and logical drivers, out of necessity. But they are not made solely through those lenses. Humans are complex and emotional beings, not robots. In our recent round-up of B2B content marketing predictions for 2021, Ty Heath suggested that 2020’s pandemic “will accelerate the shift to a ‘right-brain’ movement,” with greater emphasis on humor, storytelling, and emotion. Engaging your audience at a deeper level will help you build genuine trust, which is the single most essential ingredient for long-term business success. What To Do: Challenge yourself and your team to create content that goes beyond dry informational details, specs, features, and product benefits. Cultivate a brand voice that is professional but not overly formal and stuffy. Build trust through storytelling. 5— Failing to Learn from Failure Although Pitfall! was a bit before my time, I learned much about trial-and-error from my early experiences with 8-bit video games. Back then, it was all about learning from your mistakes — “Oops, I just fell into the lava and died … I’ll remember that was there next time through.” Content marketing isn’t quite the same, because we’re not just playing through the same level over and over again, but there are always constructive lessons to be taken away from a dead end or disappointing outcome. Learning and growing often requires a willingness to fail. The alternative is constantly playing it safe, which in the end isn’t really all that safe. In her own prediction for 2021, Carla Johnson cautions against this urge, which may be heightened in a precarious economic environment. She argues that responding to the demands of 2020 left marketers with “no room for trial and error,” and that in the coming year, “B2B content marketing will be about taking smart risks that lead to more innovative work.” What To Do: Experiment! Make small bets and take measured risks as you seek out fresh ways to engage and connect with your audience. Ironically, one of the biggest mistakes we can make as B2B content marketers is being too afraid to make mistakes. [bctt tweet="“Ironically, one of the biggest mistakes we can make as B2B content marketers is being too afraid to make mistakes.” — Nick Nelson @NickNelsonMN" username="toprank"]

Here’s to Smooth Sailing in 2021

Every marketer is bound to hit their share of snags and setbacks this year. But if we stay vigilant in avoiding the pitfalls we can anticipate —like the five cited above — and embrace the unpredictable hardships as opportunities to learn and adapt, we’ll make it through and come out stronger on the other end. For more guidance and inspiration to carry you through the new year, check out our top 10 content marketing posts from 2020.

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45 B2B Influencer Marketing Statistics to Optimize Your 2021 Marketing

We've finally turned the corner to 2021 and like many other marketers in the B2B world, I am ready to make this year better than ever. One source of inspiration I've found effective are the insights from industry research. That's one of the main reasons we conducted the first research survey around B2B influencer marketing. Having watched the growth of influence in marketing for B2B companies closely over the past 9 years, 2021 represents a significant opportunity for marketers to connect with the trusted voices in their industry to co-create content, inspire meaningful engagement and community, motivate authentic brand advocacy and boost influence of brand executives and subject matter experts as well as the brand itself. The data for B2B influencer marketing are compelling:

• 74% of marketers agree that influencer marketing improves customer and prospect experience with the brand
• 63% of marketers agree that marketing would have better results if it included a B2B influencer marketing program
• 12X more marketers are very successful who run always-on influencer programs vs. those who do periodic campaigns
• 60% of marketers who do not implement ongoing influencer marketing programs report not having the right skills in-house or knowledge to execute

But where should you start? Where should you optimize? What are successful B2B marketers doing when it comes influencer marketing? To help answer those questions and more, I've pulled out 45 key statistics from the State of B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report:

The B2B Influence Advantage

• 96% of B2B brands are confident about influencer marketing
• 90% of B2B companies expect their budget for influencer marketing to increase or stay the same in the next 12 months
• 77% of marketers say their prospective customers rely on advice from industry experts
• 84% of B2B marketers work with influencers to create brand awareness
• 69% of B2B marketers work with influencers to help generate new leads
• 78% of B2B marketers achieved increased social reach of brand content working with influencers
• 64% of B2B marketers increased the credibility of brand content working with influencers
• 53% of B2B marketers increased new leads by working with influencers
• 34% of B2B marketers increased sales by working with influencers
• 91% of B2B marketers say relevance of audience is the top criteria for selecting an influencer

"Engaging with influencers provides a myriad of competitive advantages." Rani Mani, Head of Employee Advocacy at Adobe

See how Monday.com created a marketing advantage working with influencers to drive 1,790% above goal social reach from influencer shares of brand content. Case Study

The Engine of B2B Influence is Always On

• 60% of B2B marketers who use always-on influencer marketing are very successful vs. 5% of those who use periodic campaigns
• 34% of B2B marketers engage in always-on influencer marketing programs
• 25% of B2B marketers engage in intermittent influencer marketing campaigns
• 75% of marketers using always-one influencer engagement saw an increase in views of brand content
• 94% of B2B marketers using an always-on approach believe influencer marketing will grow in importance in the next 12 months
• 89% of B2B marketers using an always-on approach expect their budgets to increase or remain the same in the next 12 months
• 87% of B2B marketers collaborate on content with influencers
• 82% of B2B marketers engage influencers to promote brand content
• 66% of B2B marketers engage influencers to participate in events
• 58% of B2B marketers work with influencers as brand ambassadors
• 35% of B2B marketers work with influencers as brand advisors

"B2B brands would be wise to adopt an always-on influencer engagement approach and they look to build true brand advocates." Garnor Morantes, Group Marketing Manager at LinkedIn

See how LinkedIn approached building a 75 strong influencer community organically with an always-on approach to influencer engagement resulting in nearly 2,000 brand mentions and 84 million in reach. Case Study

B2B Influencer Marketing Integration

• 90% of B2B marketers integrate influencer marketing with social media marketing
• 83% of B2B marketers integrate influencer marketing with content marketing
• 56% of B2B marketers integrate influencer marketing with public relations
• 50% of B2B marketers integrate influencer marketing with SEO
• 32% of B2B marketers integrate influencer marketing with ABM
• 83% of B2B marketers work with influencers to create blog posts
• 67% of B2B marketers work with influencers to create recorded video
• 64% of B2B marketers work with influencers to create webinars
• 59% of B2B marketers work with influencers to create interviews
• 52% of B2B marketers work with influencers to create podcasts
• 48% of B2B marketers work with influencers to create live video

"Integrating influencer content is a direct line to building trust and customer confidence." Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs

See how Cherwell Software integrated their influencer marketing with content and social media to achieve a 342% better click through rate on content reaching a relevant audience that was 90% new. Case Study

B2B Influencer Marketing Operations

• 39% of marketers say their top challenge with influencer marketing is that the process is too manual
• 25% of less successful B2B marketers use software vs. 50% of the most successful to identify influencers
• 68% of the most successful influencer marketers have a documented strategy vs. 25% of the least successful marketers
• 76% of B2B marketers use software to identify influencers
• 66% of B2B marketers use software to monitor influencer social network activity
• 64% of B2B marketers use software to qualify influencers
• 63% of B2B marketers use software to measure and report on influencer campaign results
• 43% of B2B marketers use software to manage influencer campaigns
• 41% of B2B marketers use software to manage and nurture influencer relationships

"You need to come up with a strategy, plan of action and a process. All incorporate various tools and techniques and will give you the knowledge and skills to run a successful influencer marketing program." Ursula Ringham, Global Head of Influencer Marketing at SAP

See how SAP's influencer driven podcast, Tech Unknown was operationalized for multiple internal and external objectives resulting in a reach of 128 million from influencer shares and a 66% increase in downloads. Case Study Whether you're just getting started and considering a pilot project or you're looking to optimize your existing influencer marketing efforts, you can find insights and inspiration from the State of B2B Influencer Marketing Report as well as the Inside B2B Influence interview series featuring top B2B brand marketers from companies like Adobe, Citrix, Dell, IBM, LinkedIn, Onalytica, Oracle, Salesforce, SAP, Sprinklr, Spirion, and Traackr.

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B2B Marketing News: B2B Video ROI Climbs, Google Updates Audience Manager, Rising Social Network Usage Forecast, & Qualtrics Files For IPO

Social networks will experience a pandemic-driven boost in 2020—but not equally Greater than predicted numbers of users have flocked to social media this pandemic year, according to recently-released survey data of interest to digital marketers, with 150 million more global users for 2020 than previously estimated. eMarketer Snapchat Shares New insights into Consumer Behavior and Trends Mobile eCommerce, augmented reality (AR) campaigns and an uptick in video are among the key shifts in consumer trends and behavior, according to a newly-released user insight report from Snapchat. Social Media Today Twitter expands API features for developers tracking the public conversation Better integration of Twitter’s new tweet reply privacy control features are among an array of new API inter-connectivity changes, the social media platform recently announced. TechCrunch Google Ads Estimated List Size Now In Audience Manager Handy list size estimates have been added to Google Ads’ Audience Manager for audience lists of 20K or more, along with other new features, the search giant recently announced. SEO Roundtable How to Keep Your Team Motivated, Remotely The Harvard Business Review takes a look at the changing roles of experimenting, adapting, and growing remote team productivity and motivation that have arisen during the pandemic. Harvard Business Review Google Short Videos Carousel Displays TikTok & Instagram Videos Google has expanded a test that previously only included YouTube videos within Google mobile search results, now also including videos from both Instagram and TikTok, Google recently revealed. SEO Roundtable SAP-owned Qualtrics files for U.S. IPO Online survey specialist software firm Qualtrics has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in the U.S., for up to $100 million, the SAP-owned company recently announced. Reuters Creative Tech Platform Runway Raises $8.5 Million to Make AI Tools More Accessible With a new funding round of $8.5 million, creative technology platform Runway — which hosts an app-store-like variety of creative tech — takes aim at a transition into a full-fledged serious creative tool firm. Adweek Vimeo is becoming a standalone company after booming during the pandemic IAC/InterActiveCorp plans to spin off its popular Vimeo video streaming service during the second quarter of 2021, after seeing particularly successful user growth during the global health crisis. The Verge B2B Video ROI Reportedly Improving; Use in Sales Conversations Climbs 79 percent of mostly B2B marketers said that video was an important form of video for their organization, an increase from the 71 percent recorded in 2019, according to recently-released survey data of interest to online marketers. MarketingCharts ON THE LIGHTER SIDE: A lighthearted look at “marketing resolutions” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist The Secret History of the First Microprocessor, the F-14, and Me — Wired TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• Lee Odden — Total Annarchy Newsletter 76: Brand Storytelling Template; My 2 Proven Ways to Increase Open, Click Rates — Total Annarchy

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The post B2B Marketing News: B2B Video ROI Climbs, Google Updates Audience Manager, Rising Social Network Usage Forecast, & Qualtrics Files For IPO appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.