Unify with Might: 12 Ways B2B Influencers are Building Strong Marketing Collaborations

How can B2B marketers build powerful and enduring collaborations using influencers?There are more tactics available today than ever for influencer collaboration in the B2B space, but how can marketers find those that are actually achieving ongoing success?We've been fortunate to feature top influencers from a number of industries in our third season of the Break Free B2B Marketing series of video interviews, and we wanted to share their top tactics for both being an influencer in the B2B space, and for improving collaboration.Letҳ dig in and learn how 12 subject matter experts are creating powerful collaborations between influencers and brands, with insightful tactics you can implement in your own marketing efforts as we head toward 2022.Ramon Ray of Smart Hustle Media@ramonray Founder, Smart Hustle Media[bctt tweet="Ӂlways look for partnerships, at how you can work with others, and at how you can think bigger and more strategically.ԠנRamon Ray @ramonray #BreakFreeB2B" username="toprank"]"I think there are different ways that brands do different things. One thing talking to the brand at least, I think, and the influencers, is that נfirst, are you clear on what the goals are? Why do they want you? Is it reaching numbers? It could be. For me, it's oftentimes that they want safety and security. We want someone who can consistently deliver and give us a good seminar, webinar, or host a product and be excited and draw the expertise out of our subject matter experts. So that's one," Ramon noted."Second נare you living your brand, offline and online? Meaning can they trust that what you tweet נwhat you post on Instagram, is going to be something that's going to make them proud. That's okay for the brands you're working with. So that's two. And I think point three, I think the other thing to consider is, are you within the wheelhouse of what they want? If you're an influencer for a headphone company, and you're not all about music, you may not be a fit," Ramon added."I think those are a few things that I think about when we look at how we're working with a brand, and how a brand may evaluate us נit's safety, security, we try to do the right thing, and be good to work with. And I think that's important," Ramon also shared.Watch, listen to or read Ramon's full interview by checking our the full blog post "Break Free B2B Marketing: Ramon Ray of Smart Hustle Media on Small Business Success & Thinking BigMinda Harts of The Memo@MindaHarts CEO and Founder, The Memo[bctt tweet="ӗhether you have 300 followers or 300,000, it's the way that you engage, and people have to trust you.ԠנMinda Harts @MindaHarts" username="toprank"]What what does it take to be a thought leader, subject matter expert or an influencer?әou know, I would say consistency. One of the things that I started before I had a best-selling book, or any of those things נI was consistent with the content that I put out there," Minda said."I picked one or two social media platforms, and I said, you know what, I'm going to give my all to these. My demographic is not on everything, right? So if I pick a couple, and I'm consistent, and every Monday I start with a newsletter, because you want to capture your fans or your potential clients. So I think that for me, it was being consistent," Minda added."Since 2015, every Monday I put out a newsletter. And then I repurpose that content on LinkedIn or Twitter נthose are the most active platforms I'm on. I also try to be authentic to my voice, and talk about the things that I know my demographics are interested in. I bring my personal stories, and I asked them questions," Minda shared."Whether you have 300 followers or 300,000, it's the way that you engage, and people have to trust you. Once you build that consistency and that trust, then all you need is those people who will constantly repurpose and retweet, and do some of those things. But it starts with that consistency. So make sure that you're being true and authentic to the voice that you add to your community," Minda explained.Check out Minda's full interview and visit our full blog post "Break Free B2B Marketing: Minda Harts of The Memo on Having Courageous ConversationsKeith Townsend of The CTO Advisor@CTOAdvisor Co-Founder, The CTO Advisory[bctt tweet="әou have to put your thoughts out there. And sometimes putting your thoughts out there is the scariest part about becoming anࠩnfluencer.ԠנKeith Townsend @CTOAdvisor" username="toprank"]Ӊ'm fine with calling it being a influencer, a thought leader, or whatever you want to call it. You have to put your thoughts out there. And sometimes putting your thoughts out there is the scariest part about becoming anࠩnfluencer נbut let's just call it being known within your industry," Keith shared."Becoming an independent influencer is a little more difficult, because there's not quite an established marketplace for the things that I do. So is going to the likes of TopRank Marketing or working directly with vendors to find out how do I help a vendor tell us their story, while keeping my authentic voice," Keith added.Ӕo stand out, donҴ avoid those difficult conversations,Ԡhe also noted.Watch Keith's full interview in "Break Free B2B Marketing: Keith Townsend of The CTO Advisor on Bringing Value Through FrictionDez Blanchfield of Sociaall@dez_blanchfield Founder, Sociaall Inc.[bctt tweet="Ӊf you're a bank, be a bank, focus on being the best bank you can, and look for things that are going to disrupt you. But don't try to be a phone company.ԠנDez Blanchfield @dez_blanchfield" username="toprank"]ӗhen we have a conversation, we don't just talk about influencer marketing. That's a tiny segment of what we do. It's taking an idea from a business plan and sales and marketing strategy in a go-to-market roadmap, around sales, marketing, comms, and business development, and mapping, 'what's the outcome you want?'," Dez shared."What have you started to do sales investing in? Where are the gaps in that? How can we fill those gaps of digital social conversations, and how can we create these campaigns to drive those outcomes such that if and when someone has a pain point or a buying decision, we have ensured נthrough driving awareness, education engagement, in the form of influence נthat you are top of mind and center of heart at that point of a buying decision," Dez added.Watch, listen to or read Dez' complete interview by checking our the full blog post "Break Free B2B Marketing: Dez Blanchfield of Sociaall on Joining the ConversationTamara McCleary of Thulium@TamaraMcCleary CEO, Thulium[bctt tweet="ӂe clear about why you want to work with an influencer, what you hope to get out of working with the influencer.Ԡנ@TamaraMcCleary" username="toprank"]"What is your purpose in using an influencer? Is your purpose to create brand awareness? Is your purpose to increase product sales? What is your purpose? Then, let's reverse engineer from that and go, 'Okay, who has the eyes and ears of the folks that are most interested in your product or service?'," Tamara shared."Once we start calling people followers, or an audience, we start diminishing them נthinking somehow they don't have any thought leadership. But the point of the matter is every single person has thought leadership, it's just whether or not they're building it by putting content out there," Tamara added."Be clear about why you want to work with an influencer, what you hope to get out of working with the influencer," Tamara suggested."If you don't work with an organization that knows what they're doing, that knows how to harness what that end result should be, knows what the influencer should be delivering to the organization, knows what the organization shouldn't be asking the influencer, having a company like like TopRank to do that is important, because when I see organizations try to do influencer marketing themselves, it often fails. And then the big bummer for that is when it fails, they think influencer marketing fails. Influencer marketing hasn't failed. It's just the way you did it failed. You didn't do it right," Tamara observed.Watch Tamara's full episode, "Break Free B2B Marketing: Tamara McCleary of Thulium on Visions of the Future and Doing No HarmNicole Brady of SAHM Reviews@SahmReviews Publisher, SAHM Reviews[bctt tweet="ӄo your thing, do what you're good at. You want to start a business because you want to fill a niche. You have to be doing it because you're passionate about it.ԠנNicole Brady @SahmReviews" username="toprank"]What makes influencer content powerful?ӂecause it's real. It's someone that is sharing their opinions. It's not scripted. It's not a commercial," Nicole explained."Do your thing, do what you're good at. You want to start a business because you want to fill a niche. You have to be doing it because you're passionate about it," Nicole added.ӆind out what makes you different and what makes people want to talk to you, and then leverage it. Share those details, and create content around those details. As more and more people are on social media, being able to find those out-of-the-box environmental things that make you tick נthat you might not have known נshowing them off, thatҳ the way to do it.ԗatch, listen to or read Nicole's full interview by checking our the full blog post "Break Free B2B Marketing: Nicole Brady of SAHM Reviews on the Importance of Empathy in Reaching Your NicheEric Vanderburg of TCDI@evanderburg Vice President of Cybersecurity, TCDI[bctt tweet="ӓometimes the influencer stuff can get almost like a back door sponsored content kind of thing, or an endorsement,ࠡnd that's something that we definitely try to avoid. Make sure the brand shares the values that you have.Ԡנ@vtamethodman" username="toprank"]Ӎeeting other influencers in the space and learning how we all could better support one another, and how they were getting their messages out," has been a helpful approach, Eric noted."I've always seen this as bigger than any individu...