Social media has changed the world. Not only has private life been completely turned upside down, but the business world has also taken a new direction. Along with this, the way we buy and sell, and how we perceive brands, has also changed.
Today, marketing and advertising depend far more on social media mechanisms than on "traditional" channels. We either actively search via Google, YouTube, or Amazon, or increasingly, we readily allow others to suggest answers, solutions, and inspiration to us (SOCIAL).
It should be emphasized that people on the internet are not simply looking for a product, but for added value, which can only be provided by a solution or a product.
"No customer ever buys a product. They always buy what the product does for them." Peter Drucker
For marketers, salespeople and brands, however, this means: we need to start even more strongly with the persona and their tendency towards SEARCH or SOCIAL in order to find possible points of contact via content marketing.
This is also underscored by a recent study: The MUI study by the Y&R Group Switzerland shows a critical trend: 30 percent of digital natives consider influencers more credible than traditional media – and this trend is rising.Link to the study)
While the urgent and bored search and at most the bored social level are still easy to understand, "Urgent Social" is already more difficult.
One method to fill this gap is "influencer marketing." But what exactly is that, and especially for B2B companies? What are the advantages if my avocado toast is prepared with a drill? You see where I'm going with this.
What is influencer marketing and how does it work?
Influencers are thought leaders, trendsetters, or experts within a topic or industry. They shape opinions and contribute to the development of new information and understanding, as they are pioneers in their respective fields. We primarily know influencers as celebrities, bloggers, or lifestyle personalities, but this doesn't go far enough.
Influencers can leverage social media networks and their ability to engage and inspire people to influence the opinions of their followers. They are essentially brand ambassadors or salespeople, only the sales process is much more subtle and far-reaching. The study mentioned earlier delves even deeper into this topic.
The percentage of Swiss residents who say they follow influencers remains virtually unchanged from the previous year at 59 percent. Influencers are individuals who have built up a large and influential community through their activities on social media, where they enjoy high relevance and credibility and can therefore influence opinions.
Influencers are, in fact, (online and offline) personalities who are highly knowledgeable in one or more topics and position themselves accordingly. I recently heard a good analogy in a workshop: "Just like our keynote speakers at the last company event!" – exactly! This is where the connection to the B2B topic arises – because it's often a B2B2C situation. There are countless well-known individuals who understand social media without explicitly identifying as influencers! These include not only subject matter experts but also company employees who already have a strong network (or, in modern parlance, a large reach) or who have made a name for themselves in the industry through blog posts or community contributions.
It's not always necessary to employ (and pay) someone with over 100,000 followers. Even a social media presence with fewer than 10,000 followers can be effective if the right niche is found and engagement is used wisely.
How do I find someone who "influences" me?
Influencers should encourage their readers and listeners to actively engage with the content and participate in the discussion. Micro-influencers and micro-critics should not be ignored, but actively included in the engagement.
This also means, of course, that the influencer must be credible in the niche – a supermodel specializing in cosmetics will have little impact in an industry that manufactures cement.
Therefore, it's crucial to understand what's happening within an influencer's existing community and how their followers interact. Do the followers themselves write blog posts about the influencer's ideas, videos, tweets, or posts? How high is the engagement level? All of these factors must be considered when choosing an influencer.
As soon as an influencer becomes interested in a brand, product, or trend, they will share this with their community: a blog post, a video, or a social media post will be created. This will then filter through to the users who follow that influencer. If the topic is interesting (and influencers know how to make topics interesting), it will be shared and discussed further. This way, the idea or product gains more and more exposure to the post.
The budget will likely be the first hurdle, generally determining what kind of influencer is suitable for a company and what kind of campaign can be implemented. A single blog post will be relatively inexpensive, but will never achieve the reach of a long-term collaboration, which also builds credibility.
Why building your own influencers makes sense
Influencers are personalities. They are salespeople and trendsetters. They are "celebrities" in their own circles and understand self-promotion perfectly. Their entire professional life is geared towards selling their own product – themselves.
Companies and brands can benefit from this by getting a "piece of the pie" through various methods, meaning directing some of the attention given to the influencer to their own brand.
Brand endorsement is one option (where the influencer openly addresses their followers and explains why they particularly value this brand), but content creation (where a brand or product is discussed seemingly neutrally, and then the reasons for its value are explained) is much more effective. This allows the expert to directly contribute their own added value.
Depending on how the relationship with the influencer is established, and how deeply the influencer can and wants to go to push the brand, all these methods can be used to introduce the brand to the audience and sell the product.
It's important to note that the influencer will never directly suggest that the product should be purchased. Rather, it's a natural recommendation that appears to be without ulterior motives. This is one of the reasons why influencers are so successful: the recommendation comes across as coming from a friend, not from a salesperson who has to meet a sales quota.
How do you find the right influencer?
Therefore, if an influencer is hired to sell a product, they will do so in the same style and manner as their other interactions with their audience. It's crucial to carefully observe and research how the influencer otherwise interacts with their audience and, above all, what campaigns they have run in the past. Are there any scandals or philosophical conflicts?
At the same time, it's important to determine whether the target audience is a good fit. If the influencer only has followers who don't become potential customers, the entire campaign will be largely unsuccessful.
So why not browse through the latest conferences, workshops, and technical articles?
Finding the perfect influencer always requires searching through multiple resources. A good starting point is blogs about the topic or industry, as these allow for clear niche filtering and reveal the influencer's level of expertise.
Similarly, social media platforms should be searched (the easiest way to do this is via hashtags). This immediately reveals the size of the influencer's following.
Alternatively, industry directories, conferences and events and their campaigns can help identify potential personalities.
It doesn't always mean that the brand has to actively seek out the influencer. If the brand or company has a strong network (for example, on LinkedIn or other social media channels), it's quite possible that the influencer will approach the company, leading to a collaboration.
Measuring KPIs correctly
Furthermore, a realistic goal must be kept in mind. Just because a user "likes" the article about the product on Facebook doesn't mean that user will actually buy the product. However, the article might appear in the feed of a customer who then buys the product without ever having interacted with the social media post.
Traditional sales departments have clear rules, clear campaigns, and very clearly defined metrics for measuring success. A sale required a certain number of calls. It took a certain number of business lunches to acquire a client. Investment and success were immediately visible and crystal clear.
With influencer marketing (and generally with social selling or social media presence in general), this is not so easy to measure.
Results don't come instantly. A campaign won't produce results within a few hours. Rather, the campaign needs time to grow. Social media, and everything associated with it, is precisely that: social. Here, real people share content with real people. And they only do so if that content is truly worthwhile. The only reason to share something is if it has genuinely impressed or inspired the user.
Therefore, it's crucial to measure every single post and every single result from the very beginning. This allows you to identify particularly successful elements (for example, a product photo that performs exceptionally well or a blog post that receives a high volume of visits). An influencer can then focus directly on these elements to create even more positive momentum for that specific topic.
Once the campaign is complete, it's important to analyze where the successes lay: reach (how many followers and subscribers are there?), views (how many users saw a specific post and were engaged?), engagement (were there online discussions about the product or brand? How did these discussions go?), and general sentiment (how was the campaign and the product received in general?).
Quo Vadis Referral Marketing?
Influencer marketing is the new word of mouth. People no longer learn what's good and what's bad from colleagues or best friends, but rather through social media. However, influencer marketing isn't direct sales and should never be treated as such. Influencers aren't salespeople; they don't go door-to-door or attend conferences to sell products. Instead, they are people who offer natural and genuine recommendations. Only when all aspects align can a successful campaign be launched that delivers long-term success and results.
Influencer marketing will therefore only continue to grow and gain more influence in the future. What was previously considered a hobby or a side project for already famous personalities will become a genuine profession. Professional influencers are the new marketing strategists and brand managers.
Similarly, influencers today have to work much harder on their credibility, as customers now know that influencers work for brands. Maintaining a balance between personal authenticity and brand representation is crucial. It helps if the influencer comes from within the company or is already closely associated with it – when will you start building your influencer network?
