According to a new study from advertising agency Ogilvy, B2B influencers have become popular in influencer marketing. 75% of B2B companies use them in their campaigns.
Ogilvy interviewed more than 550 executives from B2B brands, including EY, JPMorgan, Nokia and IBM, from 11 markets around the world.
The company describes B2B influencers as “individuals with a trusted track record that contributes to professional judgment.” B2B influencers include company founders, C-suite brand employees, researchers, doctors and academics. In contrast, the founders of direct-to-consumer companies, as defined by Ogilvy, will be trendsetters and trendsetters.
Here are five key takeaways from Ogilvy's research.
1. 75% of B2B companies already use B2B influencers in their marketing campaigns
Additionally, 93% of CMOs plan to increase their use of B2B influencers, and of those who don't, more than half plan to use them in the future.
“This reflects the growing demand we're seeing from clients investing in this space,” Rahul Titus, head of global influence at Ogilvy, told Insider.
2. 67% of B2B influencer campaigns have a greater impact on brand marketing performance than in-brand campaigns.
More than three-quarters of marketers expect influencer marketing to overtake brand marketing in the near future.
Traditionally, the lack of measurable results in influencer marketing has been a barrier to higher marketing budgets, Ogilvy research says. Most marketers (84%) need to demonstrate return on investment (ROI) to justify increasing marketing spend or campaign and initiative budgets.
Many influencer marketing campaigns are “awareness” campaigns, or campaigns aimed at getting the word out about a particular brand. Success in this case is typically measured using metrics like social reach, engagement, or shares that don't directly correlate to a measurable ROI.
However, according to research, B2B influencer campaigns also impact sales generation and not just product awareness: 43% of marketers said they saw an increase in sales or other clear ROI from the campaigns register.
3. 89% of top marketers understand that using employees as influencers has value for their company
Not only can employees reach large audiences, but they can engage with the industry in a way that brands or independent thought leaders can't.
“If you ask a CEO or CMO what specific factors drive their company's success, they will tell you that their employees are the true power and greatest asset of their company,” said James Baldwin, director of B2B Impact at Ogilvy. The commission presented its report. “There is a huge untapped opportunity for brands to use their employees as influencers.”
Beth Sant, marketing manager at wealth management firm Schroders, said her company relies on employee support.
“We looked around and sat on the speakers, our people,” he said. “We're really thinking about something that's 10 times more expensive and almost free.”
4. 90% of marketers believe B2B social media influencers are important to staying current in their industry
And more than half consider B2B companies to be their most important source of daily information.
5. After LinkedIn, YouTube is the most used B2B influencer platform
50% of B2B marketing teams consider YouTube to be an important platform, followed by Facebook (48%) and Instagram (46%).
The study asked marketers what their favorite platforms for B2B influencer marketing were other than LinkedIn, which has demonstrated dominance in the industry.
In recent years, LinkedIn has leveraged its network of YouTubers and positioned itself as a place where professionals can share not only business knowledge but also entertainment content.
One of LinkedIn's latest updates is the introduction of the Paid Partnerships tag, similar to those found on other social media platforms. These tags indicate that a brand is paying a content creator to promote a product or service, and their appearance indicates that more brands are hiring influencers on the platform.
