By Nick Nelson

When it comes to creating effective B2B marketing content, these three traits arguably rank as the most essential: credible, authentic, influential.

• Credible: Does the content position its author or brand as a knowledgeable and authoritative expert in their space? Enough so that it aids in justifying a decision to invest in their solutions?
• Authentic: Is the content reflective of what that person or brand is really about? Does it instill trust through truth and transparency?
• Influential: Does the content actually shift perceptions and drive the reader or viewer toward some sort of action?

These three qualities, in a nutshell, differentiate marketing content from plain-old “content.” When all three are realized in the hearts and minds of your audience, a piece of content is almost guaranteed to achieve its objectives — provided you have the right promotion plan in place.

I’ve written on this blog in the past about ways to infuse credibility, avoid authenticity pitfalls, and bolster influence through co-creation. The possibilities hardly end there, and the best practices are forever evolving.

That’s why I was thrilled to dive into the new 2022 B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report. It’s filled with timely data, insight, and guidance from top voices in the industry. The profiles, interviews, and survey findings within can inform a framework for developing reliably credible, authentic, and – above all – influential content in today’s B2B marketing environment.

Here are three big things I took away:

1 — Credibility Comes With Connection

There are many “proof points” for credibility that are weighed differently by different people. One theme that came through in the report was that, in terms of influencer effectiveness, connection to the audience is a crucial driver.

In her profile interview, Ann Handley, chief content officer at MarketingProfs, cited these top qualities of a great influencer:

• Have a rapport with an audience

• Feel accessible

• Be relatable

• Be likeable. (Do you listen to recommendations from people you don’t like? I don’t.)

Sure enough, Ann embodies these traits herself as an influencer through a bold, memorable personality, and the knowing way in which she communicates with fellow writers and content marketers. She conveys that sense of ‘talking with,’ not ‘talking at.’

Ann also said that, as an influencer, she looks at potential brand partners through the same lens. Her top priorities, after using and/or respecting the company’s product, are “Feel rapport with the brand and with the people behind the brand,” and “Have a sense that we see the world in a similar way. (Not exact, maybe. But similar.)”

These are wise questions to ask yourself when devising B2B content and aiming to build credibility. How can you develop a sense of rapport, and give that sense that you share a similar worldview with the people you want to engage?

Our survey found that the three influencer qualities deemed most essential by respondents are:

• Relevance of audience (98%)

…read more

Source:: Top Rank Blog