The 2023 B2B Influencer Marketing Report: Key Insights & Takeaways

When Lee Odden asked me to lead the team at TopRank Marketing, I barely hesitated. It’s an exciting time to be a B2B marketer. I can’t wait to lead our team to new heights.

What makes B2B marketing special right now is we’re finally — finally — leaning into creativity and human emotion. The most successful B2B campaigns connect with people on a human level. They inform, inspire, and even entertain. Imagine that! People like being entertained.

Influencer marketing is one key way to deliver exceptionally valuable, trustworthy and fascinating content. B2B influencers are experts in their subject, with practical experience to back up the stories they tell. And influencer marketing is a specialty at TopRank. I wouldn’t say we invented it… but we did help shape it into the strategic, results-getting powerhouse that it can be.

Today, TopRank Marketing is launching our third B2B Influencer Marketing Report. This time around, we’re featuring insights from over 400 respondents, along with best practices and analysis from some of the brightest marketers around.

The report is good news for B2B marketers. In 2020, only 34% of respondents said they used influencer marketing as part of their overall strategy. This year, 85% reported they had a program.

We also found that those who use influencer marketing to any extent were more likely to report more brand awareness and enhanced credibility, compared to rivals who don’t use influencer content.

Click the image below to get the full report, and read on for highlights from the third edition of the B2B Influencer Marketing Report from TopRank Marketing.

What makes an effective B2B influencer marketing program?

To kick off our research, we asked respondents to rate their level of effectiveness in influencer marketing. Then we were able to see what the most effective programs were doing that the moderately successful weren’t.

The answers were eye-opening. We found nine ways in which the most effective programs differentiate themselves. Among other best practices, these high performers are more likely to:

Use professional influencers
Use industry and niche experts
Use technology, including AI
Measure and track performance
And many more (get the full report for the rest)

These habits of highly successful programs lead to impressive results. Our respondents with extensive programs were more likely to report:

Increased sales revenue (61%)
Improved brand reputation (58%)
Improved brand advocacy (47%)
Improved customers satisfaction and retention (47%)

Follower count isn’t everything

When we asked what traits are most valuable in a B2B influencer, the response was unexpected. Follower count/size of audience took fourth place, beneath:

Audience sees them as trustworthy
Relevance of audience and network
Professional credentials

It’s clear that B2B influence isn’t a popularity contest. If you had to choose between a highly relevant and credible influencer with a smallish audience, or a celebrity with no relevance in your industry but a massive audience, it makes sense to choose the former.

A mix of professional influencers, niche experts, internal influencers and trusted practitioners (like your customers) can be most effective.