Did you know that around 4.8 billion people are on social media? Given the consumers’ pull towards digital media and social connectivity, marketers recognize the potential of influencer marketing in boosting business revenue. In fact, due to its success in aiding business growth, the influencer marketing industry is expected to grow into an approximately $24 billion industry by the end of the year.
You may know influencer marketing as the collaborative effort between brands and influencers to promote a certain product or service to their target audience to improve engagement and profit, and it can be either B2C (business to customer) or B2B (business to business). B2C influencer marketing focuses on goals that draw out results from consumers (like sales and engagement), while B2B influencer marketing targets long-term business partnerships and building industry authority.
While B2C influencer marketing proves more effective in employing the help of (mostly) niche-specific celebrities, B2B influencer marketing may also involve celebrities, but in the form of other brand owners, industry leaders, consultants, analysts, or C-level experts in the field.
In both kinds of influencer marketing, businesses benefit from working with the agencies and their network of influencers. In this guide, we share some of the best B2B influencer marketing platforms that are renowned for their invaluable, tried-and-tested influencer marketing-related tools and integrations.
1. Sprout Social
- Best for: Brands and agencies of all sizes
- Notable clients (through Tagger, its influencer marketing brand): Etihad Airways, Harley-Davidson, Warner Bros., Bose, Estée Lauder
- Location: Chicago, Illinois
Sprout Social is a social media management platform founded in 2010 to help brands leverage social media to help them achieve their marketing and growth goals. At a glance, it may appear like another social media scheduling tool, but the platform offers features that go beyond content creation and publishing. It has social listening, premium analytics, employee advocacy, and influencer marketing features all enhanced by AI and automation, which allows users to create high-performance, data-driven campaigns.
Due to its efficiency, ease of use, and success in helping numerous brands achieve their marketing goals, Sprout Social was awarded Best Overall Software for 2024 by G2, the world’s largest and most trusted software marketplace. Besides being the ultimate software of the year—for the eighth consecutive time—the platform also won 4th place in the Highest Satisfaction and 5th place in the Best Product for Enterprise categories.
While the platform seems like a B2C tool, it is also an invaluable B2B influencer marketing tool due to its robust analytics and social listening capabilities, making it easier to manage and track interactions with influencers/industry experts in the B2B space. Tagger, an advanced influencer marketing platform integrated into the Sprout Social suite, enables companies to find influencers, manage influencer campaigns, and measure campaign performance.
Case Study: Madden Media
Madden Media is a destination marketing agency with a 40-year legacy and serves over 200 travel and tourism organizations all over the United States. It offers services like public relations, destination intelligence, media buying, and marketing services to help tourism organizations, cities, and states attract more visitors, improve tourism, and increase economic growth.
In working with its clients, Madden Media uses influencers to help reach its Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) clients’ target audience. However, the brand needed a solution to help streamline and automate its influencer marketing process and track the results. The company’s challenges led its team to Sprout Social’s Tagger for its suite of tools for influencer marketing (strategy, discovery, and activation), campaign management, and measuring campaign success.
Loudoun County. Madden Media used Tagger for its collaboration with Loudoun County, Virginia for its wine tourism. Through Tagger, the initiative resulted in a 12 million reach, over 577k impressions, over 257k video views, and an earned media value of $64,000.
Finger Lakes. Madden Media helped the Finger Lakes Tourism Council encourage young travelers to visit Finger Lakes through TikTok. Using Tagger, the campaign yielded 128 posts over three days, with a reach of 7 million, over 352k impressions, and an earned media value of $267,000.
Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay is known for its Michelin-starred restaurants and Madden Media wanted to use that to encourage more food tourism-related visits. Through Madden Media and Tagger, the campaign had an earned media value of over $550,000, 1.2 million views, 227k impressions, and over 39k engagements.
Strategic Approach
For its Loudoun County campaign, Madden Media used Sprout Social’s Tagger to identify food and beverage-centric influencers to promote the county’s wine tourism involving over 50 local wineries. Through Tagger, the company identified six influencers, who curated strategic posts on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube to promote the event.
The Finger Lakes was more TikTok-focused, and Madden Media used Tagger to narrow down TikTok influencers who may be effective in marketing local adventures in Finger Lakes. For the Tampa Bay campaign, Madden Media and Tagger identified NYC-based creators with a significant following to reach audiences that might be interested in visiting Tampa Bay for its culinary offerings.
The secret to Sprout Social – Tagger’s success is its proprietary social intelligence engine called Signals. It monitors trends and analyzes influencer data to help brands build data-backed influencer marketing strategies that yield excellent results.
Sprout Social’s Tagger and Signals have official API partnerships with major platforms like Meta, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, and Twitch, and can be integrated with Shopify, PayPal, Okta, DropBox Sign, Genius Link, and Tune. These connections enhance the influencer marketing experience by enabling users to streamline workflows, manage campaigns more effectively, and track performance seamlessly across different channels, ultimately allowing brands to optimize their marketing strategies and maximize engagement.
Through Sprout Social’s Tagger, brands have access to the following tools:
- Influencer discovery
- Campaign management
- Real-time reporting
- Creator portal
- Collaborator portal
- Influencer outreach templates
- Influencer contact details and estimated fees
- ROI tracking and KPI estimation
- …and more
2. Brandwatch Influencer Marketing Software
- Best for: Medium to large organizations and agencies
- Notable clients: Unilever, GSK, Nestle, Toyota, Carlsberg, Virgin Holidays
- Location: Brighton, United Kingdom
Brandwatch is an advanced social media suite offering tools for consumer intelligence, influencer marketing, and social media management. Through the platform, businesses can understand and engage with their target audience, improve their marketing strategies, and make informed decisions based on real data and insights.
The platform is trusted by ⅔ of Forbes 100 companies for its consumer intelligence, social media management, and influencer marketing services. Due to its breakthroughs in the social media space, Brandwatch was recognized as the Best Social Marketing Platform of 2024 by the Digiday Technology Awards and was also awarded the Best Social Media Monitoring Software of 2024 by the MarTech Breakthrough Awards. It was also declared the Best Influencer Marketing Management Platform by The MarTech Breakthrough Awards in 2023.
Influence is Brandwatch’s tool for influencer management. The platform tracks 24 million creators all over the world to help businesses—whether B2B or B2C—identify the best influencers for their campaigns.
Case Study: Insta360
Insta360 is a camera company headquartered in China, specializing in 360-degree cameras and action cameras that are revolutionizing the way people take photos and videos and create engaging content. The brand is well-loved by athletes, travelers, creatives, and other professionals due to its ability to bring their ideas to life.
The company often collaborates with influencers and brands from various niches to market for seasonal events like Black Friday, winter sports, and product launches. Before, the company managed its influencer strategy manually through spreadsheets—a complex, inefficient, and time-consuming procedure. The process involved too many documents and proved to be challenging especially when the team wanted to expand to other markets and collaborate with more influencers. They needed a system to help them manage their influencer campaigns efficiently, seamlessly, and with less room for error.
@insta360_official Busy bee been working hard 🐝 @crazydudepaul 📽 w/ #insta360onex2 #insta360nosemode #fyp #animalcrossing #behindthescenes ♬ original sound – insta360_official – insta360 official
Today, Insta360 uses Brandwatch Influence for its influencer campaigns in lieu of its archaic spreadsheet system. With Influence, Insta360 runs over 60 campaigns yearly and manages 4,000 partners (influencers) within the platform. According to Alex Garcia, the Head of Partnerships at Insta360, Brandwatch Influence not only helped them manage their massive roster of partners—it also helped them pull up performance reports in just one click. Before, their team spent a minimum of 15 hours preparing the reports for their product launch. Now, it only takes them 10 minutes to do so.
Here’s a summary of Brandwatch’s benefits for Insta360:
- Helped manage 4,000 influencers/partners seamlessly
- 90x faster campaign reporting
- Below industry average $0.0004 cost per view
- Overall better relationship management and improved business decision-making
Besides the significantly faster reporting and partner management, according to Garcia, Brandwatch is easy to use and understand, therefore allowing newcomers to the Insta360 team to learn the ropes quickly.
Strategic Approach
Insta360 used Brandwatch Influence to streamline its influencer marketing processes. The company uses Brandwatch daily to manage its partnerships, track ongoing campaigns, and measure campaign performance. Some of the company’s campaigns have as many as 3,000 social media posts and the Influence platform makes it easier to manage them.
According to Garcia, with the platform, their team was able to monitor their campaign results over time and catch results that their old system couldn’t have flagged in the past. Now, they can easily check content and monitor which ones have performed well (or went viral) even after a specific campaign. With Brandwatch Influence’s reporting tools, the Insta360 team can access the data in one click.
Garcia and his team at Insta360 frequently relied on Influence’s audience analysis to identify where each influencer’s main followers are based. This helped uncover valuable insights that would be challenging to gather manually. For instance, a partner from Australia might have a core audience in Europe. With this kind of information, Insta360 was able to strategically select influencers whose audience aligns with their campaign goals, ultimately improving the impact of their marketing efforts.
Overall, the brand was able to optimize its influencer choices, track audience data in real-time, and in turn achieve high-impact, yet cost-effective campaigns.
Key Features: Global Influencer Payment, Influencer Discovery, Influencer directory management, Creation of private influencer network, Campaign management and reporting, Broad platform coverage, Automated reporting,
Channels: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Twitch, TikTok, Shopify
3. Modash
- Best for: Brands of all sizes
- Notable clients: Google, Mont Blanc, Victoria’s Secret, Sennheiser, Farfetch, Nord VPN, Charles & Keith
- Location: Tallinn, Estonia
Modash is one of the B2B influencer marketing platforms that specializes in influencer marketing. The platform has a network of over 250 million influencers on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, which makes it one of the largest databases for creators worldwide and an invaluable tool for brands delving into B2C and B2B influencer marketing. Some of the brands that trusted Modash for their influencer marketing initiatives include the tech giant Google, Victoria’s Secret, Sennheiser, and many others.
The platform is heavily focused on influencer discovery and management. It allows users to search for influencers using various filters, including platform (Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok), number of followers, engagement rate, average video views or reel plays, and even topic, gender, and hashtags.
Case Study: Bolt (Formerly Taxify)
Bolt, a European company and a “mobility super app” for car transportation, chose Modash to help streamline its influencer marketing processes. Before Modash, Bolt sought its influencers manually and its team took time looking for influencers, considering the specific criteria the company was looking for. The team did not only require influencers with a certain number of followers; they needed to know how many of the influencer’s followers were from the team’s target city or country and whether they belonged to a specific age group or were considered credible.
Bolt has also worked with other influencer database platforms, but unfortunately, the team found them lacking in the sense that they don’t offer enough data about the influencers in their network. Bolt needed a platform that offered enough data about influencers to help its team make data-driven decisions regarding their influencer marketing initiatives.
Fast forward to the present day, with Modash, Bolt now has over 500 brand ambassadors across 18 markets. The brand has continuous collaborations and monthly campaigns mostly for Instagram, thanks to the platform. Bolt has continued to use Modash to source influencers and make data-driven decisions for its ongoing campaigns.
Strategic Approach
Bolt chose Modash over all the other platforms its team has worked with due to its extensive network and its accuracy when it comes to audience data. The ride-sharing brand was able to find its 500-large influencer pool through the platform’s Discovery feature.
Through Discovery, users can search for Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok influencers using special filters to target the best-fit creators for your brand. Some of the influencer filters on the platform include:
- Location
- Number of followers
- Average video views
- Average reel plays
- Gender
- Interests
- Language
- Influencer contact information
The software also allows the users to get more information on a specific influencer’s audience—a feature that Bolt found extremely valuable for their influencer campaign. With the data provided by Modash on each influencer, brands save time on outreach—instead of sending an email regarding performance and audience metrics, users only have to look at the Modash dashboard metrics.
Modash provides all the data brands need for influencer analysis, including tools for detecting fake followers, tracking engagement and follower growth rates, and analyzing audience demographics like location, age, gender, and language. With these features, Modash serves as a vetting software for influencers brands intend to hire.
Key Features: Campaign Management, Influencer Discovery, Influencer Analytics, Influencer Campaign Monitoring, Influencer Management,
4. Upfluence
- Best for: E-commerce businesses of all sizes
- Notable clients: Amazon, Asics, Universal, Verizon, Unicef, Marriott, Farfetch
- Location: New York, United States
Unlike other B2B influencer marketing platforms, Upfluence is one of the few software that focuses on influencer search and outreach and managing influencer marketing campaigns. The company started in 2013, but it was in 2016 when it launched its all-in-one platform for influencer marketing campaigns.
Upfluence was created for eCommerce brands and direct-to-consumer (DTC) businesses, but its tools were also found useful by B2B brands. With Upfluence, B2B companies may also find their best-fit industry experts and possible brand partners in the platform’s 4-million large influencer network for Instagram, YouTube, X, Pinterest, and Twitch.
While Upfluence’s influencer network is smaller in comparison to other brands, the platform has pioneered many features that are now standard to influencer marketing software, like fake follower detection, AI-assisted influencer suggestions, influencer matching, and language recognition technology for global influencer campaign launches and monitoring.
Some of the biggest name brands, like Universal, Amazon, Marriott, and Verizon have trusted Upfluence for their influencer marketing initiatives.
Case Study: Atfluence
Atfluence is a full-service branding/digital marketing and influencer marketing agency with solid partnerships with top-tier luxury brands. The company has worked with elite fashion houses like Bvlgari, Chanel, Calvin Klein, Dior, YSL, and Armani, as well as celebrities like Cher, Victoria and David Beckham, and Kate Moss.
The company selected Upfluence as its end-to-end influencer discovery, outreach, and management software to help identify any organic influencers hidden within its databases. Atfluence saw the potential in organic influencers, as they are the most influential contacts or consumers of a brand, are 52% cheaper than ads, and are 7x more likely to collaborate for free.
The agency wanted to help grow its clients by incorporating an affiliate program into its influencer marketing strategy while minimizing both cost and effort. With Upfluence, they were able to do just that through Upfluence’s unique integrations and data reporting.
Through their collaboration, Atfluence achieved the following:
- A 350% overall increase in sales for its clients
- A 25% faster workflow when working with their influential clients (for outreach, onboarding, and posting)
- More genuine content from its newly discovered organic influencers
- Thousands of affiliate sales orders
- Around 86% savings on ad campaign costs
- About 75% less time in influencer identification
- A 115% increase in influencer response rate
Strategic Approach
One of the best features of Upfluence is its Live Capture tool, which allows its users to identify any influencers who are visiting (or have visited) their eCommerce websites. In the case of Atfluence, this tool proved quite handy, as it was the agency’s purpose to find organic and highly engaged influencers for its high-end clients.
By connecting Shopify with Upfluence, the agency was able to handpick the perfect brand representatives for their clients through their purchase history and social media interactions. By leveraging creators who are already enamored with the brands Atfluence wanted to connect them with, these organic influencers were able to create authentic, engaging content, which resulted in stronger partnerships and significant sales conversions.
On the other hand, through integrating Klaviyo with Upfluence, Atfluence has also discovered potential organic influencers in its client contact lists. By integrating Shopify and Klaviyo with Upfluence, Atfluence discovered hidden mega influencers with 500k to 3 million followers, as well as nano influencers with 1,000 to 5,000 followers. The agency found five mega influencers who were fans of Dolly Parton in time for the launch of Dolly’s new fragrance with ScentBeauty. As expected, these newfound mega influencers generated thousands of affiliate sales.
Atfluence has also integrated Refersion with Upfluence so the agency easily invited its newly found influencers into its client affiliate programs, saving time and effort in tracking affiliate sales generated by the client campaigns.
Key Features: Influencer Search & Discovery, Relationship Management, Campaign Management, Third Party Analytics, Automated Recruiting, Influencer Lifecycle Management, Team Collaboration Tools, Content Review, Campaign Reporting, Audience Analysis, E-commerce Tools, Product/Gifting Tools, Payment Processing, Social Listening, Affiliate Management, Affiliate Campaigns,
Channels: Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, Twitch, Tiktok, Twitter, Pinterest, Blogs
5. Viral Nation Secure™
- Best for: Medium to large businesses
- Notable clients: Uber, Walmart, Meta Quest, Logitech, Urban Outfitters
- Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Viral Nation Secure, also known as VN Secure, is an AI-powered influencer discovery platform powered by Google Gemini. It sets itself apart from the competition through its powerful AI influencer search engine, which provides data points that other platforms otherwise overlook. VN Secure sifts through all the influencer’s data, including text, images, audio files, transcriptions, and even video to provide a thorough analysis of their profile.
VN Secure is the influencer marketing platform by Viral Nation, one of the trusted agencies for digital and influencer marketing worldwide. Viral Nation has worked with some of the biggest brands in the world, like Walmart, Meta Quest, Chelsea Football Club, and even the Golden Globe Awards.
Strategic Approach
The platform’s unique selling point is its AI-powered search, which scans an influencer’s content, from their captions to their videos. VN Secure integrates powerful “tolerance” filters to its search, which included parameters for profanity, drinking/alcohol, drugs, violence, mental health, fraud and other illegal activities, nudity, and others. The platform can search for up to 15 years’ worth of content history on a creator’s profile (across various social media channels), which enables the users to gain an accurate view of an influencer’s post history.
Brands can set tolerances to these red flags to their comfort level to find the best-fit influencers whose personal brands align with their philosophy and values. For instance, brands looking for influencers to market a wine festival will have a high tolerance to drinking parameters, but perhaps a low tolerance to profanity and drugs, since they will need influencers exuding elegance and class. This brand safety feature ensures influencer transparency to brands looking for partnerships and prevents companies from wasting precious time corresponding with less suitable partners.
Besides the search, VN Secure also offers a detailed analysis of an influencer through customized templates that the users can set. Users can set alerts for mentions of specific keywords (for instance, profanities) or red flags, like copyrighted content (music, for example) or nudity. The platform consolidates these alerts into a report on an influencer’s profile, making it easy for users to see exactly how many times a keyword is mentioned on his/her profile, whether in a comment or on a video. Through this capability, VN Secure remains one of the best B2B influencer marketing platforms due to its built-in creator vetting system.
Key Features: Influencer Analysis, Moderation Tolerance Feature,
Channels: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X (Formerly Twitter)
6. Traackr
- Best for: Medium to large businesses
- Notable clients: Lacoste, L’Oréal, Michelin, COTY, Shiseido, Pandora
- Location: San Francisco, California
Traackr started in 2008 and has grown into an influencer marketing software agency that helps brands find their best-fit partnerships through big data. The platform has a network of over 7 million influencers across 71 countries and 26 different languages and has access to over 4 billion content creator posts across 13 social media platforms.
Its data is significantly greater than what other platforms commonly have, making it a great choice for brands looking for comprehensive insights in order to build highly targeted influencer marketing strategies. Through Traackr’s extensive data, companies are not only able to discover the right influencers but also monitor trends, measure campaign effectiveness, and gain a competitive edge by maximizing audience and performance metrics.
The platform focuses only on influencer marketing, but it offers ways for businesses in various industries—like beauty, travel and hospitality, consumer goods, and others—to leverage Traackr for their success.
Key Features: Search/Discovery, Influencer Relationship Management, Team Collaboration Tools, Campaign Management, Campaign Reporting, Influencer Analysis, Audience Analysis, Product/Gifting Tools, Forms and Compliance, Fake Follower/Fraud Detection, Competitor Research,
Channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, Tumblr, Blogs
7. BuzzSumo
- Best for: Publishers, brands, and agencies
- Notable clients: Buzzfeed, HubSpot, The Telegraph, Expedia
- Location: San Francisco, California
Buzzsumo is a content and social media analyzer platform that also offers an influencer search tool to find the best-fit influencers for both B2B and B2C companies. Unlike most influencer marketing tools Buzzsumo focuses more on content analysis across various platforms (Facebook, X, Pinterest, and Reddit) due to its purpose as a content research tool. Its media database is content-centric and the platform enables its users to access its network of 700k journalists, which, for B2B marketers, can be highly valuable.
For influencer marketing, users can use Buzzsumo to find relevant content for their brand and then look into the top sharers. While this may not be ideal for brands looking for dedicated influencer marketing software, Buzzsumo is excellent for businesses looking for a platform that strikes a balance between influencer search, as well as other tools like content research, content strategy, competitor research, and journalist outreach.
8. Favikon
- Best for: Brands and agencies of all sizes
- Notable clients: Honda, HubSpot, SemRush, Heineken, Decathlon
- Location: Paris, France
Favicon is an influencer marketing platform that is notably focused on B2C and B2B influencer marketing. It has a network of over 10 million influencers worldwide, spread across more than 600 niches. The platform is known for its scoring system which evaluates influencers on various factors such as engagement rate, follower growth, audience authenticity, and past performance. Its scoring system aims to help brands find credible influencers and avoid those who have inflated engagement or fake followers.
The platform is one of the few that incorporates LinkedIn search results in its database, aside from the typically included platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and X. Apart from the AI-powered influencer search function, the platform also offers a built-in CRM tool which helps users plan and manage their interactions with prospective influencer partners.
Key Features: Search/Discovery, Content Review, Content Library, Influencer Analysis,
Channels: Linkedin, X, Instagram, Youtube, TikTok
9. Later Influence
- Best for: Large e-commerce Brands
- Notable clients: GoPro, Crayola, Walgreens, Mondelez, Pottery Barn, Method
- Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Later Influence is the byproduct of the merger between Later, a social media scheduling tool, and Mavrck, an influencer marketing company. Later’s claim to fame is its user-friendly social media scheduling platform for Facebook, Instagram, X, and Pinterest, and after its acquisition by Mavrck, it has also become an influencer marketing tool.
Currently, Later Influence has a network of 10 million content creators and an Influencer Index, a roster of influencers who have made themselves contactable on the platform by brands interested in collaborations. Influencers who have joined Later Influence may opt in or opt out from having their information listed in the Influencer Index.
The platform is Instagram and TikTok influencer marketing, which can be a bit limiting for brands looking for some B2B brands, but may be great for brands focused on marketing solely on these two social media platforms. Besides influencer search and discovery, Later Influence also offers affiliate marketing, reputation management, and influencer and creator program services.
Key Features: Search/Discovery, Influencer Relationship Management, Campaign Management, Campaign Reporting, Influencer Analysis, Audience Analysis, E-commerce Tools,
Channels: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest,TikTok, Twitter, Twitch, Blogs
10. Creator.co
- Best for: Brands and agencies of all sizes
- Notable clients: Colgate, Walmart, Vista, Hex Performance
- Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Creator is a dedicated platform for influencer marketing that offers its service to both brands looking for influencers and creators looking for future collaborations. While most platforms target larger brands, Creator is also suitable for small to medium enterprises and startups. It is one of the first platforms that discovered the power of micro-influencers.
The platform is unique in serving both creators and brands, but what makes it stand out is its Collaboration Hub. While most platforms and software are focused on influencer search, Creator flips the switch by bringing content creators to brands instead. Creator’s Collaboration Hub is like a marketplace for potential brand collaborations where creators who meet certain criteria can apply for a partnership. Brands who are on Creator can create campaigns within the platform and advertise on the Collaboration Hub and be seen by 175k creators subscribed to the platform as well.
Key Features: Search/Discovery, Automated Recruiting, Influencer Relationship Management, Influencer Marketplace, Content Review, Content Library, Campaign Management, Campaign Reporting, Influencer Analysis, Audience Analysis, E-commerce Tools, Product/Gifting Tools, Fake Follower/Fraud Detection, Payment Processing, Social Listening, Competitor Research, Creator Marketplace,
Channels: Instagram, YouTube, TikTok
Why Influencer Marketing is Gaining Momentum in B2B
Influencer marketing is commonly associated with B2C brands, but due to its benefits, it is now being sought after by B2B companies. Although B2B and B2C companies have different audiences and require different kinds of influencers, the core need is the same—to have influential creators help them connect with their audience through trusted voices and expert insights.
While B2C influencer marketing focuses on using creators to sway people to purchase products or subscribe to services, B2B influencer marketing aims to create lasting business relationships. In B2B, this means working with industry experts and thought leaders who can validate brand expertise and engage professional audiences. For B2B, influencer marketing has the following benefits:
- Boosting brand awareness. Influencers, whether in B2B or B2C partnerships, can help promote your brand to a wider audience in their niche markets.
- Driving and improving lead generation. Influencers deliver your brand’s message directly to their target audience, which can help generate high-quality leads.
- Building credibility and trust through industry experts. Influencers in the B2B world are experts in their fields and have the credibility to influence and engage with decision-makers in your niche. Having them deliver your marketing message helps your brand gain more credibility and allows you to foster new connections that can eventually lead to building new business relationships in the long run.
Key Features to Look for in a B2B Influencer Marketing Platform
There are many influencer marketing platforms in the market with varying strengths and a solid history of success working with elite clients. All of them are great depending on your business needs, making it necessary to define what kind of expertise your brand requires before deciding to purchase or subscribe to a service. Here are a few things to keep in mind when searching for an influencer marketing platform:
Influencer Discovery
While most influencer marketing platforms offer an influencer discovery feature, they have subtle differences that your brand can find advantageous for your future campaigns.
For instance, some platforms have an influencer network spanning across social media platforms, like Traackr, which covers 13 social media apps. However, some are limited to only Instagram and TikTok, like Later Influence. A few platforms also offer influencer searches on LinkedIn, like Favikon.
Another thing to check is the size of the influencer network offered by the platform. Some have a network of tens of millions, while others have a slightly smaller pool of influencers to search from.
Campaign Management
Some influencer platforms (like Creator) allow brands to create and manage campaigns on the platform. In contrast, other platforms only provide basic features, like tagging and categorizing creators in lists, limiting campaign customization. In many cases, platforms also include a payment integration function for their creators.
Advanced Analytics, Custom Reporting, and ROI Measurement
Analytics are essential on influencer marketing platforms as they provide concrete measurements of campaign success and help business owners make informed marketing decisions. Advanced analytics go beyond basic engagement metrics to track deeper insights, like lead generation, account-level outcomes, and impacts on various campaigns.
Audience Segmentation & Targeting
Most influencer marketing platforms give information on a creator’s profile, but some, like Modash, have special filters for the influencer’s audience as well. This proves handy for businesses looking for creators who have pull on a specific audience segment (ex. based on age, location, industry, or interests).
Special Functions
Each influencer marketing platform features a unique selling point that brands may find valuable in their future campaigns. For example, VN Secure integrates red flag alerts which notify brands of potential risks related to an influencer’s behavior, content, or engagement quality. On the other hand, Buzzsumo offers a content-focused approach, helping brands discover influencers through top-performing content and trending topics relevant to their niche.
Meanwhile, Creator allows creators to apply for partnerships in campaigns created by brands subscribed to the platform, while Upfluence and Later Influence integrate affiliate marketing functions into their platforms. These platforms often offer something extra that your brand might find useful depending on your marketing goals.
Best Practices for Running B2B Influencer Campaigns
For businesses planning B2B influencer campaigns, it’s essential to start with clearly defined goals. Here are a few key elements that most successful campaigns share:
Right Influencer Fit
Identifying the best-fit influencers involves carefully assessing candidates for alignment with the brand's industry, target audience, and specific goals, not merely selecting creators based on their follower count. Influencer marketing platforms have various tools and filters that brands can use to find the right fit creators for their campaigns.
Clear KPIs
Specific, measurable objectives such as lead generation, brand awareness, or engagement will help direct your B2B marketing efforts and drive results. Make use of the data available to you in measuring your campaign’s success and planning your post-campaign steps.
Leveraging LinkedIn
Due to LinkedIn’s capability to connect professionals to the biggest decision-makers in the industry, it has become one of the most effective platforms for B2B influencer marketing. Landing partnerships with influential individuals in the business space can elevate a brand’s credibility and widen its reach within target industries.
- Source: LinkedIn
Even elite brands like IBM have found the advantage of B2B influencer marketing through LinkedIn. IBM has an employee advocacy program where its employees share their life working at IBM through the hashtag #lifeatibm, helping the brand reach a wider audience in the tech and business sectors.
Here’s more information on how businesses can use LinkedIn for B2B influencer marketing.
Content Co-Creation
B2B influencer marketing doesn’t end with finding the right influencers for your campaign. Working closely with them in the content strategy process is also crucial for the partnership to yield content that aligns with your business and the influencer’s brand.
Managing Partnerships Efficiently
While you can manage your influencer campaigns manually, using influencer marketing platforms makes it significantly easier. These platforms allow you to track communications, monitor deliverables, manage contacts, and pay the influencers seamlessly and from only one place, saving valuable time and effort that can be directed to other initiatives in your business.
B2B Influencer Marketing Platforms: Your Secret to Success
With the audience’s attention on social media, brands now recognize the success of tapping influencers for their marketing campaigns. Although it began as a B2C thing, B2B industries have also recognized the benefits of getting industry influencers to advocate for their brands. However, while the idea of marketing through influencers seems simple, it involves a painstaking process if done manually, especially by brands without much experience collaborating with creators.
Influencer marketing platforms exist to help brands of any size simplify the process of discovering the best-fit influencers for their desired campaigns. Of course, there are a lot of platforms to choose from—we’ve only shown ten among the wide range available—and it can be overwhelming.
However, when you look closely, each platform has its unique selling point that can distinguish it from the others. Understanding these distinctive features can make it easier to find a platform that best aligns with your campaign goals, whether it’s a focus on robust analytics, specialized audience targeting, content discovery, DIY campaigns, or advanced influencer matching. Regardless of the platform you choose, as long as its strengths are aligned with your influencer marketing needs, you can expect to drive meaningful engagement and see measurable results.
