When you contemplate an Influencer Marketing programme, you’re talking about engaging and working with a tiny 3% of people who command 90% of the influence in any user group. How do you find them? And how do you win their confidence and convince them to work with you? We asked four of the biggest influencers in B2B marketing what makes an influencer tick, what makes them say yes, and what will make them enter into a long-term partnership with a brand. Read on for the result. Your 12-step Influencer Marketing guide, packed with golden nuggets and priceless advice, straight from the horse’s mouth.

1. B2B SOCIAL INFLUENCER
MARKETING
Your 12-step insider guide

2. 2 B2B SOCIAL INFLUENCER MARKETING
CONTENTS
Introduction 3
Meet the Influencers 4
Your 12-step guide
1. Know what you mean by Influencer Marketing 8
2. Set your goals, objectives and KPIs 9
3. Identify your influencers 10
4. Do your homework 11
5. Engage your influencers 12
6. Don’t sell to them! 13
7. Create content they will want to share 14
8. Offer the right value exchange 15
9. Respect their craft 16
10. It’s more than a campaign 17
11. Measure the impact 18
12. Act on what you’ve learned 19
Conclusion 20
Get Started 22

3. B2B SOCIAL INFLUENCER MARKETING 3
...when you contemplate an Influencer Marketing programme, you’re
talking about engaging and working with a tiny 3% of people who
command 90% of the influence in any user group.
How do you find them? And how do you win their confidence and
convince them to work with you?
We asked four of the biggest influencers in B2B marketing what makes
an influencer tick, what makes them say yes, and what will make them
enter into a long-term partnership with a brand.
Read on for the result. Your 12-step Influencer Marketing guide,
packed with golden nuggets and priceless advice, straight from
the horse’s mouth.
FIRSTLY…

4. 4 B2B SOCIAL INFLUENCER MARKETING
WORKING WITH INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL EXPERTS TO
ACHIEVE BUSINESS GOALS.
INFLUENCE IS THE ABILITY
TO EFFECTACTION.
‘‘‘‘LEE ODDEN, CEO, TopRank Marketing
FAVOURITE SOCIAL SPACE: Instagram for personal; LinkedIn and Twitter for business

5. B2B SOCIAL INFLUENCER MARKETING 5
THE ABILITY TO CONNECT EFFECTIVELY
WITH PEOPLE WHO ARE
ABLETO INFLUENCE OTHERS
IN THEIR CIRCLE
‘‘‘‘NEVILLE HOBSON, Senior Business Consultant, IBM Social Consulting
FAVOURITE SOCIAL SPACE: Twitter – for personal and business

6. 6 B2B SOCIAL INFLUENCER MARKETING
HACKING INTO THE 45-80% OF RESEARCH
THAT B2B BUYERS ARE INCREASINGLY
CUTTING YOU OUT FROM‘‘‘‘TIM HUGHES, Business Development Director, Oracle
FAVOURITE SOCIAL SPACE: Twitter first, then LinkedIn

7. B2B SOCIAL INFLUENCER MARKETING 7
WORKING WITH PEOPLE
THAT AUDIENCES BELIEVE IN,
WITH YEARS OF TRACK RECORD
THEY TRUST
‘‘‘‘THOMAS POWER, Chief Digital Officer, Electric Dog
FAVOURITE SOCIAL SPACE: Twitter by far

8. 8 B2B SOCIAL INFLUENCER MARKETINGS
1KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN BY
INFLUENCER MARKETING
Beware of falling into the trap of defining Influencer Marketing in
the narrow terms of paying a celebrity YouTuber to talk about your
brand. Neville Hobson describes Influencer Marketing as ”the ability
to connect effectively with people who are able to influence others
in their circle.” In B2B, Influencer Marketing is about working with
key individuals whose independent credibility and authority amongst
their own established audience means that their followers are already
receptive to their ideas and recommendations.
”It’s the ability to
connect effectively
with people who are
able to influence others
in their circle”
Neville Hobson

9. B2B SOCIAL INFLUENCER MARKETING 9
2SET YOUR GOALS, OBJECTIVES
AND KPIs
Approach your Influencer Marketing strategy in the same way as you
would any other. Or, as Lee Odden says simply, ”decide what you want
out of it before you go in”. That means defining your objectives. Whether
it’s greater brand awareness, better engagement, more leads, all three, or
more, determining your business goals and KPIs at the outset will keep
your programme on track and its effectiveness measurable.
“Decide what you want out of
it before you go in”
Lee Odden

10. 10 B2B SOCIAL INFLUENCER MARKETING
3IDENTIFY YOUR
INFLUENCERS
Influencers can come from a variety of sources. They might
already be advocates of your brand, they might work for
your brand. They could be established industry experts and
commentators, bloggers, educators, customers… Use your
existing contacts; network at events and go online to find out
who’s got share of voice in your target space. Use social tools
like Traackr, for social influence and social listening, or Klout
for influencer scoring. A word on advocates though: advocacy
doesn’t necessarily mean influence – unless that advocate
has the credibility, respect and reach to extend your message
beyond their immediate group.
“Go for the number one influencer
in your niche”
Tim Hughes

11. B2B SOCIAL INFLUENCER MARKETING 11
4DO YOUR
HOMEWORK
Once you’ve identified your influencers, don’t even think about
contacting them before you’ve learned as much about them as you can.
”Do your research first. Some people don’t even look at my LinkedIn
profile or blog.” – Neville Hobson.
Or as Tim Hughes puts it, “80-90% of approaches are from “tyre kickers”.
My area is social selling. I don’t talk to people about my company or its
products.”
But doing your homework doesn’t just mean draw up a bluffer’s guide
from an influencer’s social profile – make sure you read and familiarise
yourself with their work!
“80-90% of approaches are
from tyre kickers”
Tim Hughes

12. 12 B2B SOCIAL INFLUENCER MARKETING
5ENGAGE YOUR
INFLUENCERS
So that you’re not approaching your influencers completely
cold, start by going to their favourite channels and joining the
conversations they’re taking part in. Retweet them, share their
content, mention them in yours, rate their blogs, review their
books, respond to their posts. Be patient. Baby steps can go a
long way. When you’re ready to approach them, be personal (no
blanket emails), interesting, relevant and authentic. Here’s where
your homework pays off: “When one CEO contacted me, his
first question was about my favourite vinyl record. He’d done his
research and found out what I’m passionate about” - Tim Hughes.
“When one CEO contacted me, his first
question was about my favourite vinyl
record. He’d done his research and
found out what I’m passionate about”
Tim Hughes

13. B2B SOCIAL INFLUENCER MARKETING 13
6DON’T SELL TO THEM AND
DON’T ASK THEM TO SELL!
The intention is for your influencer to help you increase the
awareness, association and consideration of your brand in a certain
space – not to sell for you. And don’t sell to them!
“I was approached by two marketing agencies this week. They said
they’d love my company to buy their services!” – Tim Hughes.
The outcome you’re looking for is a collaboration, but out of
courtesy, be sure to demonstrate that you’re taking into account your
influencer’s skills first and your own needs second.
“I was approached by two
marketing agencies this week.
They said they’d love my
company to buy their services!”
Tim Hughes

14. 14 B2B SOCIAL INFLUENCER MARKETING
7CREATE CONTENT THAT THEY
WILL WANT TO SHARE
If you’re creating a piece of content that you’d like an influencer to
contribute to, comment upon and share with their networks, then you
need to create something they will be comfortable putting their name to.
If you are sharing content they have created for you, don’t take the credit
for their opinions or advice. And don’t overdo the SEO! Make everything
easy for your influencers to share. At the very least, provide a link to the
content, but it’s worth going as far as pre-written tweets, or an embed
code for their website.
“Don’t overdo the SEO
by linking my words to
other posts or sites!”
Lee Odden

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8OFFER THE RIGHT
VALUE EXCHANGE
When you’re borrowing an expert’s time, audience, credibility and
influence, you need to be clear about what’s in it for them. And the
motivation will be different for different influencers. For some it could be
exposure for their brand or business, for others, help with building their
personal brand. From your background research you will probably have
a good idea about what’s likely to make your influencer say yes to your
proposal, but don’t shy away from discussing it. The clearer you both
are about the value exchange at the outset, the better. But don’t expect
them to do something for free that you really ought to pay for (speaking,
large content pieces etc).
“It’s not about money”
Neville Hobson

16. 16 B2B SOCIAL INFLUENCER MARKETING
9RESPECT THEIR CRAFT
Don’t micromanage your influencers or expect them
to say the exact words you’ve told them to say. You’ve
engaged them for the trust and authority they have with
their audience, so don’t expect them to jeopardise their
credibility. As Thomas Power put it: “Influencers are like
scouts who have gone ahead of the brand, then come
back to lead the brand up the hill. A brand is buying the
companionship to get to that outcome.”
Allow influencers free rein and trust them to take good care
of your message.
“Influencers are like scouts who have gone ahead of the
brand, then come back to lead the brand up the hill”
Thomas Power

17. B2B SOCIAL INFLUENCER MARKETING 17
10IT’S MORE THAN
A CAMPAIGN
Influencer marketing is about building a long-term, mutually
beneficial relationship. Once you’ve begun to work together, nurture
the relationship both on and offline. Explore ongoing opportunities -
co-creation of content or other offerings, exclusive content, collaboration
at events. Keep the conversation open-ended and the rewards could be
substantial on both sides.
“Many of the people I’ve met online have
become friends offline”
Tim Hughes

18. 18 B2B SOCIAL INFLUENCER MARKETING
11MEASURE THE IMPACT
Measure the success of your influencer campaign
against the KPIs you set at the outset. If your
objectives are around brand awareness, you could
measure impressions, page views, web traffic. For
engagement, measure shares, comments, mentions.
For lead generation, measure your downloads, email
subscriptions and sign-ups. And for sales, measure both
online and offline; upsell or cross-sell…
“Measure the success of your influencer campaign
against the KPIs you set at the outset.”
Neville Hobson

19. B2B SOCIAL INFLUENCER MARKETING 19
12ACT ON WHAT
YOU’VE LEARNED
Arriving at a truly robust influencer marketing programme takes a great
deal of thought, planning, time and hard work. So make sure you use take
learnings from it and use them going forward.
“In a mobile social world, few brands hold
attention and... attention is the product.”
Thomas Power

20. 20 B2B SOCIAL INFLUENCER MARKETING
AND FINALLY…

21. B2B SOCIAL INFLUENCER MARKETING 21
...influencers can amplify your message, add third party credibility to
your brand and send your exposure sky high. But Influencer Marketing
is more than a campaign. You’ve entered into one of the most important
and human relationships your brand will ever have and its success rests
on a continued two-way benefit. Nurture your relationship and it will
continue to bring rewards well into the long term.

22. 22 B2B SOCIAL INFLUENCER MARKETING
GET STARTED
MOI Global runs influencer programmes for some
of the world’s largest technology companies.
To get the most out of your marketing campaigns
why not lean on our experiences. Get in touch to see
how we can help:
Matthew Stevens, Business Director, Global
Matthew.Stevens@moi-global.com
07899 944228
@AgencyMatt

23. B2B INFLUENCER MARKETING – FROM THE MOUTHS OF INFLUENCERS 23
// SOCIALINFLUENCER MARKETING 23
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