In today’s competitive B2B landscape, the right connections can mean the difference between languishing in obscurity and taking a front seat as an industry leader. Imagine tapping into powerful industry voices at zero cost. Sounds way too good to be true? Let’s discuss how you can actually create a B2B influencer marketing program for free that bridges great relationships and drives either a ton of awareness or solid thought leadership.

💪The Power in B2B Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing isn’t hype; it’s quite the opposite. It is a powerful instrument in the hands of any B2B brand. This works much better than the traditional means of marketing simply because influencer marketing gains access to the built-in trust and credibility that the industry figures have built with their audiences over time. An influencer recommending a product or service is more authentic to his or her recommendations because it won’t look like a brand is doing its own promotional work. The human-to-human trust factor cannot be valued highly enough, particularly in the context of B2B markets, where the decision-making process is complex and multifaceted.

Four-Step No-Cost B2B Influencer Marketing Strategy

🧐1. Investigate: Identify the Right Influencers

The linchpin of your strategy will be finding influencers who share your brand values and goals. As you won’t have the necessary budget for paid tools, you will need to take the manual route, which is just as effective. Begin by engaging with your community on social platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter. Ask them to mention their favorite industry experts.

Look at people with relevant job titles and an active social media presence in the field. Focus on those brands with engagement over a following figure. Make a list of 25–35 desired influencers, including both well-known and emerging voices within a niche.

Actionable Steps

– Social Media Queries: Post questions in your LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook profiles asking your friends/followers for recommendations of their favorite industry influencers. For example, “Who are the top demand generation experts you follow?”

– Manual Searches: Depending on the nature of your business, you can search on different platforms. Over LinkedIn, you can search by job title, such as “Demand Generation Director.” Only 1st- and 2nd-degree connections will have full profiles available for viewing. On X (former Twitter) or Instagram, you can use hashtag to find the influencer of all sizes for your niche.

– Engagement Metrics: Look at the engagement rates of your potential influencers, not their raw follower count. Someone with a smaller following but highly engaged can be as — or even more — valuable than another with a large following yet poorly engaged.

🔍2. Content Development: Featuring Influencers

Once you’ve identified potential influencers, it’s time to create some content that fits them. A well-crafted blog post can serve as an excellent platform. For instance, you can build a post titled “Top 25 Demand Generation Leaders to Follow in 2024.” You include each influencer with a mini bio, their LinkedIn profile, and some of their works; add some custom visuals or “social cards” with those influencers and include your company branding. These then can be shared by the influencers to increase your reach.

Actionable Steps

– Blog Post Creation: Write a detailed blog post that stars each of your chosen influencers. Include their headshot, name, title, company, LinkedIn profile, and a brief bio. For each influencer, link to 1–2 pieces of their notable content, like a popular LinkedIn post or a relevant article.

– Custom Visuals: Find an excellent platform for users looking to create eye-catching social cards. Add your company branding and list title, as appropriate: for example, “Top 25 Demand Gen Leaders to Follow in 2024.”

– Content Variety: Curate a mix and varied forms of content including articles, video or podcasts across diverse areas of influence of your influencers.

🙋3. Outreach: Engaging Influencers

Following that comes outreach. Drop personalized emails or messages to all the featured influencers, and explain the reason why they are here. Then provide them with pre-written social media posts and their custom social cards to make sharing easy.

Highlight the benefits of being included in your list to encourage them to promote the content within their networks. Enthusiastic responses are common as people appreciate recognition and the opportunity to enhance their own credibility.

Actionable Steps

– Targeted Emails: Send targeted emails with subject lines such as “Congratulations [First Name]! You’ve Been Named a Top Demand Gen Leader to Follow in 2024!” about the reasons for their choice and include a pre-written social media post along with their social card.

– “Cold” Outreach: If you don’t have their email, send a personalized message on the platform. Pour out your heart about how you admire them and seek their email address to send more details.

– Follow-Up: After the first message has been sent, a follow-up thank you message should be issued, reminding them to share the content they’ve received with their network.

🤝4. Measuring and Deepening Relationships

Track performance through main metrics: reach, engagement, and website traffic. Don’t just stop at the initial boost.

Comment on their posts, share their content, and find other ways to collaborate in the future. This can be through quotes for an eBook, guests posts on your podcast, or features in your email newsletter. The goal is to build long-term relationships that provide ongoing value for both your brand and the influencers.

Actionable Steps

– Monitor Metrics: Track the metrics of the engagement in terms of likes, comments, and shares through tools like Google Analytics or Social Media insights and measure the website traffic.

– Regular Engagement: watch how often you interact with the posts of your influencers, by either liking, commenting, or sharing. This way, you always stay top of mind.

– Collaborations: Get influencers on for a guest blog, podcast interview, or webinar appearance. This is not only a way to add variety to your content but can also serve as an opportunity to bond with them.

– Monthly Profiles: Share an email newsletter to introduce a new influencer each month. Mention their respective area of influencing and some works done by that person to keep the readers interested.

🔧Practical Tips for Long-Term Success

1. Stay Engaged: You must stay engaged with your influencer’s posts regularly. The visibility also keeps your brand alive and a community around.

2. Introduce Connections: It should be your pursuit to connect your influencers to each other. This not only grows the social network but also positions you as a connector within your industry.

3. Guest Contributions: Invite experts to contribute to different formats of content, such as blogs, podcasts, or webinars. This diversifies your content and leverages experts’ expertise.

4. Highlight Reel: Consistently feature different influencers in your communications. This keeps the momentum going and continually brings new perspectives to your audience.

5. Trend Predictions: Get an idea of industry trends from your influencers. You can incorporate these insights to create relevant and timely content that proposes to position your brand as a thought leader.

🚀Conclusion

A no-cost B2B influencer marketing program can be both practical and very effective. By focusing on real relationships and mutual gain for your brand and the influencers, you will develop a success-driven, long-lasting strategy. Embrace the human-to-human connections at the heart of influence marketing, and watch your brand’s credibility, reach, and engagement flourish — all without spending a penny on paid partnerships or tools.

In a world where authenticity is the currency of influence, your brand’s ability to connect and collaborate with trusted industry voices can set you apart. Start establishing those relationships today, and unleash unlimited B2B influencer marketing potential without any costs associated with these activities.