In today’s world where the number of information senders is saturated, people who have a particularly large number of followers or whose information attracts attention each time are called influencers. Influencer marketing is the use of influencers on platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube to increase awareness and sales of your products.
However, although many people know that influencer marketing is effective in the BtoB area, they do not know how to specifically implement it. Therefore, in this article, we will introduce influencer marketing channels and the benefits of working in the B to B area. We will also explain success stories of influencer marketing, so please refer to them.
What is influencer marketing?
First, let’s start with an overview of
influencer marketing
. Influencer marketing is a
marketing
measure that utilizes people (accounts) who have influence in a specific industry to perform PR, expand awareness of products and services, and increase sales.
Influencer marketing is mainly carried out in the BtoC domain. This is because influencers gain influence from general consumers, and are highly compatible with the BtoC field. On the other hand, it is said that it is difficult to conduct influencer marketing in the
BtoB
field, and it is necessary to have the appropriate knowledge and skills to succeed.
However, it is also true that influencer marketing is extremely effective, regardless of whether it is BtoC, BtoB or CtoC, compared to mass advertising such as newspapers and television that was popular a while ago.
Influencer marketing channels
In influencer marketing, information is disseminated through various
channels
every day. Among them, four platforms are the most representative channels.
- YouTube
- TikTok
Let’s look at each in turn.
YouTube
YouTube is arguably the most representative channel for influencer marketing. YouTubers with many subscribers or high engagement are actively used.
Video has strong visual appeal and tends to have a higher CVR (contract rate) than text-only media. Additionally, there are YouTubers from various genres, so by utilizing people who are influential in that field, you can quickly expand awareness of your products and services.
YouTube is said to have over 65 million monthly active users, so it’s probably the first channel to consider when doing influencer marketing.
Twitter
Compared to the other channels introduced here, Twitter has experienced a decline in the number of new users it has acquired in recent years. However, it is still a very popular SNS in Japan, and many users register anonymously and without showing their faces, making it easier to reach potential customers.
In addition, since Twitter has a retweet function, it has the advantage of being able to carry out a wide range of marketing methods, such as reaching a latent audience and then reaching an actual audience. Since its spreading power is much higher than other channels, it will continue to be used as a representative influencer marketing.
Instagram
Although Instagram has a slightly smaller number of users in Japan than YouTube, it is known as the SNS with the most female users. Therefore, for companies that want to specifically target women, influencer marketing may be a channel that they should consider more than YouTube.
Additionally, it is said that the number of Instagram users will exceed 50 million by 2025, which is expected to increase by 20 million compared to about 33 million in 2021. With that in mind, you may want to consider using influencer marketing from now on to increase awareness of your products on Instagram.
TikTok
TikTok is a new channel that has emerged since around 2020. As a SNS with a large number of young people, it is attracting attention as a new influencer marketing channel. However, because the user base is young, they have low decision-making authority and disposable income, and are said to be used primarily in the B2C field.
Advantages of working on influencer marketing in the BtoB area
Influencer marketing is a strategy that offers a variety of benefits when used. In the BtoB area, you can enjoy the following three benefits in particular.
- Product recognition expands
- Get insights from influencers
- Can increase CVR
Let’s look at each in turn.
Product recognition expands
The biggest benefit of influencer marketing is that it increases product awareness. By enlisting the help of influencers who have influence in a specific area, you can gain several times more recognition than if you were
promoting
your company on your own.
There are two main timings when using influencers to increase product awareness. One is the timing of developing and releasing new services and products. Gaining visibility early on increases your chances of gaining influence later on with your products and services.
The second is when the foundation of your business is already solid and you want to reach out to potential customers. Basically, businesses aim at the visible market in order to generate sales at an early stage. However, influencer marketing may then be carried out with the aim of further expanding the company’s sales. Either way, increasing awareness of your product is a major benefit of doing influencer marketing.
Get insights from influencers
Another benefit of influencer marketing is that you can gain insight from influencers. Influencers have more influence over a particular area than your company. Therefore, by gaining knowledge on how to increase followers and expand awareness, you will be able to apply it to your own company.
Additionally, by being told about improvements and vulnerabilities in your own products, you can create new objectives for future
product development
. The benefit of engaging in influencer marketing is not only to expand awareness but also to discover new issues for your own products.
Can increase CVR
Finally, another benefit of influencer marketing is that it can increase CVR. CVR stands for contract closing rate, and it shows how likely it is that a contract will be closed based on the number of accesses. Influencers have influence in specific areas, so from the user’s perspective, the psychology of “I’ll buy it if this influencer recommends it” works, leading to an increase in the closing rate.
Even if you have already gained recognition for your products but are worried about improving your sales conversion rate, you can also use influencer marketing.
3 success stories of influencer marketing
From here, we will introduce the following three success stories of influencer marketing.
- Cisco
- SAP
- Video Fruit
Let’s look at each in turn.
Cisco
Cisco has assembled an influencer community with influencers who have extensive industry expertise or are familiar with the company’s products. This allows us to learn about future industry trends and improvements to our own products, which we use to improve our own products.
Furthermore, since it is not possible to attract influencers simply by recruiting them, another feature of the site is that it offers incentives such as the right to participate in special events. If you want to gain insights from many influencers in the future, it would be a good idea to refer to Cisco’s case study.
SAP
SAP has adopted a method of having influencers speak as guests at its own lectures (seminars). The lecture also created an opportunity for the influencers themselves to interact with the followers of the influencers who had taken the stage, resulting in SAP’s large-scale conference attracting the attention of users around the world. Another feature is that influencers have gained industry knowledge and feedback on their products is done in real time. If your company already has a large following and has the opportunity to hold lectures, why not take a look at SAP’s example?
Video Fruit
Video Fruit is an American marketing consulting company. By having them contribute to their own media, they achieved a 600% increase in unique page views and an 8% increase in time spent.
Points to keep in mind when doing BtoB influencer marketing
BtoB influencer marketing is not successful simply by using influencers. The following two points are important.
- Use influencers that are highly relevant to your services
- Turn it into KPIs
Let’s look at each in turn.
Use influencers that are highly relevant to your services
First of all, it is important to use influencers who have gained influence in your company’s service area. This is because if the relationship between the service and the influencer is weak, the target will shift, and as a result, it will not lead to any expansion of awareness or increase in sales.
Use highly relevant influencers, such as beauty influencers if you are a cosmetics company, or influencers in the consulting field if you are a marketing company.
Turn it into KPIs
It is important to incorporate influencer marketing into KPIs. This is because without KPIs, you won’t be able to see what your marketing goals are, and you won’t be able to analyze the results.
If you have KPIs, you can consider using an influencer a second time if you can’t achieve the KPI values with one use. This is not limited to influencer marketing, but it is important to incorporate this into KPIs when conducting marketing.
summary
In this article, we have explained the overview of influencer marketing and the benefits of engaging in it. By using influencers who have gained influence in a specific area, you can expand product awareness and increase CVR. Why not start by selecting highly relevant influencers according to your company’s KPIs?