Most people who write about influencer marketing write in a B2C context. We all see stars walking on red carpets and they are just walking billboards / advertisements for this designer or that. This set of earrings or that, this make up or that. The thing is, if we work in B2B we don't really see how this translates, but it does.
We have just completed working with a large tech company who wanted support for a conference they were running.
The brief was simple, many of the people who attend the conference are the same old, same old. How in this world of cloud do they get access to new clients?
The other issue "marketing" have, is that "sales" invite existing clients and prospects, and it's seen as a "closing" event. Which does not foster new pipeline or new leads which is actually the point of the show.
So what did we do? Well to be honest we only had 4 days to prepare but we tweeted during the morning presentations. Then took some Voxpop videos. And we were on call for some more "corporate style videos". Which got posted out on social, during the day and for the week after, supporting actions on the day. As well as the digital event for the week after.
Probably could have done more with more prep time, but we were able to make the event hashtag trend.
So why as a B2B Sales or Marketing Leader does this help you apart from some tweeting on the day?
If you want leverage online / digital through the way social delivers conversations, rather than just "marketing" messages means the events are likely to get more traction and visibility.
But no matter how powerful your brand is, when you send out communications it’s unlikely that most people read them. Or you are talking to the same old, same old.
Influencers have a different more intimate narrative with our networks. Which is why we wanted to focus on “selfies” and the voxpop videos as this has a more intermit feel, rather than a corporate brand.
Also our followers are interested in us and what we do. This approach I’m hoping will have got you great reach and amplification than the corporate brand by itself.
If you have an event coming up, might be worth a try?
All companies begin with an organic presence, and then due to declining reach – because of supply and demand, and the way that social network news feed algorithms work – social media marketing becomes a pay-to-play initiative. Most companies have literally bought into this fact and thus paid social has become a mainstream form of marketing. The problem with paid social is, no matter how effective it seems to be, it is still a paid advertisement.
http://techhq.com/2018/04/influencer-marketing-is-about-community-not-a-campaign/
