Poor old B2B marketing and communications – it’s often (unfairly) thought of as the dull cousin of direct to consumer – a bit stuffy and uninspiring. 

But this perception is being seriously challenged, particularly in relation to how companies are communicating with business audiences via social channels in more creative, bespoke and targeted ways. 

There are a number of trends that are driving these overdue shifts, but a fundamental one is how businesses are increasingly harnessing the power of B2B influencers. 

Business influencers and EGC (employee generated content) 

Influencers continue to be a driving force of social media. Unilever’s new CEO recently announced a twentyfold increase in influencer marketing investment.

The B2C-focused news may be more headline-grabbing, but on the B2B front, social influencers are also gaining traction and generally fall into a couple of key categories - external and internal. 

External influencers work with various companies looking to tap into their industry expertise and network. They often focus on emotive niches such as hiring, business transformation, AI and sustainability. 

Internal influencers include employees who can speak on behalf of a company, helping businesses communicate corporate messaging in a cost-effective, highly engaging and human manner. 

For example, the hotel and hospitality brand IHG uses social video to highlight the benefits of working for the organisation via testimonials from existing employees. This positively impacts perception and retention while encouraging fresh talent to the business. 

As the algorithm of many of the key social platforms, including LinkedIn, favours people over companies, it’s not surprising that content shared by employees sees around eight times more engagement than other types of corporate messaging. 

The growing influence of video 

The rise of B2B influencer and EGC (employee generated content) can’t be discussed without mentioning the importance of video. 

LinkedIn research suggests that video growth is up 36% year-on-year, and video creation is growing at twice the rate of other post formats.

Insight from the platform shows that short-form video is one of the most ‘compelling and trusted’ formats among B2B audiences, particularly when the content features industry experts or influencers. 

Of course, LinkedIn isn’t the only platform via which social B2B content is evolving. Companies are also increasingly targeting business audiences on channels such as TikTok and Instagram, as well as experimenting with niche and growing networks. 

B2B social video doesn’t have to be overly polished or corporate in tone or composition either. Company bosses and CEOs are realising that even traditionally straight-laced updates, such as earnings reports, can be given a human spin with more personal, direct-to-camera content.   

Think ‘AI powered’ - not ‘AI generated’ 

From employees offering their personal perspectives, to CEOs keen to show that board meetings don’t have to be boring - it’s the human touch that’s bringing B2B communication to life on social media. 

So, where does AI fit in? Depending on how it’s used, AI can be a blessing or a curse in terms of content creation. 

The danger of an over-reliance on AI may mean an increase in output but a reduction in quality - as some experts have warned, we’ll end up drowning in information but starved of knowledge. 

However, as savvy marketing teams and professionals are quickly realising, when deployed effectively, AI can help streamline processes, improve efficiency and provide essential data and insight to underpin campaigns. In other words,  freeing up human time to create even more impact. 

There are myriad interesting uses from translating content, including video, so it can be understood by people around the world, to optimising discoverability and AI-powered search. 

The technology is working overtime behind the scenes to power high-quality campaigns, helping B2B marketing and comms activity to become more targeted, creative, engaging and (ironically perhaps) even more human.