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How to find authentic B2B influencers and thought leaders

Jul03



One of the issues with B2B influencer platforms and rankings is that they most often look solely at social media. This can be valuable if you’re looking exclusively for influencers who can help amplify your message via their social networks, but there are several key issues:
  • It can miss the bigger picture regarding the influencers broader thought leadership portfolio
  • Brands may miss authentic B2B influencers who are primarily authors or speakers
  • It can be susceptible to individuals who are gaming the system (i.e. “spamfluencing”)
  • You only get limited insight into the influencers body of work, interests and availability
Typical influencer platforms and rankings, while valuable, don’t measure thought leadership, are susceptible to brute force (i.e. excessive postings to move up in the rankings), may rank individuals broadcasting only third-party content, have limited measures of content quality, and the gamification nature of the rankings often encourages spamming. In addition, the social media “fake follower” crisis has compounded the need to find authentic influencers as well as authentic thought leaders who are experts in their fields.

It's no wonder that 61% of marketers have difficulty finding the right influencers.

In identifying and working with authentic influencers in their niche, organizations need tools and techniques to help them understand not only who the authentic experts are, but the kind of hats they wear as a thought leader – i.e. are they primarily an academic, author, influencer or speaker, or perhaps a unique combination of several of the above? Today’s marketplaces and platforms too often serve up one type of expert – i.e. an author, influencer or speaker – but don’t provide the means to find thought leaders who may be powerful combinations of the above. This can be a serious issue for brands, because what if you need an influencer who’s also a respected author and thought leader on specific niche topics, or a speaker who’s also great at facilitating workshops? To find out more about Thinkers360's unique approach, please see our original post at How to find authentic influencers and thought leaders or contact us via our Enterprise page and we’d be delighted to speak with you!

By Yessenia Sembergman

Keywords: Social, Marketing

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