Influencer marketing has become an increasingly popular and effective strategy for brands looking to reach new audiences and drive engagement on social media. LinkedIn, with over 740 million members, offers major potential for influencer collaborations and partnerships. However, LinkedIn has some unique considerations compared to other social platforms. Building relationships with the right LinkedIn influencers requires an understanding of how content and engagement work on this network.
What is influencer marketing?
Influencer marketing involves partnering with influential social media users who have engaged followers in your target audience. Rather than marketing directly to consumers, brands collaborate with influencers to promote products and services.
The key benefit is that recommendations from a trusted source (the influencer) can influence audience opinions and purchasing decisions. Influencer content feels authentic and genuine, unlike traditional ads.
Popular social media platforms for influencer marketing include Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and increasingly, LinkedIn.
Why consider influencer marketing on LinkedIn?
With over 740 million members, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional social media platform. The audience on LinkedIn has high buying power and influence over business decisions.
This makes LinkedIn ideal for B2B influencer marketing. Partnering with relevant industry experts and thought leaders allows brands to increase awareness, shape perceptions, and drive leads among the LinkedIn audience.
There are several key benefits to doing influencer marketing on LinkedIn specifically:
Targeted reach
LinkedIn’s audience is highly segmented based on industry, job role, skills, interests, and more. This allows brands to precisely target influencer campaigns to the most relevant audiences for their product or service.
Authority and trust
The influencer profiles on LinkedIn are professionals and subject matter experts, giving them immense credibility with audiences seeking industry insights. Recommendations from these influential experts can sway B2B purchase decisions.
Lead generation
Influencers can help generate and nurture leads by sharing content and insights that guide followers along the buyer’s journey. LinkedIn’s lead gen forms and calls-to-action allow influencers to directly capture leads for brands.
Brand awareness
Influencers expand a brand’s reach and get products and services in front of new audiences that may otherwise be difficult to target through traditional ads. Awareness is built both through the influencer’s original content and their re-sharing of brand content.
Thought leadership
Collaborations with industry experts enhance a brand’s reputation as a thought leader in their space. Audiences turn to LinkedIn influencers for education and insights.
Challenges with influencer marketing on LinkedIn
While the opportunities are plentiful, brands should also be aware of a few unique challenges:
Niche audiences
LinkedIn audiences are highly specialized, so finding influencers with reach in your specific target market can be difficult. Massive follower counts are less important than relevance.
Company policies
Many LinkedIn profiles represent the influencer’s employer. Company guidelines may limit what they can post and endorse.
Sales resistance
LinkedIn users are turned off by overt product pitches or salesy content. Influencers have to focus on sharing valuable insights rather than promotional messaging.
Lead gen limits
LinkedIn limits how many lead capture forms an influencer can include in their posts. Too many call-to-action clicks may be flagged as suspicious activity.
How to identify the right LinkedIn influencers for your brand
Identifying and vetting potential influencer partners is key. Avoid proceeding based solely on follower counts. Look for influencers that match these criteria:
Niche relevance
Their professional expertise and content focus align closely with your product, industry, or target audiences. A smaller, engaged audience is better than a broad, disengaged one.
Strong engagement
Look beyond follower counts and evaluate actual engagement metrics like shares, comments, and likes per post. Are people engaging with their content?
Quality content
Do they post valuable insights, thought leadership content, and industry expertise? Audiences are drawn to informative content rather than just promotional messaging.
Active listener
The best influencers actively engage with their networks through comments, responses, and sharing user-generated content.
Positive reputation
Review their online presence and conversations about them. Are they well-respected by their peers?
| Relevance | Engagement | Content quality | Listening | Reputation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aligned to target audience and niche | Strong engagement metrics | Shares valuable insights | Actively interacts with audience | Respected reputation |
Best practices for working with LinkedIn influencers
Once you’ve identified potential influencers, build relationships and develop campaigns using these best practices:
Make a personalized connection
Build rapport by introducing yourself and your brand authentically. Share why you value their expertise and content.
Start slow
Begin with smaller collaborations like quote contributions, guest articles, and product reviews. Gradually build up to sponsored content if there is a mutual fit.
Understand motivations
Appeal to the influencer’s own goals and interests. How does the partnership benefit both parties?
Co-create content
Give the influencer creative freedom to develop content in their own voice that resonates with their audience.
Align with company values
Ensure the collaboration aligns with the influencer’s employer’s brand guidelines and does not conflict with company interests.
Clarify expectations
Be upfront about campaign goals, deliverables, measurement, and compensation to avoid misalignments. Use a formal agreement.
Highlight influencer expertise
Position the influencer as a thought leader rather than a promotional proxy for your brand. Audiences follow them for insights.
Share behind-the-scenes
Give influencers exclusive, insider access to your brand, products, or services to build authenticity.
Amplify their content
Repost and share the influencer’s content through your brand’s social channels to maximize reach.
| Personalized outreach | Gradual partnerships | Understand motivations | Co-create content | Align with company values | Set clear expectations | Position as thought leader | Give VIP access | Amplify their content |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Make an authentic connection | Start small and build up | Appeal to their interests | Give creative freedom | Ensure it fits company guidelines | Formalize deliverables and compensation | Highlight expertise over promotion | Provide insider information | Repost their content |
Measuring the ROI of LinkedIn influencer campaigns
It’s important to measure the return on investment from influencer collaborations on LinkedIn. Some key performance indicators to track include:
Content engagement
Analyze shares, comments, likes, clicks, reactions, and overall reach of the influencer’s posts featuring your brand.
Lead generation
Monitor how many LinkedIn lead gen form submissions, demo requests, or sales inquiries result from the campaign.
Website traffic
Use UTM tracking links in the influencer’s posts to measure how much traffic to your site comes through their content.
Awareness lift
Conduct surveys before and after the campaign to assess how influencer content impacted brand awareness, favorability, and purchase intent.
Sales impact
Look at LinkedIn conversion tracking and closed deal data to determine incremental deals influenced by the influencer campaign.
The key is setting benchmarks before the influencer campaign launches and measuring against those KPIs to quantify impact. Consider using promo codes or custom URLS to track specific conversions from influencer content.
Examples of successful LinkedIn influencer campaigns
Here are a few real-world examples of brands running effective influencer programs on LinkedIn:
Adobe
Adobe partnered with LinkedIn influencers to generate leads for their Marketo Engage platform. Influencers shared educational content and offered a free marketing strategy session. The campaign generated 2,100 leads and counting.
Poly
Tech company Poly teamed up with LinkedIn thought leaders to produce an original, 10-part video series focused on hybrid work trends. The videos drove a 56% increase in LinkedIn followers and 11x higher click through rate compared to benchmark content.
Monster
Monster tapped LinkedIn influencers to share career advice and produce engaging content to attract talent. Their posts generated up to 45% engagement rates and increased Monster’s sales qualified leads.
Conclusion
Influencer marketing can deliver powerful results on LinkedIn, but brands need an informed strategy. Success requires identifying and vetting niche influencers based on audience relevance rather than generic follower counts. Develop authentic partnerships built on the influencer’s unique expertise. Track performance against KPIs to quantify campaign impact. With the right approach, LinkedIn influencers provide unmatched credibility to amplify brand messages to highly targeted B2B audiences.