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Top Trends in B2B Influencer Marketing Today

What’s the most important attribute for success in B2B influencer marketing? How are budgets changing? Which tactics are used to differentiate the most successful B2B influencer marketing programs? What’s the leading influencer marketing trend for the coming year?

You can find the answers to those questions and many more in the 2025 B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report from the team at TopRank Marketing. This remarkable 51-page report is a must-read for B2B marketing professionals planning or already managing influencer marketing programs.

The entire report is well worth downloading, but here are just a few of the highlights on key trends in B2B influencer marketing for the coming year.

What’s the Key Factor in Influencer Marketing Success?

Per the report, “43% of those we surveyed report outstanding results from their influencer programs — a nearly 10-point increase over last year.” Among marketers with mature B2B influencer marketing programs, the share reporting success was even higher.

The key to success? An always-on (as opposed to an intermittent effort, campaign-driven) approach. Again per the report, “82% of those reporting the most success with influencer marketing are using an always-on approach…(and) marketers who don’t use an always-on approach to influencer marketing are 17x more likely to report that their program is somewhat or very ineffective.”

Why? Because unlike B2C influencer marketing programs, which are highly transactional, B2B influencer programs are based on building trusted relationships over time. Always-on programs are far more effective at building trust and deepening relationships with key industry influencers.

What are the Top Challenges in B2B Influencer Marketing?

Top challenges in B2B influencer marketingNot surprisingly, “identifying and connecting with ideal influencers” and managing those relationships are among the top challenges reported by TopRank’s survey respondents.

The B2B influencer marketing realm has Onalytica (for those with significant budgets), but beyond that there is no highly developed set of platforms as there is on the B2C side, with Paladin, Upfluence, Grin, Klear, Heepsy, and others.

Surprisingly, “measuring and reporting results” was also identified as a top challenge (it shouldn’t be), while “securing adequate budget” was near the bottom of the list.

What Content Formats are Most Influential?

Not surprisingly, social media posts, webinars, and video are all near the top of the list. A question which would have been interesting but wasn’t asked is which social media platforms (beyond LinkedIn) are most impactful, now that X/Twitter is losing some traction and audience.

Surprisingly, in-person events (which are VERY expensive) were identified as the second-most effective B2B influencer marketing channel. Meanwhile, blog posts, infographics (which arguably peaked in about 2013), and “quote contributions for other content” were all near the bottom of the list.

What’s the Role of AI in B2B Influencer Marketing?

Role of AI in B2B influencer marketingNearly half of respondents said “the use of AI to expand and optimize influencer content is the most important emerging trend in B2B influencer marketing today.” How are they using it?

Content creation is, predictably, the top use. Almost half of respondents are also using AI to help identify and select influencers, and for campaign optimization.

Across potential uses for AI in this space, less than one out of five marketers said they are not using AI at all.

What are the Key Attributes of an Ideal B2B Influencer?

At the top of the list are professionalism, authenticity, and brand alignment. Again, B2B influencer marketing programs are built on relationships between the brand and its influencers. That makes these qualities extremely important (arguably, from both sides).

Cost/pricing was in the middle of the list. Surprisingly, “topical alignment” was near the bottom(?).

Download the Full Report from TopRank

There is much, much more in this report, including  how budgets are changing, how B2B marketers are growing their influencer programs, tactics that help your brand stand out, and — perhaps most helpfully — the “Framework for elevating your influencer marketing strategy” on page 48.

Again, you can download the 2025 B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report here. For any B2B marketer or PR professional involved with influencer marketing initiatives or programs, this is well worth the read.

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