Not all influencers wear flashy outfits and dine out in luxury hotels. 

In the B2B world, influence looks different. It’s that LinkedIn post you can’t scroll past or the webinar that makes you take notes. These people know how to shape conversations and get decision-makers to listen.

However, again, not every thought leader is the right fit for your brand. Some have authority but no real engagement. Others talk a big game but don’t move the needle. 

So, how do you dodge the industry fakers and partner with voices that drive real impact? Let’s break it down.

Step-by-Step Method for Choosing the Best B2B Influencer for Your Brand 

Gut instinct alone won’t help you choose the right B2B influencer for your business. You need a strategic process to separate the true industry voices from the self-proclaimed experts. Below, we explore how. 

Step 1: Define Your Goals

Tony Robbins famously said, “Setting goals is the first step from turning the invisible to visible.” They also help us “choose the right moves at the right time.” 

If you don’t know what you want from a B2B influencer, you’re setting yourself up for a very expensive game of trial and error. Too many brands dive in headfirst, chasing big names or engagement numbers, only to realize later that they never defined what success actually looks like.

Before you even start your search, ask yourself: Why are we doing this? Are you trying to increase brand awareness, generate leads, drive webinar sign-ups, or position your company as an industry authority? 

Each goal requires a different type of influencer.

• If brand awareness is your focus, look for influencers with a broad, engaged audience (think LinkedIn thought leaders who spark conversations).
• If you need lead generation, you’ll want niche experts whose followers include decision-makers.
• If thought leadership is your play, collaborate with respected voices who create insightful content like whitepapers or data-driven posts.

The clearer your goals, the easier it is to filter out influencers who look impressive but won’t complement your business efforts. 

Step 2: Look Beyond the Follower Count

It’s tempting to equate influence with numbers. A LinkedIn influencer with 500K followers must be more impactful than one with 10K, right? Not necessarily. Follower count is vanity. What truly matters is credibility and engagement.

Think about it: why do people follow influencers in the first place? Some hit the “follow” button out of curiosity, others for entertainment, and many just because everyone else is doing it. 

So, would you rather have an influencer with 500K disengaged followers who scroll past their content or one with 10K highly engaged industry professionals who actually make purchasing decisions? 

When evaluating influencers, look at their engagement quality. 

• Do their posts encourage meaningful discussions? 
• Do decision-makers interact with them? 
• Do they influence industry shifts, or are they just part of the noise? 

Step 3: Use Different Industry Platforms

If you’re only looking for B2B influencers on LinkedIn, you’re leaving opportunities (and money) on the table. While LinkedIn is the king of professional networking, influence doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Each channel has its own ecosystem and audience behavior. 

• LinkedIn. The best B2B influencers here publish original, thought-provoking content and get high-quality engagement from decision-makers. Look for influencers with strong engagement from the right people (C-suite, executives, professionals in your niche). 
• Twitter/X: Influencers here are highly interactive, frequently responding to comments and posting sharp, opinionated takes on emerging topics. Search for those whose tweets get quoted in articles and discussed by professionals in your space.
• Instagram: Instagram might not scream “B2B,” but for industries like tech, marketing, and consulting, it’s a great branding platform. The influencers here know how to make complex ideas digestible through compelling visuals. Look at their comment sections - are professionals engaging, or is it just casual likes?
• Facebook Groups. Facebook might not be as flashy, but B2B Facebook groups remain some of the most engaged communities online. Here, real discussions happen between industry insiders and business owners. If you find an active, well-moderated group relevant to your field, the admins and key contributors are likely high-value influencers.

Step 4: Analyze Their Content & Audience

Not all content is created equal, and not all audiences are worth your time. Just because an influencer posts a lot doesn’t mean they’re actually influential. To find the right B2B partner, you need to dig deep.

Content Quality

• Are their insights original, or do they just regurgitate industry news with no real take?
• Do they provide data-driven, in-depth analysis?
• Are they thought-provoking, challenging norms, or merely posting for engagement?

The content of a great B2B influencer should make professionals rethink their approach and adapt. 

Audience Analysis: Who’s Actually Engaging?

Engagement numbers can be misleading. A post with 500 likes means nothing if it’s from random accounts with no buying power. You need to check:

• Who is commenting? (Industry professionals or just fellow influencers hyping each other up?). Remember, some influencers even buy followers and likes. In fact, Harvard Business Review highlights that “this practice has become an industry itself.”
• What are the comments saying? Are they adding insights? Or are they dropping generic praises?
• Are key industry players sharing their content? A great sign of real influence is when respected professionals reference or engage with them.

Step 5: Check Their Industry Credibility

Start by looking at the professional background of the influencer you intend to work with. 

Do they have hands-on experience in the field? Have they spoken at industry conferences or been cited by other thought leaders? These are signs that their influence extends beyond their own platform!

Next, examine their collaborations. Have they worked with reputable brands? High-quality partnerships show that businesses trust their expertise. Also, look for signs of peer recognition. Are other industry professionals engaging with them or inviting them to panels? 

Remember, credibility isn’t self-proclaimed but rather earned through experience. 

Step 6: Use Influencer Tools to Find the Right Fit

Manually searching for the right B2B influencer can feel like finding a needle in a haystack. That’s where influencer tools like Traackr come in.

It’s a deep analytics tool that breaks down an influencer’s engagement authenticity, audience demographics, the professional roles of their followers, and more. 

It also tracks historical content performance, so you can see if an influencer’s engagement is consistent or just inflated by one-off viral posts. Plus, you can filter by topics and keywords to check whether they actually discuss relevant industry trends.

Further, LinkedIn’s Creator Mode and Sales Navigator are goldmines for finding niche influencers. You can filter by industry and job titles of their audience. 

Likewise, Twitter’s Followerwonk lets you analyze an influencer’s followers, helping you see if decision-makers are actually engaging with them. 

Step 7: Test Small Before Committing

Just because an influencer looks great on paper doesn’t mean they’ll drive real impact for your brand. The smartest approach is to start small, analyze the results, then scale.

We recommend beginning with a pilot campaign. It could be a single sponsored post or a collaborative LinkedIn article. This allows you to measure key metrics. You can see if:

• They’re driving engagement from the right people
• Decision-makers are interacting with them 
• Website clicks are converting into actual leads

If the response is lukewarm, you’ve just saved yourself from an expensive mistake. Also, pay attention to how they collaborate. Are they responsive and genuinely interested in your brand? A small test ensures the partnership is the right fit before you go all in.

Step 8: Engage With Them Organically

The worst way to approach an influencer? Cold pitching them like a sales email!

Influencer partnerships work best when there’s mutual recognition and respect, and that starts with organic engagement. So, before sliding into their inbox with a collaboration request, spend time interacting with their content.

Start by commenting on their posts with thoughtful insights. We’re not referring to those generic “Great post!” responses. If they share an industry report, add your perspective. If they post a question, join the discussion. 

Share their content on your own platform with meaningful takeaways. Over time, this builds familiarity, making your eventual outreach feel natural.

Another powerful approach is to feature them first. Mention their insights in your blog or tag them in a LinkedIn post. When they see you genuinely value their expertise, they’ll be far more receptive to a collaboration. 

Step 9: Prioritize Authenticity 

The best influencers align with the brands they collaborate with. If their endorsement feels forced or off-brand, their audience will see right through it (and so will yours).

So, notice how they communicate. Check if they genuinely engage with their audience or whether they only post for visibility. See if they’re selective about the brands they collaborate with or do they say yes to anything with a paycheck. A credible influencer values trust over transactions, and that’s exactly what you need.

Also, before committing, analyze their past brand partnerships. This will help you uncover if they can seamlessly integrate recommendations into their content or whether it’ll feel like an obvious ad. 

Remember, your goal isn’t mere exposure but believability, because in B2B, trust drives decisions. In fact, research highlights that 88% of B2B marketers noticed a positive brand reputation, and 72% observed an increased brand awareness due to “authentic influencer collaborations.”

Step 10: Measure Their Impact

To gauge whether your collaboration is actually working, you need to track meaningful metrics beyond likes and impressions.

Start by analyzing the engagement quality of their content. Look at the comments and discussions. Notice if the industry professionals are interacting, sharing insights, and continuing the conversation. 

This shows whether the influencer is sparking interest among the right people or broadcasting to a passive audience.

Traffic and lead generation are next. Use UTM links or custom landing pages to see how many visitors come from their content. If those visitors explore multiple pages or request demos, you know the influencer is driving real interest.

Lastly, take a step back and assess the bigger picture. Are more people mentioning your brand in industry circles? Or are prospects coming to you already familiar with what you offer? 

When influence leads to action, that’s when you know you’ve made the right choice!

Step 11: Think Long-Term 

A one-off post from an influencer might get you a spike in traffic, but the real impact comes from consistent, long-term partnerships. After all, B2B decision-making is a slow burn. It’s built on trust and repeated exposure. 

One way to do this? Give them skin in the game. Instead of paying per post, offer revenue-sharing deals or advisory roles. For example, if you’re a SaaS company, invite an industry expert to help shape a new feature. You can also give them exclusive beta access or collaborate with them on a whitepaper. 

This makes their advocacy genuine because they’ve contributed to something real.

Another overlooked strategy is to build with them, not just through them. Host invite-only events for influencers where they can network with your team and other thought leaders. 

When they feel part of your brand’s growth, they’ll talk about you because they want to, not because they’re paid to. That’s the kind of long-term influence money can’t buy. 

Remember, “Long-term thinking is your best short-term strategy.”

Connect with the Best B2B Influencers for Your Brand

In B2B, the best influencers are the ones shaping conversations in Slack channels and niche industry events. Their words carry weight, and they prefer building on shared goals.

If such an influencer truly believes in your brand, their advocacy won’t even feel like marketing.

But remember, partnering with influencers is just one step. Your brand should aim to become a thought leader in its own right. Learn from the influencers, collaborate deeply, and use that momentum to strengthen your own position in the industry. 

And what better way to do that than through videos? At INDIRAP, our video production experts create influential content that makes your brand impossible to ignore. Let’s work together and take your expertise from words on a page to visuals that demand attention.

If you'd like to learn more about how we can help you find the right B2B influencers for your brand and plan your growth, book a free, no obligation Discovery Call.