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Coco : “What if we called on influencers to promote us?”

Gastby : “Very good idea! ”

Coco : “I'll take care of it! In one week I think it can be done.”

Ideally, we would all like our projects to go as well and as quickly.

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But in reality, you have to be a bit more patient.

Regularly, advertisers imagine that the launch of an influencer marketing campaign takes place in this way.

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Influencers are used, they communicate about the product or service, their action gives visibility to the company and everyone is a winner.

All of course done in the space of a few days.

...” WRONG”

As one of the early YouTubers would say

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In this article, we will show you that launching an influence project does not happen in the blink of an eye.

There is thought and strategy.

Within the Les Années Folles label, the establishment of a campaign with a BtoB content creator is designed over at least forty days with 7 key steps as follows.

The steps of a campaign with influencers on LinkedIn

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1 - The definition of a communication brief

Before embarking on an influencer marketing campaign, it is good to ask yourself and think about your goals.

Why would I use content creators?

Why do it on LinkedIn instead of Instagram, or vice versa?

What do I expect from it in concrete terms?

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If you're already asking yourself all these questions, that's a good sign.

Without knowing it, you are in the process of creating what is called a brief.

This document is completed by the company requesting an influencer marketing agency.

It is one of the first contacts she will have with the structure.

The latter will thus know in a few lines the type of campaigns you want to launch.

Inside this document, the advertiser enters several pieces of information.

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Here are the ones that are relevant to mention when making contact for a partnership with a BtoB influencer:

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• The company introduces itself and highlights its positioning in relation to the competition,
• It provides information on the visibility of the company on LinkedIn,
• It details the offer that the company wishes to promote on the social network, in other words the core of the partnership,
• It lists the objectives that the company wants to achieve: increase its sales, its reputation... If it wants to send the audience back to a particular site or a registration form, etc.
• It specifies the target to be reached,
• It gives details about the campaign that the advertiser wants to set up such as the date, duration and budget.
• She provides information on her personal buyer
• It informs about its sales cycle
• ...

Once all this information has been filled in, the agency will know a little better why you want to use influencers.

Above all, she will be able to start thinking about the campaign.

2 - Designing a communication strategy on LinkedIn

To do this, it moves on to the second stage, which is that of market research.

The teams will take the time to look at what the advertiser is doing compared to its competitors.

How to stand out on a very specific theme?

Do these competitors use specific hashtags or creations?

Is there a particularity of the offer to rely on?

The idea here is to bring a fresh look at what is already being done in its theme in order not to reproduce an already existing communication.

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In parallel with this research, it is also important to look at the way in which experts in this sector express themselves.

Does the target customer have specific expectations?

Is there a recurring question that could inspire the campaign?

Is there a news item to bounce back on to make product placement?

This research will make it possible to understand the expectations of the targeted people in order to better adapt its communication.

It is with all this research that a campaign like the one with Jean Pascal Mollet and Fazup was thought of.

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The speech took place in January, just as businesses shared their best wishes with their customers.

The opportunity was perfect to highlight these anti-wave patches, the original gift to give to its customers working in the world of telephony for example.

This stage takes place over twenty days within the Les Années Folles label.

It is all this upstream work that will be at the heart of the future campaign.

This process should therefore not be overlooked.

3 - Find the BtoB influencer on LinkedIn

Once this time of research is over, the agency already has a little easier time understanding what direction the campaign will really go in.

So now is the time to list the relevant influencers to speak out on this subject.

Not all content creators are going to be interesting to ask for.

For the project to have more impact, you must first of all remember who to target: do you want to talk to salespeople? In the communication department? To HR? DRH? DAF? CEO...

It is from these answers that the ideal brand ambassador will be sought.

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In addition to all this data, the agency will pay attention to other specificities on the profile of the BtoB content creator on LinkedIn.

For a collaboration, it is necessary that:

• his speeches correspond to and disseminate values similar to the company,
• its engagement rate is interesting especially on its latest publications and not only on a few,
• his volume of publication is fairly regular and that he knows how to animate a community,
• its number of new connection requests is constantly growing.

If all the signals are green, then the brand ambassador has been found!

4 - Contact a BtoB influencer on LinkedIn

He still has to accept this collaboration.

Here we are at the fourth step, which is making contact.

After 20 days of thinking about the campaign to be carried out, after looking for which influencer is ideal for this project, the agency team gets in touch with him to present the project to him.

The idea here is not to transcribe to him the brief sent at first by the advertiser, but to explain to him what it will be put in place.

The campaign is coming to fruition and all that's needed is the influencer to take action.

The latter, an expert in his field, will discuss at length with his agency to see if the project suits him, for about twenty days as well.

He will also take the liberty of giving some information to the company so that this partnership is more relevant to him.

Above all, he will have time to think about the best way to communicate about the product or service offered, since the publication of the partnership will not happen overnight.

Before moving on to the next step, the brand must validate the chosen profile.

5 - Launch of the communication campaign on LinkedIn

After being notified of this future partnership, the BtoB influencer will concretely imagine what the campaign could give.

The agency's indications, all the work it did in the early stages to better understand the market, etc., will be taken into account in these discussions.

How will he be able to highlight the message of the partner company?

Is it interesting to do a carousel or to think of a simple photo publication?

Several proposals will be made and several back and forth between the agency and the content creator will take place for collaboration.

In the BtoB influence marketing sector, the message to be transmitted during a partnership is important to work on.

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The ambassador will speak to an audience of professionals who are up to date with the latest news in the sector.

If his subscribers follow him, it is to learn more about their field of activity and to know the latest trends or the influencer's opinion on this or that product.

This is why the development of a BtoB campaign requires time, because the requested Linkedin influencer imagines a post that is both interesting, engaging, instructive and why not entertaining.

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Amélie Favre Guittet and Mathieu Guermeur

For example, for a campaign orchestrated by the law firm Lexelians, the agency called on two content creators in two different areas.

The first is Amélie Favre Guittet who shared a carousel full of tips for hiring a new employee by 100% remote working.

One of the lawyers behind this partnership was present in the comments to answer questions from the influencer community.

The second influencer to have been activated is Mathieu Guermeur who interviewed one of the firm's lawyers to explain the risks for a company to use only freelancers.

As with Amélie Favre Guitter, the lawyer was present in the comments to answer questions.

For these two partnerships, the approach was not at all the same, yet they are the same partner.

In the first example, the firm wanted to speak to an HR audience.

What is the biggest news in the sector today? Teleworking!

Communication therefore meets two expectations: to speak to a very specific target of customers while being in line with major news.

For the second example, the law firm is more aimed at a community of entrepreneurs.

The question of freelancing is a subject that is always debated, especially in this sector.

To provide them with concrete answers with a professional, the lawyer took the floor.

It is also during this stage that the administrative aspects will be thought out: the contract established between the brand and the influencer, their remuneration, etc.

6 -Plan your marketing campaign on LinkedIn

This back-and-forth intensifies before the campaign is published, as the content proposal is sent to the advertiser.

In this document, the agency shares with him the creation imagined by the influencer with the post in all its details:

• the text,
• the photo or video that will be attached,
• the imagined carousel if there is one,
• the tracked link that refers to a very specific page,
• hashtags to help bring the publication back to a specific target audience.

This document allows the advertiser to have a concrete idea of what their campaign is going to be.

He will also know how the agency will analyze it once the collaboration is over.

During this stage, the company has the opportunity to make some important changes, but not to change its brief or change its objective.

The idea here is to reassure her by showing her what will be produced so that she is not surprised once in line with a detail that does not suit her.

Once everything is ok, the publication is planned and put online.

The company can follow by itself the interactions aroused by speaking with the influencer by reading the comments and the various reactions.

7 - Analyzing a campaign with an influencer

And the collaboration does not end when the publication is put online!

After this stage, the analysis phase comes a few days later.

The agency discusses this partnership with the advertiser with numerical data.

This post-campaign document contains:

• the number of comments (positive & negative) likes, views and shares and everything that will help establish the engagement rate of the post,
• The clicks on the links, the establishment of Linkedin contacts, the growth of subscribers, the meetings of prospects...

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It is even possible on Linkedin to know the employees, the sectors of activity and the types of businesses that have been affected, the geographical area

In addition to these various data, the Les Années Folles label appreciates asking for the opinion of the content creator after the campaign.

The latter thus has the opportunity to highlight his role as an expert rather than that of an influencer.

In this way, he shares what he appreciated and what he liked the least, but also more business information, namely whether it was relevant to target these people rather than others or his feelings about the campaign, the response of the audience in terms of com-services-values...

Finally, the agency can also share its point of view. With these comments, the advertiser will not repeat the same mistakes and will be able to make even more impactful communications and will be able to keep his creative brief in order to communicate better in the future on the 1st B2B social network “LINKEDIN”

You see that these 7 steps have nothing to do with what you could have imagined so far, right?

Launching an influencer marketing campaign Linkedin needs to be thought out, structured and thought out to have a real impact.

Not all LinkedIn influencers are made for all of your campaigns.

You have to know how to choose them well, but above all, to understand your objective well in order to reach the right target.

Don't wait to be overtaken by your competitors to get started!

I WANT TO LAUNCH MY 1ST B2B INFLUENCER CAMPAIGN

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