Industry thought leader on digital marketing and influence Lee Odden, TopRank listed Brian Solis in his latest list “5 Key Traits of the Best B2B Influencers.” Brian is referenced under “Popularity.”

There’s no one formula for the perfect B2B influencer, but there are some common characteristics that B2B brands should look for in varying proportions according to what’s important to a program or activation. I call those characteristics the 5Ps of B2B Influence.

Popularity

While network size is not the only thing, nor is it the most important thing, it is definitely a metric to consider. Some marketers swing in the direction of ignoring audience size altogether because of lower engagement rates with popular influencers. This is simply foolish. All things being the same, I’ll take 2% engagement of an influencer with a million followers over 2% from someone that has 1,000 followers.

What matters is how network size factors in with the type of influencer you need. For example, popular influencers aka “brandividuals” are often best for top of funnel content. Niche domain expert influencers are better for middle and end of funnel content. Engaging a brandividual and expecting conversions is just naive.

Brian Solis @briansolis With a network of over 600,000 on Twitter and LinkedIn alone, this Digital Analyst and Anthropologist, Best-Selling Author, and Keynote Speaker is a prolific content creator and “walk the talk” thought leader with a significant and active following.

5 Key Traits of the Best B2B Influencers