Influencers are important in B2B, although you’re unlikely to buy a CDP through a social media post. This LinkedIn study offers insights into the kinds of B2B influencers that are most effective (spoiler alert: thought leaders, not company employees) and, less obviously, finds that short-form social video has the highest ROI, beating even brand storytelling and testimonials and demonstrations.
As AI search results reduce traffic to many brand websites, influencer marketing is emerging as an alternative way to reach consumers. Influencer agency CollAble is taking advantage of the trend by offering a storefront tool, Find.ly, that lets influencers directly sell the products they tout. It connects with affiliate networks to ensure influencers get credit for their sales.
For better or worse (almost surely, worse), AI will increasingly generate content posted by influencers. Adauris does its bit by converting marketing materials into an audio program script, recording it with AI voices, and distributing the result to podcast channels. They’ve just been bought by Landbase, which uses AI agents to build and execute B2B lead generation campaigns. Landbase announced a $30 million Series A last month.
CDP Zeta Global has unveiled Athena, a “superintelligent” voice-activated interface that delivers instant answers, smarter decisions, and agentic actions throughout the Zeta platform. It activates a suite of agentic apps that can adapt to each user’s specific goals and styles. Early access will begin later this year, with a suite of agentic apps to follow in the first half of next year.