Which Brands Are Investing in LinkedIn Influencer Marketing?

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“Should we invest in LinkedIn influencer marketing?”

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This is a question that many B2B marketers are asking, as numerous case studies suggest that LinkedIn influencer marketing is effective.

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For example, we recently published a case study of an $8M ARR SaaS company that generates over 50% of its pipeline from LinkedIn.

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However, that doesn’t mean that LinkedIn influencer marketing is the right choice for every company. 

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To help you answer this question, we analyzed a sample of 132 companies running LinkedIn influencer marketing campaigns, examining the industries, sizes, and categories of these businesses to gain a better understanding of the state of LinkedIn influencer marketing. 

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Brands Investing in Influencer Marketing

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To collect this data, we randomly selected English-speaking LinkedIn influencers across various industries (sales, marketing, AI, career development, etc.). 

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Most of them were primarily larger influencers (e.g., total engagement ranging from approximately 50 to several thousand per post).

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Here are some of the patterns we discovered in this content. 

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Company Size Distribution (By Employee Headcount) 

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There was a large range of company sizes, though the most common employee count (25%) fell between 200 and 1,000 employees. 

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To break it down further, approximately 12% of the companies had fewer than 10 employees, and about 29% had fewer than 50 employees. 

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This suggests that LinkedIn influencer marketing is still relatively cost-effective and can be an excellent go-to-market strategy for agile startups.

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However, the platform is also maturing as some Fortune 500 companies, including IBM, are currently running LinkedIn influencer marketing campaigns.

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Company Industry Distribution

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The most common category among all businesses running influencer marketing campaigns on LinkedIn was marketing and sales, accounting for 42% of the sample companies.

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This makes sense, as marketers and sales professionals tend to comprise a large percentage of active social media users. 

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The next largest category, at 13.6%, is productivity and business operations software (e.g., Quillbot or Scribe), followed by Fintech companies at 9% (e.g., Mercury or Acorns). 

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Type of Customer Distribution

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The overwhelming majority of companies (78%) sold B2B products, while 29.5% sold B2C products. However, approximately 13.6% offered both B2B and B2C products. 

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There were also a handful of DTC brands running LinkedIn influencer campaigns, including Helix Sleep and AG1: 

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Company Model Distribution

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Unsurprisingly, 83% of the companies running LinkedIn influencer marketing campaigns were SaaS companies.

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There were also some service businesses, such as agencies and firms, that ran LinkedIn influencer campaigns. 

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For example, a staffing firm, Express Pros, ran influencer campaigns with a few creators:

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There was also an individual who ran influencer campaigns to promote her book and general personal brand:

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AI First Companies

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Another interesting note is that a significant percentage (31%) of the companies running LinkedIn influencer campaigns were AI-first companies. 

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We define “AI-first” as companies whose key differentiator is their AI capabilities. For example, AI agent companies, such as Lindy.ai or Context.ai, fall into this category.

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As we’ll explain in more detail below, LinkedIn influencer marketing is excellent for AI companies, as most prospects are problem-unaware and therefore aren’t actively searching for a solution. 

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Insight #1: LinkedIn is maturing as an influencer platform with Fortune 500 companies investing in it.

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Amazon, Adobe, and IBM are just a few of the Fortune 500 companies running influencer marketing campaigns on the platform. 

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This shift to LinkedIn influencers also shows that even Fortune 500 companies are realizing that authentic, relatable content from a trusted source is often more impactful than traditional corporate messaging. 

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For example, this product marketing post from IBM has the relatability of a startup post :

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Insight #2: LinkedIn influencer marketing is also an efficient go-to-market strategy for startups.

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Despite the fact that Fortune 500 companies are investing in LinkedIn influencer marketing, there are also many new startups leveraging smaller creators on LinkedIn to establish their initial customer base. 

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For example, AdFairy is a startup that recently ran a campaign with social media manager and expert, Enara Roy. 

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Enara’s two posts generated about 70 comments and over 400 likes – significant brand awareness for a small company.

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Additionally, Enara is a real user of the AdFairy platform.

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If you’re targeting existing customers, you can likely negotiate a better deal by offering free product to reduce the total promotion cost – something that you can’t do with traditional paid media. 

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Additionally, you’ll notice that Ad Fairy didn’t target a massive influencer. Instead, they worked with a trusted micro influencer who perfectly matched their ICP and had a highly relevant audience.. 

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Insight #3: LinkedIn influencer marketing is excellent for raising problem (and solution) awareness

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A marketing problem many companies face is that customers are unaware that a better solution to their current process exists. 

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If customers aren't aware that a more efficient method exists, they won't think to search for a solution.  

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I’ll give you an example.

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Let’s say you offer an AI tool to lawyers that automatically flags billing entries or costs that might get rejected by insurance carriers or corporate clients. 

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Most lawyers probably don’t even realize that a solution like that exists.

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Therefore, SEO and traditional customer acquisition methods won’t drive traffic because your customers aren’t actively searching for a solution. 

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Instead, LinkedIn influencer marketing can make potential customers aware of the problem (and your solution) in a single post. 

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Influencer marketing is also much more authentic than an ad because your prospects follow influencers specifically to learn about new trends and strategies (like your product use cases). 

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Context AI is an excellent example of how LinkedIn influencer marketing can make customers problem-aware. 

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For example, VCs might not realize that they can automate pitch deck analysis and slide deck generation. This post makes them aware of the problem and presents a solution: 

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You can also negotiate with influencers to use the content in ads. 

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The key to making these problem-aware posts work is ensuring influencers actually use your product for that specific use case. 

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Therefore, you have two options:

1. Only hire current customers who genuinely use your product. 
2. Have your CS team sit down with influencers who aren’t aware of your product and discover a legitimate use case that solves a problem for them (and, you might earn a new customer!)

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Insight #4: LinkedIn influencer marketing is an excellent way to expand internationally.

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One of the challenges with expanding internationally is understanding cultural differences and calibrating messaging accordingly. 

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There are numerous examples of international ads that went awry due to cultural ignorance and resulted in more negative PR than positive impact. 

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Collaborating with influencers eliminates this risk because the influencer understands the cultural norms in their region and can deliver the message in a way that resonates with those people.

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For example, Synthesia recently worked with several influencers to expand internationally. 

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Here’s an example of an ad they ran with a German influencer (and it also illustrated their new AI dubbing feature):

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Is LinkedIn Influencer Marketing Right For Your Company?

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LinkedIn is becoming one of the most popular B2B influencer marketing platforms, and creators on the platform are still likely undervalued.

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So how do you know if it’s right for your company?

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While there isn’t a definitive answer to that question, ask yourself:

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Is a significant percentage of your audience active on LinkedIn? 

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If the answer is “yes” (as it is for most B2B companies), consider allocating a small budget to run a few campaigns. 

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If you need help finding LinkedIn influencers, contacting them, and tracking campaigns, consider using Favikon. 

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Favikon is an all-in-one influencer marketing platform that allows you to find and connect with LinkedIn influencers across the globe. 

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You can sort by industry, niche, language, region, engagement rate, posts per month, and other filters to find the perfect partners to promote your brand. 

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You can also manage your communication and campaigns directly inside the Favikon platform. 

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Try Favikon today to manage your LinkedIn influencer campaigns. 

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