This blog was originally posted on Content4Demand. 

It’s December and you know what that means: It’s predictions time! 

Traackr is an influencer marketing platform that aims to consolidate influencer evaluation, relationship building, campaign management and performance measurement into one system of record. Businesses can leverage Traackr to orchestrate paid and earned influencer marketing at scale, create efficient workflows and optimize the ROI of their influencer investments.

Risk aversion is becoming a top motivator for B2B buyers. Research shows 78% of buyers are dedicating more time to researching solutions and are increasingly turning to peers and thought leaders for relevant insights. Demand Gen Report’s 2018 B2B Buyers Survey demonstrates the growing influence of third-party sources and outside opinions on the buyer journey. According to the report:

To make the most of marketing investments, it's vital for marketers to assess campaign development strategies and analyze campaign performance in order to adjust where necessary and drive growth.

If you’re a B2B marketer and you’re not using influencer marketing as part of your overall strategy, you may be missing out on a lot of opportunities. The practice has really taken off in the B2C landscape, and it’s time for B2B marketers to follow suit.

Proof is a new platform designed to compute marketing and sales data—along with other inputs across the business—to reveal what’s “moving the needles” and how long it takes to move them, according to the company. The solution also can calculate attribution to help marketing and business leaders better understand and manage spend.

The Content2Conversion Conference has grown substantially over the past three years — both in terms of attendees and the content covered during the event. Expanding to four tracks in 2017 — ABM in Action, Content2Conversion, Demand Gen Summit and Sales Impact Summit — the event is now moving under the umbrella brand of the B2B Marketing Exchange (Feb. 20-22).

Influencer marketing campaigns can have a big impact on audiences — sometimes it’s an entire nation at the peak of a Presidential election. The New York Times recently reported how Vladimir Putin allegedly “ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election,” and it got me thinking about how much influence plays a role in the world beyond the B2B marketplace.

Whether it’s clear as day or buried deep down in your buyer’s subconscious, one thing is for certain: your actions influenced him (or her) to buy. This influence is happening every day within the B2B marketplace, but only the most progressive of B2B organizations are tapping into it to enhance their marketing campaigns and sales conversations.

Influencer marketing platform Insightpool unveiled new capabilities to its platform that will help its clients better identify and engage with social influencers by uncovering social conversations and individuals that are relevant in their industry, according to the company.