Neal is a digital marketing consultant, author and speaker. He started his blog back in 2008 and published his first book via LinkedIn. He launched his podcast in 2013.

His link to influencer marketing stems from finding the needs of his own market. He was getting a lot of questions about influencers and influencer marketing, but that marketers were getting misled with what both were.

Every business has influencers they can engage with. And these are their customers and employees. It seems to Neal crazy not to engage with your advocates in a B2B space as they are your salespeople on LinkedIn by offering influence. Termed employee advocacy or employee influencers, salespeople are connecting with their prospects all day long. So tapping into these connections is highly important.

Looking at an employee as an advocate can often lead to questions of why aren't they sharing my content. If you look at employees as influencers you actually ask them how can we help you with our resources. Then the influencers become amplifiers of your content and involved in the content. For example, asking them to get your podcast guests. Developing the relationship will have much more impact on your marketing long-term. It's treating them as influencers - appealing to their ego.

Some companies now are offering nano-influencer training. Giving the person what they want to get the content they need, in their personal brand strategy. This is something you can bring to the table as once you offer them value, they are likely to share your content through the collaborative mindset.