As we explored in our blog, Part 1: Reframing Influencer Marketing for Building Materials Brands, influencer marketing for B2B building materials brands works differently than traditional B2C programs. It requires a strategic approach to be effective, and there are a number of barriers to overcome in order to build a successful program.

Here are 10 common barriers you may face when developing and launching an influencer marketing program and ways to successfully overcome them.

Barrier #1: “Influencers” Are Not Really Effective for B2B Audiences

Many building materials companies equate “influencers” with the social media celebrities that are common in B2C marketing. Marketing leaders often worry it feels gimmicky or “off brand” for their contractor and dealer audiences.

Recommendation:

In the building materials category, especially for B2B audiences, the best influencers are not your typical “celebrity”-type content creator, but rather trusted peers who actually work and create tangible results in the industry. These peers can be a respected builder, installer, or dealer with expertise, technical credibility, and actual, real-world projects to showcase, not flashy content creators. There are several ways to tap into these experts:

• Position these experts as “industry pros” and engage them as “customer ambassadors” through a Customer Ambassador Program (CAP), as discussed in Part 1.
• Focus on education, proof, and field credibility rather than pure entertainment.
• Position the program as peer-to-peer marketing, rather than influencer hype.
• Ensure these experts have a decent following, relevant audience, are active on social media, and offer a well-matched representation of your brand.

Barrier #2: Lacking an Evaluation & Selection Process

Recommendation:

Finding the right influencer for your building materials brand can be overwhelming. In many cases, influencers are reaching out to brands offering their services, which can become more transactional than mutually beneficial. To avoid this, brands need a clear process for vetting, selecting, and collaborating with influencers. This can be achieved in several ways:

• Clearly define the goals for the influencer program that will help profile the type of influencer needed.
• Define the types of influencers to best accomplish the goals and represent the brand:
• Mega influencer: 1 million+ followers
• Macro influencer: 100 thousand-1 million followers
• Micro influencer: 10-100 thousand followers
• Nano influencer: <10 thousand followers
• Develop a profile for the ideal influencer and create a selection criterion to meet that profile.
• Identify key messaging, products, processes, and resources to ensure products are used correctly and messages are on-brand.
• Set a budget for compensation from monetary to covering product costs or donations.
• Clearly state the deliverables and expectations with an RFP process so both sides (influencer and brand) are held accountable, and results are measurable at the completion of the program.

Barrier #3: Identifying Authentic, Capable Peer-to-Peer Influencers

Recommendation:

Narrowing down to the target universe of qualified B2B influencers for building materials leads to a small pool of talent. There are only so many available installers, contractors, builders, or engineers with both trade expertise and on-camera capabilities.

• Remember, you only need to find a few who are authentic, technical, and willing and able to promote themselves – and you might find the best ones are already your customers and/or employees.
• Look at all social media channels for opportunities – YouTube and Instagram Reels for video talent, LinkedIn for video and/or thought leadership potential, and Facebook trade groups for a targeted community approach.
• Partner with influencer media networks like The Build Show, Pro Trade Craft, or Fine Homebuilding to identify talent.
• Audit your own customer base and employees for talent. At BLD, we create Employee Ambassador Programs (EAPs) and Customer Ambassador Programs (CAPs).
• Invest in nano-influencers (2-10K followers) who meet the target requirements and have built-in followers, high engagement, and credibility.

Barrier #4: Long Sales Cycles to Prove Effectiveness

Recommendation:

Building material product adoption can take months or years, especially when a specification is required or the product needs to be stocked by a dealer. Some form of influencer marketing can plant the seed for brand adoption, driving both awareness and preference by educating audiences in a credible manner. As an influencer program rolls out, be sure to measure from day one to track success:

• Set KPIs and measure leading indicators like engagement from the influencers, social interactions and reactions, downloads, and inquiries.
• Define tiered success metrics:
• Short-term: engagement, reach, sentiment
• Mid-term: web traffic, spec downloads
• Long-term: sales lift
• Use QR codes and promo codes for tracking, where applicable.
• Use social listening tools or request metrics from the influencer in order to create a comprehensive report on overall results.
• Align influencer content with CRM eMarketing nurturing efforts, water-falling influencer content into these communications.

Barrier #5: Lack of Internal Executive Buy-In

Recommendation:

Investing in an influencer marketing program requires time to carefully manage it. It will also likely require a financial investment to pay targeted influencers for their activities.

Leadership may not understand the value of paying installers to post on Instagram versus tried-and-true activities like co-op ads or trade shows. However, a well-thought-out influencer program must be seen as another form of digital advertising. Some tips to sell leadership an influencer program include:

• Demonstrate proof via case studies of other building materials brands’ success.
• Start with a test-and learn pilot program to gain metrics.
• Compare costs and effectiveness with traditional marketing tactics and demonstrate the speed, engagement, and ROI benefits.
• Review profiles and past stats from the influencer pages and request media kits, reporting samples, or other portfolio pieces.

Barrier #6: Integrating With Channel Partners

Recommendation:

Channel partners like dealers, distributors, and even contractors aren’t always looped into the intent or details of an influencer program. In some cases, they might see it as competing with their own marketing or may not fully embrace the type of influencer used if it’s not an actual customer. It’s important to gain the customer’s buy in using these key steps:

• Deploy a CAP whereby actual customers are recruited for the influencer content to ensure a purely authentic experience.
• Encourage distributors and dealers to reshare influencer videos for native posting, so long as your influencer agreement allows for it.
• Create co-op programs that amplify influencer-created materials – especially at the distributor and dealer level.

Barrier #7: Brand & Legal Message Control

Recommendation:

To avoid the fear of misinformation, off-brand tone, and liability, remember that influencers cannot be over-scripted or over-polished or they lose their authenticity. Rather, make the experience structured yet liberating by giving influencers creative freedom, while emphasizing that it comes with accountability.

• Create clear guidelines that direct the narrative without scripts.
• Define an approval process for final content without stifling style and voice.
• Educate your legal team on FTC disclosure best practices.

Barrier #8: Underestimating Production Needs

Recommendation:

It takes resources to develop influencer content that is effective. Jobsite filming, travel, editing, and coordination efforts can add up quickly on top of the hard costs of materials being shipped, donated, and used in the production. For B2B audiences especially, high-quality content is expected. Poor planning and weak coordination can make production much more costly and time-consuming than necessary.

• Choose quality over quantity and develop better influencer content less frequently, while being selective with the influencer recruitment.
• Consider a budget for a content manager/coordinator or a marketing agency to manage the process, including schedules, content review, production, and social posting.
• “Waterfall” influencer content across paid, owned, and trade media to maximize exposure.

Barrier #9: Unclear or Undifferentiated Brand Messaging

Recommendation:

If a brand lacks a differentiating story and is without a clear message hierarchy, the influencer will struggle to tell a compelling story. Provide the influencer with a clear brand message and training:

• Value propositions
• The brand promise
• Product attributes, benefits, and value
• Proof points
• Most important: the Unique Selling Proposition – what the product does that is truly unique.

Barrier #10: Fear of Negative Feedback

Recommendation:

Some brands are afraid that the influencer points out a flaw publicly. Brands should understand that authenticity is the key and honest feedback makes the story believable.

• Lean into real-world storytelling.
• Show products performing under real conditions, not in perfect conditions (remember, there is no such thing!).
• Let the influencer experience the brand/product before the content is created and ask for an assessment of flaws – agree on an acceptable level of negative feedback as part of the overall story.
• Highlight the “must-have” talking points vs. the “nice-to-have": remember that social media is meant to be social and user questions in comments is a sign of an engaged audience.

Related Blog Posts:

November 19, 2025

Part 1: For B2B Building Materials Brands, Influencer Marketing Needs a Thoughtful Strategy

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June 23, 2024

The Role of Influencer Marketing in the Building Materials Industry

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