I love seeing B2B brands realizing B2B marketing isn’t about “marketing to companies.”

It’s about marketing to PEOPLE who work at companies.

And people don’t suddenly change their content preferences the second they log into Slack or Teams.

They want the same kind of content at work that they want in their personal lives — entertaining, personal, and human.

People want to see:

• HubSpot’s (refreshingly) unhinged and relatable LinkedIn feed.
• Leaders like Christina Le, who deliver a master class in creating an authentic personal brand of your own alongside a leadership role.
• Experts like Kieran Flanagan, who share industry takes so real we wonder if the legal team knows about them.

That’s why we see so many B2B brands investing in influencer-style content and activating their internal voices.

It’s also why the content on LinkedIn is shifting to the raw, personal brand-style stuff that we consume in our personal lives on IG and TikTok.

What we’re witnessing is B2B’s creator moment.

LinkedIn used to be all corporate polish and job updates. Now, it feels like we accidentally took a wrong turn onto (still kinda corporate) TikTok or IG.

And that’s a good thing.

It’s the beginning of a long-overdue re-humanization of B2B.

If you’re a B2B marketer or work for a B2B company, here are three key ways to build a more human marketing strategy for your brand.

1. Embrace b2b creators and influencers

Influencer marketing is no longer just a B2C thing.

B2B brands are tapping into the same creator economy playbook that’s driven success on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube for consumer brands.

Here’s what’s happening:

• The LinkedIn creator economy is taking off — Sarah Adam’s recent survey found a 400% YoY increase in average compensation for LinkedIn influencer posts, including a 300% rise for niche creators under 20K followers. B2B brands are leveraging creators more than ever, and creators are leaning into the opportunity.
• Employees are becoming creators — Not just execs, but practitioners at all levels. Some companies are even hiring full-time, in-house creators to make their brands more human on social. Never has it been more accepted and encouraged for employees to have personal brands and their own voice on the internet.
• Internal influencer programs are on the rise — Turning employee voices into marketing channels, building reach and trust beyond brand accounts. These programs also benefit individuals, as they get the opportunity to elevate their own voices and careers.

Knowing how big creator-style content is becoming in B2B, here are some ways to get started for your brand.

Activate your internal voices

This can be as small as identifying one or two creators at your company to partner with on a campaign.

Ask them if they’re willing to post about company news or a product update in exchange for promotion on the brand channels.

It can also be as significant as launching your own in-house influencer program, complete with incentives and accountability challenges.

Some companies are even gamifying it.

• storyarb ran a LinkedIn growth challenge where it awarded $5,000 to the employee with the most LinkedIn impressions after a 10-week period.
• beehiiv created a weekly “Social Media Girly of the Week” award that it presents every Friday during its company all-hands meeting. The award highlights the employee with the best presence on social media that week.

These kinds of playful, low-lift programs help build a culture around internal voices. And brands benefit from the increased reach and engagement.

And it’s also very cool seeing employees building in public and discussing their participation in the challenge e.g. “Here’s my post 10/30 for our company’s LinkedIn challenge!”

Test your first brand influencer collab

You don’t need a six-figure budget or a major influencer name to get started with influencer marketing in B2B.

Start with a niche creator. Someone with a focused, highly engaged audience in your vertical (even <10K followers can go a long way in B2B).

Look for creators who:

• Already talk about your category or the pain points your product solves.
• Have a strong POV and authentic voice that resonates with your audience. Think real practitioners operating in your space.
• Have a consistent presence on platforms with prominent B2B audiences, like LinkedIn, Substack, YouTube, or podcasts.

And when you collaborate with one of those creators, think beyond the standard sponsored post.

Here are a few ways to make a collaboration valuable (and human):

• Co-host a webinar or panel on a relevant topic, framed around their expertise.
• Create a “day in the life” post or video showing how they use your product in real workflows.
• Have them react to a new product feature, pricing update, or even your marketing site. Think live audit or review style content.
• Invite them to take over your brand’s LinkedIn or another account for a day with first-person content.

One of my favorite recent B2B influencer campaigns came from Hootsuite.

• The Hootsuite marketing team mailed VHS tapes to social media marketing influencers—a gesture poking fun at how useless old data is when it comes to AI technology.
• Not only did the campaign concept highlight the power of OwlyGPT’s real-time social data, but it also leveraged nostalgia via the VHS tape swag. This prompted plenty of cool image posts from the targeted set of social media marketing influencers the brand worked with.
• Read more about the campaign in Ad Age.

These types of collabs build trust, create richer storytelling, and help you reach audiences in a way brand-led channels simply can’t.

Start with one creator, see how the content performs, and then build from there.

This is a way to bring trusted voices into your brand marketing and give things a human tone.

Budget for creator content

As creator content becomes a proven growth channel in B2B, it’s time to treat it with the same strategic weight as paid ads or events.

That means spending money.

And I don’t mean suddenly reallocating massive portions of your budget (yet).

Allocating even a small test fund to influencer partnerships, employee content enablement, or UGC-style campaigns can make an impact.

Start tracking metrics like engagement, reach, and attributed leads from creator content and employee brand channels just like any other performance channel.

The ROI may surprise you. And it gives you data to justify a bigger investment over time.

If you’ve been thinking about starting a personal brand, this is your moment.

And if you’re in B2B marketing, expect creator campaigns to become a larger budget line item (if they aren’t one already).

2. Speak to buyers like people, not job titles

Yes, you’re selling to businesses in B2B.

But your buyers are still people. People with emotions, opinions, memes they send in group chats, and burnout they laugh through.

Your brand voice should speak to them. Not just to their title.

That means:

• Creating content that taps into their day-to-day realities. Not just features and benefits.
• Using a tone that’s relatable, real, and shows some personality.
• Referencing the world outside of work, not pretending it doesn’t exist

Think of it like this: instead of speaking to “a marketing director,” speak to a person who happens to work in marketing, likes pop culture, is a little tired, and scrolls LinkedIn between meetings.

To loosen up your B2B marketing copy and make your brand more relatable, try these:

Speak directly to the individual, not the org

Even in product content, address the person behind the work-issued laptop.

Talk to their frustrations, wins, and goals. Instead of “Here’s how we help enterprise teams streamline ops,” say “Here’s how you can finally stop fighting with spreadsheets.”

This approach works in everything from landing pages to product videos to blog headlines.

Meeting the reader where they are, in their own language, with content that actually sounds like you understand what they’re going through.

A good gut check: If you wouldn’t say it in a Slack DM or coffee chat, don’t put it in your headline.

A friend I work with calls it barbecue language, with the idea being to explain products and features with the same tone and language you’d use to explain it to a friend at a barbecue — simple, clear, and no extra buzz words in the salad.

Even if you’re selling to a 10,000-person enterprise, your content still gets read by one person at a time. Write like it.

Broaden your brand content topics

Just because your buyer is a marketing director doesn’t mean your posts need to be all marketing, all the time.

Weave in cultural references, work-life truths, and commentary that feels relevant to the humans in your audience.

Slack does this well with posts like: “The face I make when I DM [tag your favorite coworker].”

HubSpot takes it even further with their brand’s LinkedIn page.

They brought the Duolingo TikTok approach to LinkedIn, where they essentially turned their brand voice into a singular, chaotic, human-like narrator.

Duolingo’s brand voice was embodied by Duo the owl as the narrator. While Hubspot didn’t make their brand voice come from a mascot, their brand posts are now written with a quirky, pop culture-aware, intentionally “unhinged” first-person voice.

The tone is fast, fun, and it reflects an understanding that their audience is made up of people who happen to be marketers.

And because of that tone, we all relate to the person behind the HubSpot social media account. And in turn, relate to their brand.

Feature human-created content in your brand feed

One of the easiest ways to humanize your brand voice is by integrating the creator and employee content we just covered directly into your brand’s social mix.

• Reshare and engage with strong LinkedIn posts from internal voices.
• Highlight customer creators or influencers.
• Curate UGC-style moments that showcase your product or values in the wild.

When a company page sounds like a person, features real people, and talks like a peer  it builds trust and connection in a way more polished brand content can’t.

Recognize that beyond the job titles we “target” in B2B, there’s a real, multi-faceted person making the buying decisions. And the better you connect with that person, the better your brand loyalty will be.

3. Leverage community spaces— digital and IRL

AI-generated content is everywhere. And while it’s great for speed and scale, it also contributes to a growing sense of sameness and digital fatigue.

We’re scrolling more, connecting less, and craving the kind of real conversation algorithms can’t replicate.

That’s why people are flocking to community spaces — places that feel more human, more participatory, and more meaningful.

These include intimate in-person gatherings like dinners and meetups, as well as niche digital communities that offer a break from hyper-optimized social feeds.

When brands show up in these places not just as sponsors, but as participants, it creates opportunities for trust, depth, and belonging that are hard to match with traditional channels.

To meet your buyers where they’re seeking connection, try these.

Host small, connection-first events

The best in-person events today aren’t about badge scans or stage time.

They design memorable moments that bring people together.

Take a page from Livia Han’s playbook: plan thoughtful customer dinners with personalized invites, curated seating charts, conversation prompts, and on-brand takeaways.

Whether it’s a 10-person roundtable or a casual coffee meetup, keep it personal and connection-focused.

Skip the agenda. Give people space to just talk. That alone can make your brand a hub for your target audience.

Create private digital spaces

Not all engagement needs to happen on the main feed. Niche communities — on Slack, Discord, Substack, or Zoom — give people a place to have deeper, unfiltered conversations with others who get them.

These spaces don’t scale the same way public posts do. And that’s the point.

They’re meant to build loyalty and trust the old fashioned way: investing your time.

Some ideas to start:

• Launch a private Slack group for your top customers or users.
• Host a monthly “office hours” Zoom for your audience to ask questions and connect with the practicioners within your organization. e.g. the marketing team within a marketing software company could host a live Q&A about the brand’s software, sharing how they actually use it.
• Build a cohort or micro-community around a topic your brand champions.

Think of these as the “bottom of funnel” for digital connection. Online spaces where real relationships form.

Related: Marketing's human renaissance

Participate, don’t just present

The brands that benefit most from community aren’t just the ones hosting — they’re the ones actually engaging.

That means being present in the chat, asking good questions, contributing value, and treating these spaces like a two-way relationship.

If you’re already investing in events or communities, ask:

• Are we engaging as people or just broadcasting as a brand?
• Are we giving people value or just asking for attention?
• Are we putting forward our own in-house users and experts to network with their peers?

The more human your presence, the stronger your connection.

When you show up in the right rooms — whether physical or digital — you’re not just selling.

You’re building something that AI can’t replicate: community, trust, and real connection.

Final thoughts on delivering more human-centered b2b marketing

I can’t fully picture what B2B marketing will look like in five years.

But I do know this: it’s going to look a lot more human and a lot more fun.

As human voices become a primary marketing channel in B2B, the brands that thrive won’t just have the best product.

They’ll also be the brands people actually want to hear from.