When you hear about influencer marketing, you might envision people posting idyllic pictures on Instagram or TikTok Stories highlighting promoted products.
But today, influencer marketing has evolved, and so have influencer platforms.
LinkedIn now represents a significant opportunity for influencer marketing, particularly if you’re a business-to-business (B2B) company. With almost a billion members across 200 different countries, companies around the world are noticing LinkedIn’s potential as an influencer marketing channel.
Below, you’ll see some of the leading figures in LinkedIn influencing today. We’ve also detailed how to find influencers on LinkedIn using a dedicated influencer marketing platform like Sprout Social.
Who are LinkedIn influencers?
LinkedIn influencers are individuals who’ve created and promote their personal brand on the platform. And since LinkedIn is a professional-focused platform, its influencers usually post content around work-related issues, like their successful businesses, work-life balance or subject matter expertise.
Finding the right influencer to work with, meaning someone that’s both legitimate and aligned with your brand, is particularly important when starting a LinkedIn marketing campaign.
The following examples represent a broad range of LinkedIn influencers with loyal followings. We’ve split them based on the size of their audience, but they also create content across many different topics.
Top 8 mega LinkedIn influencers
Mega influencers on LinkedIn usually have 1 Million+ Followers. Some of the most important figures on the platform right now are:
- Bill Gates, 35M+ Followers
Co-founder and former CEO of Microsoft, Bill Gates is one of the biggest influencers on LinkedIn. He posts about his philanthropic work, book recommendations and other business tips.
- Richard Branson, 18.7+M Followers
Founder of the Virgin Group, Richard Branson regularly uses his LinkedIn account to post about entrepreneurship and motivational content for business owners.
- Brigette Hyacinth, 4M+ Followers
Brigette is a great example of how the biggest LinkedIn influencers aren’t all celebrities. She authored a book about the workforce of the future, and posts about leadership, HR and digital transformation.
- Daymond John, 6M+ Followers
Daymond has a starring role on the ABC reality TV show Shark Tank. He’s been the CEO of his first company, Fubu, since 1992, and regularly posts about entrepreneurship alongside motivational content.
- Sallie Krawcheck, 2.6M+ Followers
Sallie Krawcheck is the CEO and founder of women-focused financial company Ellevest. She uses her platform to talk about finance, as well as women’s wealth and closing the gender pay gap.
- Mike Bloomberg, 2.6M+ Followers
As the founder of Bloomberg, Mike Bloomberg’s influence on LinkedIn involves regularly posting about future business trends and his philanthropic ventures.
- Steven Bartlett, 2.2M+ Followers
Founder of one of the world’s biggest podcasts, Diary of a CEO, Steven Bartlett has amassed a large following on LinkedIn. He posts about motivation, investment and business management.
- Mickey Mikitani, 2M+ Followers
Mickey Mikitani is the founder of the Japanese conglomerate Rakuten Group. He uses LinkedIn to discuss technology and the responsibilities of senior leadership figures.
Top 8 macro LinkedIn influencers
LinkedIn macro influencers have around 100,000–1M Followers. While they’re less likely to be celebrities, they know how the LinkedIn algorithm works and can help your company reach thousands of other accounts.
- Neil Patel, 611k Followers
Neil Patel founded the digital strategy company Neil Patel Digital in 2017. Since then he’s grown to become one of the biggest LinkedIn influencers in the digital marketing space.
- Andreas von der Heydt, 517k Followers
One of the leading figures of the German company Tchibo, Andreas regularly creates European-focused business management content.
- Ann Handley, 466k Followers
Ann Handley has been cited by Forbes as one of the most influential women in social media. She regularly creates content about digital marketing, content strategies and rethinking approaches to business marketing.
- Vaibhav Sisinty, 400k Followers
Founder of Growthschool, Vaibhav regularly shares content about the importance of upskilling, as well as general trends in technology and business.
- Justin Bariso, 199k Followers
As an expert in emotional intelligence, Justin uses his LinkedIn platform to post about trends in the field and how it can be used to achieve greater business success.
- Kate Brandt, 183k Followers
As Google’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Kate Brandt is one of the largest LinkedIn influencers talking about climate action. She creates content focused on sustainability strategies and creating a greener future.
- Amelia Sordell, 170k Followers
Founder of Klowt, Amelia is a significant LinkedIn influencer in the personal branding space and also posts about entrepreneurship.
- Tracie Murray, 111k Followers
Tracie Murray is a UK-based LinkedIn influencer who posts about solopreneurship, public speaking, motivation and many other topics.
Top 8 micro LinkedIn influencers
These micro-influencers have 10k–100k Followers. They’ve likely been creating LinkedIn content in a niche area of expertise for a few years and now have a dedicated and growing follower base.
- Ash Rathod, 68k Followers
An experienced brand consultant, Ash Rathod focuses on creating and sharing content that helps teach businesses and individuals how to tell stories.
- Favour Lucy Aya, 71k Followers
A renowned content strategist and freelance marketer, Favour creates LinkedIn content about her marketing expertise as well as what freelance life is really like.
- Matt Navarra, 59k Followers
As a social media expert, Matt Navarra writes the regular Geekout newsletter and posts about digital strategies and social media marketing trends.
- Jordan Schwarzenberger, 57k Followers
Jordan Schwarzenberger manages the popular UK influencer group The Sidemen, and posts about Gen Z employment concerns, UK financial struggles and digital marketing.
- Will Aitken, 51k Followers
Through his training website, content and his company Sales Feed, Will promotes sales strategies and coaching.
- Heather Murray, 48k Followers
Heather Murray uses her LinkedIn content and newsletters to speak about AI in an accessible style while also providing AI training and online courses.
- Misa Chien, 38k Followers
Founder of the Asian and Pacific American (AAPI) leadership group The Authentic Asian, Misa uses her influencer status to post about female founders and women’s entrepreneurship.
- Farah Harris, 15k Followers
As the author of the bestselling book “The Color of Emotional Intelligence”, Farah posts about wellness and workplace belonging alongside her speaking career.
Top 8 nano LinkedIn influencers
Nano-influencers on LinkedIn are often early in their influencer careers, but have a loyal community of between 1k–10k Followers.
- Abigail Clarke, 9k Followers
As the founder of Eventus Agency, Abigail Clarke posts about the experience of managing a female-owned business.
- Holly Cope, 7k Followers
Holly Cope provides podcasting services for legal firms and combines this with content focused on her digital nomad lifestyle.
- Manuel Garcia, 7k Followers
As the recent founder of his own marketing firm, Manu Garcia Marketing, Manuel uses his LinkedIn account to promote his marketing expertise to a Spanish-speaking audience.
- Rin Hamburgh, 5k Followers
Founder of RH&Co, Rin Hamburgh creates regular LinkedIn content about agency management and the importance of effective copywriting strategies.
- Ty Ahmad-Taylor, 5k Followers
Ty is a director on the Go-Pro board and uses his LinkedIn platform to share Medium articles he’s written alongside posts about crafting business strategies.
- Jon May, 2k Followers
Jon May is an email marketing specialist and the author of the book Send Better Emails. Alongside his LinkedIn presence, he also has a successful TikTok account focused on food content.
- Roochay Shukla, 2k Followers
Roochay is a senior marketing manager at Outdustry, and regularly shares updates on the company’s Indian marketing efforts alongside his own expertise.
- Joe Daniels, 1.5k Followers
Founder of the narrative design agency Spiel, Joe Daniels often posts about narrative-driven marketing for businesses and products.
Top B2B influencers on LinkedIn
The following LinkedIn influencers are all notable for their focus on providing B2B influencer marketing and content.
- Jeff Weiner, 10M+ Followers
As the current Executive Chairman of LinkedIn, Jeff Weiner knows a thing or two about how the platform works. He often posts content about LinkedIn, as well as its potential for B2B marketers.
- Bernard Marr, 1.5M+ Followers
Bernard Marr is an author and keynote speaker who specializes in futurist content and how new technologies can support today’s businesses.
- Dharmesh Shah, 1M+ Followers
Founder of Hubspot, Dharmesh often posts about the platform, as well as other B2B marketing technologies, trends and strategies.
- Jay Baer, 48k Followers
Customer experience strategist Jay Baer regularly posts about topics surrounding business growth for B2B and B2C companies.
- Sujan Patel, 41k Followers
As the founder of Mailshake, Sujan uses his LinkedIn platform to promote B2B email marketing techniques.
How to find influencers on LinkedIn in your industry
Now for the million-dollar question: How do you find influencers on LinkedIn? How can you identify those individuals who have the attention of your audience?
Much like with other social platforms, a large following doesn’t guarantee a successful campaign. Aligning an influencer’s size, messaging and engagement with your company’s brand and goals is typically a better approach than simply working with the most popular influencer.
Here are some useful tips for finding a LinkedIn influencer for your next campaign.
Identify your criteria
Before you begin your search, it’s worth identifying the kind of influencer you’re looking for and what goals you want them to achieve. This involves narrowing down on the audience you want to attract and the key metrics you want to impact.
It’s also worth figuring out the type of content you’re looking for an influencer to produce.
Popular LinkedIn content forms include photo posts, carousels, video posts, articles and text-only posts. Deciding what you need ahead of time will help you jumpstart your search.
Follow LinkedIn top voices
LinkedIn has a top voices badge system which identifies high-profile users. These people are hand-selected by LinkedIn as leading authorities on their topic or business area.
This list can help prove the legitimacy of LinkedIn influencers. But it’s important to note that a LinkedIn top voices badge is usually only given to mega and macro influencers.
Join industry groups
Another way to identify influencers for your LinkedIn influencer marketing campaigns is to join popular groups related to your industry.
To find these LinkedIn groups, simply type your industry or keywords related to your industry into LinkedIn’s search function. Make sure the filter is set to Groups.
Consider joining groups and pay attention to consistent posters, plus those who get the most engagement. These individuals will be potential influencers you may want to connect with.
Use Sprout Social
One of the more reliable ways of finding authentic LinkedIn influencers is by using an influencer marketing platform like Tagger by Sprout Social.
By using Tagger, you can access 50+ search filters, resulting in over 1,000 search combinations. Tagger also hosts over 8.5 million+ vetted influencer profiles, so you can find the best fit for your brand. The platform also helps you manage your campaigns from start to finish. Manage your influencer contracts, review content before it goes live and handle your influencer payments.
Sprout’s AI-enabled Social Listening tools are another way to find influencers and manage your campaigns. Track conversations across the entire LinkedIn platform and identify leading influencers in your industry. Social listening also uncovers trends and audience analysis insights that you can use to optimize your current campaigns and inform future ones.
Get started on your LinkedIn influencer journey
LinkedIn has a unique vibe, which can make influencer marketing feel like a different ball game compared to Instagram or TikTok. But with clear direction and the right tools, you’ll be able to navigate this unique landscape to execute campaigns that truly influence the market.
If you’ve already found the right LinkedIn influencer for you business and you’re ready to start working with them on a campaign, you need to set the right foundations for your partnership. Use Sprout’s influencer marketing brief template to let them know exactly what content you need, along with guidelines that protect your future success.
