When people hear “social media influencer,” many still picture pop culture celebrities, but in B2B, influence is defined by credible business voices. Buyers increasingly trust expert practitioners, authors, analysts, and advisors who use social platforms to share their point of view, lived experience, and professional opinion. Some create original content with social-native storytelling skills, while others influence how ideas are interpreted, legitimized, and normalized. All use social channels to extend their impact. This report discusses the inflection point in B2B buyer engagement and social media influence brought about by the AI era and provides guidance on how to approach B2B influencer programs.

B2B review sites have long been part of the marketing playbook. Customer reviews, product and company listings, rankings, comparisons, and “best of” badges influence buyers in all stages of their purchase decision-making. In this report, we outline how B2B marketing leaders should reinvent their review site strategy for the AI era to optimize reputation, visibility, demand generation, and sales acceleration.

B2B marketers that outsource AI capabilities to agencies report significant gaps between what they need and what agencies are delivering. In Forrester’s 2026 B2B Brand And Communications Survey, 54% of marketing leaders say data strategy and AI readiness are important in agency selection, yet only 10% are satisfied with agencies’ ability to execute. In fact, every AI-related capability we measured shows a double-digit percentage-point gap between importance and satisfaction. Marketing teams face an internal AI skills gap and are looking to agencies to close it. As agencies fall short of meeting marketers’ expectations, they risk eroding trust and relevance.

In Forrester’s 2025 B2B Brand And Communications Survey, we asked global marketing leaders about the state of crisis communications at their company, including the frequency of crisis occurrence and their level of planning, preparedness, and resourcing. As global risks such as cybersecurity threats, climate disruptions, and geopolitical instability intensify, crisis communications planning is not optional. Every organization must prioritize preparedness to protect brand trust and ensure resilience when the unexpected occurs. In this report, we examine how crisis communications preparedness differs by company size and the risks that can result.

Sixty-five percent of B2B marketing leaders rank video among the top three most impactful content types for achieving social media goals, according to Forrester’s 2025 B2B Brand And Communications Survey. The emphasis on video reflects social media platforms’ shift toward short-form formats and the preferences of younger buyers , who now influence buying decisions and favor visual, easily consumable content. Marketing leaders should prioritize video in their social strategies to achieve maximum impact. This is a snapshot of Forrester’s data on social media marketing content strategy.

Most reorganizations fail not because of flawed strategy, but because trust collapses in the silence that often follows announcements. When leaders underestimate the human cost of change, fear spreads faster than facts, triggering a domino effect of disengagement, stalled execution, and talent flight — particularly among high performers who have options and a low tolerance for ambiguity. In an era of constant business transformation, marketing leaders cannot afford to repeat this pattern. This report provides a best-practice framework to avoid common communication pitfalls, identify strategic trust-building levers, and deploy a 90-day roadmap that reinforces stability and performance.

Forrester’s Buyers’ Journey Survey, 2025 uncovers key insights into the social media behaviors of global business buyers. Social media is a pivotal source of information and its platforms serve as a valuable place for interaction and validation — making it the most meaningful publishing channel for B2B companies. Although genAI search provides information quickly, buyers still seek more than simple convenience and strive for human interaction and validation. One in a series, this report outlines which buyers expect social media to be valuable in helping them make purchase decisions, as well as the types of information they prioritize.

In Forrester’s 2025 B2B Brand And Communications Survey, we asked global marketing leaders about internal communications ownership, executive support, measurement practices, and employee perceptions. While most companies recognize internal communications as critical, ownership varies — sometimes being part of brand and communications, other times HR or other functions. In this report, we examine how internal communications maturity differs by company size and how marketing leaders can strengthen its impact.

External influencers are reshaping the purchase decision-making process as integral members of the extended buying network. Modern buyers increasingly turn to trusted voices for insights and recommendations, often placing greater confidence in these sources than in the vendors themselves. As traditional vendor-led marketing and sales strategies lose ground to the growing reliance on expert, third-party opinions and peer-driven insights, businesses must rethink and elevate their approach to influencer engagement to align with this shift in buyer behavior.

B2B go-to-market (GTM) teams find themselves in uncharted territory. The pervasiveness of AI in marketing, sales, and product functions introduces new risks as genAI-based applications become more sophisticated and require the need for governance and reskilling. Meanwhile, economic and political factors continue to fuel volatility. In the coming year, B2B GTM teams will struggle to address AI governance, roles and responsibilities, influencer budgets, patriotic messaging, and large events. This report outlines Forrester’s predictions for B2B marketing, sales, and product teams in 2026.