With newer social networks like TikTok and Instagram taking the lead with younger consumers, and Facebook’s organic reach declining over time, B2B marketers are starting to look elsewhere for their social media marketing campaigns.
However, whilst Google and LinkedIn are usually the platforms of choice for B2B lead generation, Facebook is still the most popular social network in the world, with business decision makers the most likely to use the platform.
65% of B2B marketers use Facebook ads for their campaigns, and 74% of people admit to using Facebook for professional purposes. Thus, Facebook is still an excellent platform for marketing if you know how to harness it.
Here are some of the best ways that you can use Facebook for marketing to other businesses.
Use Facebook Remarketing Campaigns
Everyone is aware of and has been part of a Facebook remarketing campaign, even if they do not know that this is what is happening. If you have searched for a product on Amazon, for example, and then seen an ad for that product moments later in your Facebook newsfeed, this is the result of a remarketing campaign.
For it to work, Amazon adds a cookie to your browser (basically a small bit of code) which allows them to continue to show you ads for the product you have searched (or similar ones) on other websites. Facebook Pixel works in the same way. In this case the code is placed in order to trigger cookies that track where users have browsed and interacted with your website after clicking on your Facebook ads.
You can also use this technology to trigger targeted ads after a specific user action, such as showing them an ad for a product that they abandoned in their shopping cart.
Some of the areas of your website which can prove useful for remarketing purposes include:
- Your pricing pages
- Your checkout pages
- Blog posts
- Your sign-up or contact page
Use Facebook Business Pages To Create Brand Awareness
Facebook business pages are an important addition to any business’s web presence. It is a space on Facebook which is entirely your own, allowing you to inform potential customers of your company and what it does. Because Facebook prioritises posts that are highly engaged with, this is also the perfect chance to talk to and interact with users, creating a sense of trust between yourself and other businesses.
Some helpful tips for reaching a wider audience using Facebook business pages are:
- Make sure that all of your content is useful and compelling, inspires engagement and catches the eye. Using videos and images is a great way to draw people to a post.
- Extend the reach of your events by tagging co-hosts and inviting people.
- Make sure that posts ask questions, include polls or surveys, or offer incentive for commenting and sharing.
- Create public events with a location tagged, so that Facebook can suggest them to people nearby.
Share Content Assets To Generate Leads
This is potentially the simplest way to generate B2B leads on Facebook, costs nothing and offers an excellent return. People that follow or like your Facebook page are the most highly engaged potential customers that you have and are probably the most likely people to benefit from your lead generation assets.
Your content assets are what you offer your audience in exchange for their contact details or some other method of conversion. If you have created a useful piece of downloadable content, are putting on a webinar or so on, share this as a status update on your Facebook page and you should end up achieving good rates of engagement and better quality leads from this simple step.
Use Facebook Communities And Groups To Acquire Leads
For B2B purposes, Facebook groups and communities are a rich resource that offers an easy way to generate leads. Most groups and communities are centred around specific topics, meaning that their audiences are some of the most relevant that you can find for your business purposes. Audiences are already segmented, and you can share content and join discussions in order to raise awareness and generate new leads.
Some of the ways in which you can use Facebook groups for B2B marketing purposes include:
- Promoting your own content, events and products
- Setting up your own group to appeal to a targeted audience, with the group name and description carefully set using keywords that are specific to your business or industry
- Keep the group updated with scheduled content that ensures an active community with plenty of brand new, regular content
- Cross-promote your business and group in other communities in order to learn more about what your target audience is interested in
- Build professional and personal relationships with others in your industry and build your reputation in this way.
Master Facebook Ads
Whilst Facebook may not be as popular now as it was before, most businesses still know the importance of using Facebook ads, particularly those in the B2B market. Facebook Ads uses a robust optimisation algorithm in order to help businesses to drive conversions, boost website traffic and generate leads.
Some of the benefits of using Facebook Ads as opposed to, for example, LinkedIn include:
- Facebook pixel allows you to track conversions simply and seamlessly
- An average of 18% click-through rates
- A consistently large and still growing user base
- Low cost
- You can access a wide range of features without a minimum spend
- The algorithm optimises itself in order to keep your ads fresh and increase your conversions.
Facebook Ads also allows you to:
- Target and segment your audience based on a range of demographics, as well as job titles, user behaviour and preferences
- Use a prospect’s own Facebook page and activity in order to create lead ads that will appeal to them the most
- Provide warm leads for your B2B sales team from the information available on a prospect’s own page
- Target ads specifically to local businesses
- Set a budget, target a specific audience and alter your content to appeal to each target group specifically.
Can We Help
Online B2B marketing has been in a constant state of flux for decades now. As new platforms appear, and old ones decline in popularity, it can be difficult to keep up and know how make the most of your marketing budget.
MaxWeb makes it its business to know what the most cost effective and successful online platforms are to use, and it is why companies large and small trust us to manage their online advertising campaigns.
To see how we can help you please contact us today on 01516524777 or email us at info@maxwebsolutions.co.uk.
Posted on Thursday, February 13th, 2020 in Social Media.
