B2B marketing focuses on generating leads and converting them into possible customers who would really be other business enterprises.
To establish their market and to find a possible increase in their sales, the best marketing platforms will have to be chosen to build the most effective base.
LinkedIn and Facebook are 2 most important platforms usually used today. Simply put, LinkedIn is used for business and Facebook is for personal and fun purposes.
At first glance, LinkedIn might be the first preference to the B2B market, being “for business”. But there are more than just the superficial reasons and facts, retaining us from directly jumping to a conclusion.
Comparing the different aspects of Facebook and LinkedIn can give a clearer picture of the usability of both the platforms for building the market for your B2B enterprise.
- The user base
Facebook has a very large user count of more than 2.4 billion users and LinkedIn has a user base of around 260 million users.
More than the number of users, the time spent is quite more important and Facebook users spend more time on FB than the LinkedIn users on LinkedIn.
Facebook is still the most popular social media in 2020, making the chances of having more audience and possible leads on Facebook. The CTA buttons will increase not only the traffic but also the engagement on your site, which is a brighter side of having a huge user base.
At the same time, LinkedIn has more probabilities for quality lead generation.
- The paid promotions
Facebook has a lower rate for the ads and also with a wide audience, the Pay per click is relatively low, making it more affordable for the business.
The organic reach will be so difficult on Facebook due to the billions of the posts being shared daily. Hence, paid promotions are better shots.
With the huge dataset of Facebook, the sponsored promotions on Facebook can be more target-specific and hence, the potential leads will increase the chance of seeing your ads and responding to it.
Likewise, on LinkedIn, the paid promotions give you the better chances of reaching the more useful audience according to the information they provide on the LinkedIn platform about their business. Linkedin will have always updated information about the profession of people.
- Quality of leads
On Facebook, you get a lot of clicks on your ad, but the conversion rate may be a little low due to the diverse audience.
Also, people might not look into professional stuff when they are on Facebook for fun and relaxation. Still, it is a part of people only who will not get attracted by Facebook ads and be generated as a lead.
The best digital marketing companies in Bangalore says that 80% of the B2B leads come from LinkedIn and very limited come from Facebook. B2B marketers have approved of the fact that LinkedIn users have more chances of visiting your website than Facebook users.
The huge applause of LinkedIn is due to the fact that LinkedIn is being used by people who are senior-level influencers and people who are vested with the power to make decisions.
Linkedin will have the best of the best audience who will be interested in your product and the conversion rates will also be high.
But the relative comparison of the huge audience facebook brings you might at sometimes overweigh the conversion rats of LinkedIn. These are relative.
- Analytics
Both Facebook and Linkedin give you the idea of how your page is being presented t the outside world with the help of analytics tool.
It is very important to know the impact you have on your audience as it is to be used as a feedback loop to improve your works.
ROI is one of the best metrics to know the growth of your business. Because the amount you spent must be returned to you in profits. It is important that you know which tool helps you in achieving greater ROI.
- Ad Types
Lead Ads: These ads will take in the information without taking the audience to your site. The click on the ad will give them pop up with the details prefilled and this will act as a call to action for the customers who are generally the people who had visited the site once but left without buying the product.
Sponsored Ads: Both Linkedin and Facebook have ads that appear in the news feed of the audience which prompts them to click the ad which will take you to your page. These have a relatively low conversion rate but again depends on the platform that you are using.
Linkedin provides you with the additional advertisements of sponsored emails which will allow the business people to send emails to the massive number of LinkedIn users. It also has display and text ads which appear as small boxes of advertisements, video or text.
And, selecting the best tool is up to you, and the decision must be made based on your business and the strategies you lay. It is because the decisions must be tailor-made according to your business.
On a simpler note, if you focus on a larger user base, reduced CPL, Facebook might be the choice. If you are going for LinkedIn, you would have a quality lead, B2B targeted audience, advertisement types etc.
It is also important that you deliver the best of the deals and offers which will prompt your audience to take the next step.
Finding the right target platform is one step of the whole process. The real effectiveness is in what you deliver.
You can test for yourselves, how the platform’s suite for your business. Your intuition is important.
If you feel one platform can bring in more engagement in spite of the low cost needed to spend on the other, you must select the one which will bring you closer to your goals.
And, maybe you do not have to make a choice. You can maintain both marketing platforms for the advantages of each platform provides you with. By inculcating all the positives, each gives and complementing for each other’s flaws, the total takeaway is always for the better.