913-298-1070 staff@ccpdigital.com

Coke vs. Pepsi. Dogs vs. Cats. Men vs. Women. Hamburgers vs. Hot Dogs.
And now, Facebook vs. LinkedIn joins the classic match-ups.

“How many marketing departments do you know with an unlimited budget?  If that’s you, read no further. But most B2B advertisers are commonly faced with deciding where they are going to allocate budget. There are platforms across the board that offer so many positives and negatives that only can lead to better strategy! Tons of advertisers might say “never use X platform,” but none of the social media advertising platforms should be ruled out. This is especially true in a digital age of constant advancements and evolution, many at the whim of an invisible algorithm engineer.  

But if you’re a B2B business, how do you choose?   Here’s the inside scoop… 


Treat B2B Advertising Different from B2C 

The first step is acknowledging the inherent differences between B2B (Business to Business)  and B2C (Business to Consumer) advertising. The main difference is that B2B advertising has to take into consideration its targeted key decision-makers, whereas B2C is looking for average consumers. B2C advertisers might choose targeting based on hobbies or interests. B2B advertisers focus on things such as: job titles, work experience, industry or company.

If you are looking to advertise effectively, first think about the people you want to reach. Regardless of platform, start by thinking about how you are reached by B2B and B2C advertisers, and how you respond to that outreach. This is square one in the journey to an outstanding B2B advertising campaign. Are you annoyed or do you click?


Why is LinkedIn a better option than Facebook, Instagram or Twitter?  Or Pinterest, YouTube, Telegram, Reddit…

What better place to find the professionals you are marketing to? LinkedIn is a platform for professionals, where everyone has their exact job title, skills and company.  It’s a fair assumption that most people on LinkedIn are honest about their skills and achievements, knowing that their boss and/or colleagues may be looking. That makes it the best place to reach that company you have been trying to sell to for years. 

This business-centric platform brings in talent and influencers of all types. Those wanting to be seen in the business world treat LinkedIn posting and skimming as an addition to their daily tasks. The more your B2B brand and goal is seen by this crowd, the better. 

Why not use Facebook, Instagram or Twitter? That’s a trick question. You should consider how your B2B ad campaign would work on all social media platforms. The targeting continues to improve on every platform as they learn, grow and change. These changes sometimes occur daily, but hey, that’s what the advertising experts are for! Using all platforms is important because even business professionals have lives outside of work. Catching them scrolling through Facebook or Instagram might even place you ahead of your competitors. Plus, you’re catching them when they’re in a good mood!

 

Targeting on Facebook Versus LinkedIn 

CCP.digitalFacebook should not be ignored by any advertiser. Facebook has evolved into one of the cheapest social media advertising options, with some great targeting capabilities. Facebook also recently brought back the ability to target professionals based on Facebook page admin status, employer, job title, school and field of study.

This has B2B social media advertisers jumping for joy. Previously, LinkedIn was the go-to for targeting these specific areas, but Facebook has re-entered the race.

 

 

The Effectiveness of Lead Ad Strategy on LinkedIn – A Case Study

We have had ongoing success with a B2B client, Stackla, on LinkedIn due to overall strategy, but with some special credit to LinkedIn lead ads. The quantity of leads was astounding and the quality of leads was also impressive. As discussed in our case study, Stackla was running relevant ebook lead ad downloads to a TOF (Top of Funnel) audience on LinkedIn. The people in this audience might have been interested in Stackla’s platform, but might have lacked initial understanding. The ebook was a way for the audience to enter their information in the LinkedIn platform (name, company name, work email etc. automatically populate form fields) in exchange for the content being advertised, without ever leaving LinkedIn. As you can imagine, this strategy worked extremely well. Over the course of 10 months, Stackla and CCP Digital managed to increase leads by 460%, decrease cost by 81% and increase lead quality. Check out the case study.

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The best part? They closed sales.

 

 

Let’s Not Completely Forget About Twitter and Instagram 

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TIP:  Instagram Stories are a creative opportunity more companies should consider.  They are quickly gaining ground against the Instagram feed, and are significantly cheaper than the feed. 

 

 

They have a vertical space for a different design that your Facebook feed and LinkedIn feed ads don’t have. Which also means that you have to create another ad size.  But they get more attention with their location at the top of users’ feeds, even if users don’t click. If you have great designers and/or compelling images, Instagram Stories should not go ignored. 

Also, thanks to Instagram’s parent company, Facebook, you can do this all in the Facebook advertising platform.  Facebook at least made that easier for advertisers. Just check the ad set placement section in Facebook’s Ads Manager, and check “Instagram Story.” 

When it comes to Twitter, there is a time and a place. That time and place is when you are trying to reach industry influencers and create a voice for a brand. Twitter is a platform people go to for inspiration and to say what they have to say. This means that your promoted blog post could potentially kill it on Twitter with the right targeting. 

Twitter is also a place to create brand awareness and supplement any campaigns you have running on other social media platforms. B2C brands are competing on Twitter more than ever. If you have taken a look at Wendy’s Twitter account, you will see the sheer impact smart Twitter strategy can have.  And KFC’s “11 Herbs and Spices” tweets rewarded a user with something priceless: a commissioned portrait of the user who cracked the code, riding piggyback on Colonel Sanders through a beautiful woodland landscape. The brand awareness, public relations, and good will awarded to KFC are also priceless.

 

 

Take a look at your marketing content and think about how it could translate on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. You will find that focusing on LI is a major step in the right direction, but the other platforms should not be forgotten. LinkedIn is winning the B2B race due to the inherent nature of the people, companies and interactions on the platform. The moral of the story is that diversifying is in your best interest…but know your audience.

If these advertising strategies pique your interest, you’re in luck. CCP has the skills and team to support your B2B advertising goals. Contact the team at staff@ccpdigital.com to learn more!

Photo by Adam Jang on Unsplash

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