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Is Facebook Still Relevant for B2B Marketing in 2020?

31 July 2020
Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, etc. are starting to gain popularity while interest in Facebook wanes among teenagers. But your B2B audiences are actively using social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. While Facebook is more popular among B2C marketers, statistics say it is equally relevant for B2B marketers.
Here are a few insightful Facebook B2B marketing statistics:

  • There are over 2.38 billion active users on Facebook and 74% of people say they use Facebook for professional purposes – Hubspot 

  • Nearly 50% of B2B companies invest 10% or more of their annual budget in marketing.- 99 Firms 

  • 90 million small businesses use Facebook – Hootsuite 

  • 73% of US millennials are involved in purchase decision-making at their companies. -  99 Firms 

  • An estimated 87.1% of US marketers will use Facebook for marketing in 2020 – eMarketer 


 B2B Marketing 


Although Facebook is more popular as a social networking platform, it has a highly engaged audience that is more likely to share, comment, or like a post thereby increasing your post reach. Moreover, it gives you a scale that no other platform can provide.
Here are a few effective tips for your 2020 Facebook B2B marketing strategy:


  1. Create Brand Awareness with Facebook Business Pages




Facebook Business Pages are a great way to pique prospects' (and customers') interest and inform them about your company and products. Creating product pages or Facebook Business Pages can drive your brand (or products) awareness and information about your product features, benefits, and offers.
But, since it is difficult for business pages to get an organic reach, how do you get around that? We know that Facebook's algorithm prioritizes posts that spark conversations and meaningful interactions among people. To reach a wider audience:

  • Create engaging content that includes visuals like videos, GIFs, etc.

  • Create public events as they are searchable and Facebook will recommend them to users in that geographic location.

  • Extend your events or posts by tagging co-hosts and inviting guests.

  • Include polls or surveys with a clear call to action to like, comment, or share your posts. Because, if your original audience engages with your content, their activity will be visible to their Facebook circle(s), hence improving reach.
     




  1. Discover Potential Leads with Facebook Communities and Groups




Facebook Communities and Groups are very powerful when it comes to B2B Demand Generation. The B2B audience is pressed for time and hence prefers to engage with content that is valuable for them. Facebook Communities and Groups around specific topics (or content) can inspire them and you get a highly segmented and interested audience.

Here is how you can use Facebook Groups for B2B Demand Generation:



  • Use Facebook Groups as a channel to promote content, events, webinars, or demos, etc. around your products.

  • Create a group name and description aligned with keywords specific to your industry or products.

  • Use scheduling tools to ensure that the community is active and always has interesting content 

  • Join related groups and communities to add value, promote your content, and learn more about your target audiences' preferences. Cross-promotion is a great way to capture the interest of common audiences.

  • Use such groups to populate your email lists for your upcoming campaigns.

  • Invest in building professional and personal relationships with your Facebook Community




  1. Target new users using Facebook Ads




Facebook Ads for B2B marketing offer robust targeting opportunities. You can use them to create campaigns that build awareness, boost traffic, generate leads, or drive conversions. Although LinkedIn offers more specific company or title wise targeting opportunities, Facebook has a better optimization algorithm.
With Facebook Ads, you can:

  • Target your audience based on demographics, job titles, behaviours, preferences, etc.

  • Populate lead ads using information from a prospect's Facebook page.

  • Collect prospect information to feed your email lists and provide warm leads to your sales team.

  • Promote local businesses through targeting.

  • Control the budget, scheduling, target audience, and ad creation.




  1. Engage using Facebook Messenger




Facebook Messenger and chatbots can help you reduce friction and operate as an extension of your marketing, sales, and service initiatives. Some of Facebook Messenger's benefits include:

  • It is available in-app and in-browser and the conversation history is linked to the Facebook account, making it seamless to chat with your client whether he is in office or commuting.

  • Using bots you can nurture your leads through automated chat sequences making messenger an effective channel for push advertising.

  • You can turn professional relationships to personal by directly connecting with your customers and addressing their queries and concerns on a 1-to-1 level




  1. Measure, Retarget and Remarket using Facebook Pixel




A successful Facebook B2B marketing strategy includes measuring how your campaigns are performing, track different conversions – from the submission form to the sales page, and tweak your marketing actions to retarget and remarket.
Facebook Pixel can track customer action and optimize conversions. Here is what Pixel can do for your Facebook B2B marketing:

  • Add it to your website to track conversions

  • Measure cross-device conversions

  • Optimize ad delivery to prospects who are likely to take action

  • Create custom audiences for your website visitors

  • Remarket to make your target ads appear on different sites to entice customers to come back


Wrapping Up


“Facebook has been a huge channel for us, but we like to operate like it’s going to disappear tomorrow. So, what does that mean? Taking full advantage while it’s here, but also looking at new channels and investing where we think attention is going.”
~ Bret Fredrickson, Customer Acquisition Marketing Manager at Vuori 

With LinkedIn as a successful platform for professionals, it is understandable that B2B marketers shy away from Facebook marketing. But, Facebook also offers the right tools to reach out to your target audiences and more importantly, scale-up for an impactful outreach.
If you do plan to use Facebook for your B2B marketing, following the above tips can help you create an impactful Facebook B2B marketing strategy. If you enjoyed this blog, check out more just like it here. Get in touch with us here for a workshop. This blog was originally from MTA.