facebook b2b marketing

5 Pieces of Advice on Effective B2B Facebook Advertising

Have you ever read the instructions to complete a project and it called for a specific tool?

Maybe it was a wrench or a screwdriver or even a hammer…

But, in your mind, you were thinking it would require a tool quite the opposite of what it actually did.

Of course, once you got further into the instructions, you realized they used the tool in a way you had never thought of…

Well, that is kind of how B2B marketers are feeling when it comes to Facebook advertising.

Although Facebook advertising is generally thought to be the playing field of B2C marketers, the crowd full of B2B marketers has stepped up to the plate and they are excited to join the ballgame!

Generally speaking, Facebook advertising is used by B2C marketers to promote sales, retarget buyers who might have left without making a purchase or offer discounts which encourage buyers to finally make that purchase.

But, these tactics don’t offer much benefit to the B2B crowd…

B2B marketers have their own goals in mind:

  • To generate knowledge or awareness of their service or product.
  • To get in contact with the decision-maker or advisor of a company – anyone involved with the company’s buying process.
  • To take down the contact information for each new lead.
  • To nurture those new leads through the sales funnel.
  • To turn strong leads into sure sales.

But, here is the secret…

This list of five goals can be completed with just Facebook alone, but few B2B marketers fully grasp just how valuable Facebook advertising can be to them.

So, for those of you who find yourself still wondering just what it is that I am talking about, here is some advice:

1. Retarget those prospects that seem to be a lost cause

Just because a prospect doesn’t buy anything, doesn’t mean they are a total lost cause.Use Facebook advertising to encourage that lost prospect to come back to your site. Thanks to the Custom Audience tool, you can target visitors who previously visited a specific URL.

2. Don’t limit yourself to only the audience on your page

Having a company Facebook page is a great starting point for any B2B marketer…It allows you to share relevant information to prospects through content marketing, connect with your followers, share relevant news updates and post interesting articles.

But, the problem is that you might only have 400 followers on your page. So, if you only share your advertisement to those 400 followers, your reach is not very broad.

Instead, use your Facebook advertising to target a variety of prospect – you don’t even need a prior Facebook connection with them to do so.

Using the tools already provided on Facebook, you can create a custom audience and have your advertisement show up alongside their newsfeed or as sponsored content.

3. Focus on offering incentives and new lead generation

Just like B2C marketers offer incentives to convince people to buy a specific product, B2B marketers can use similar tactics to generate leads.Instead of convincing them to buy a product or service, you can encourage them to visit your site and hand over their email address.For example, if you offer a product, create an ad that promotes a free trial.

4. Use the tools on Facebook to create a custom audience

Like we mentioned above, you can have your ad shown alongside their newsfeed or even as sponsored content…And, it will be that much more effective when you create a custom audience.

Using the Custom Audience tool, Facebook will build a bridge to help get your new leads into your sales funnel.

And, do you want to know how this great news just got even better?

You can target existing customers and they don’t have to be following you. Chances are, the same email in your database right now is the same email that lead used to sign up for their Facebook account.

5. Target audiences based on B2B work categories

Of course, you can target people based on age or geographical location…But, Facebook will even allow you to target them based on a job they have listedor even other major life events such as getting a new job in the card industry.

Facebook advertising has made the possibilities endless – not only for B2C marketers but now for B2B marketers.

By ignoring the tools found on Facebook advertising, you might be missing some of the best opportunities to generate new leads and to reconnect with lost ones.

David Smith is a blogger and world traveler, with experience in China’s manufacturing industry, as well as social media marketing in his hometown of Los Angeles, California. When not staring into a computer screen, David is an avid badminton player and photographer of natural landscapes.

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