highlighted Youtube’s extensive targeting options and how its enormous audience can offer something to most campaigns. In this post, I'm going to show you how Facebook fits into the modern B2B campaign.
With 65% of B2B marketers using Facebook ads to share products and services, but only 38% of B2B marketers saying that the platform is effective for marketing, it’s clear that B2B marketers need help honing their Facebook strategy to get the most value out of the platform.
How many people are on Facebook?
More than 2 Billion
Across the world, there are 2.38 billion users on Facebook, with India having the largest number of users on the channel at 260 million.
What’s the buying power of Facebook users?
Quite large
With business decision-makers spending, on average, 74% more of their time on the platform compared to other users, and 74% of people using the platform for professional purposes, this platform can give you a chance to influence individuals who can make change.
However, the younger generation has slowed their usage
In the demographic of 12-34-year-olds, Facebook usage by this age group has declined to 62%, which previously in 2017 was 79% – so although 72% of adults use the platform in total, it’s most relevant with millennials and older. This is worth noting as some Gen-Zers have already joined the workforce.
What makes Facebook so special?
The audience modelling
Facebook has a unique ability called Lookalike Audiences that creates new audiences based on the interests, habits and traits of your current most popular audience – letting you expand audiences quickly based on audiences that you have success with.
How do I target my audience on Facebook?
In a number of different ways
Facebook gives you the ability to adapt your targeting filters throughout the campaign. There are three audience selection tools:
- Core Audiences: defining the audience based on criteria such as age, interests, connections, behaviour, gender and location.
- Custom Audiences: allowing you to get back in touch with people who have engaged with your business, online or off.
- Lookalike Audiences: reaching new people whose interests are similar to those of your best customers.
If you’d like a deeper understanding of these targeting tools, Facebook has a bunch of free courses that are sure to set you on the right track to using their capabilities effectively.
How do I choose the right Facebook ad option?
There are two approaches
If you want to reach a wider audience, you can use the Automatic Placement tool, which gives your content the chance to be promoted across other applications in the Facebook inventory including Messenger, Instagram and Audience Network.
Or you can stick to manual
The Manual Placement tool allows you to individually select each of the channels that you want to use in your campaign.
However…
Facebook recommends Automatic Placement – and rightly so, as some businesses have seen a 20% saving on their average cost per conversion when combining Instagram with Facebook advertising.
In terms of actual Facebook ads, there is quite a selection. Here are some recommendations from Hubspot of ads that work best.
Post engagement ad
It really does what it says on the tin – generates conversations, interactions and is great for increasing follower numbers by providing content that gets people talking and therefore puts it in front of new people.
Video ad
Ideal for educating audiences on the purpose of your product – remember, the length of video ads can be a maximum of 240 minutes, however, the recommended optimum length for B2B video ads is between 5-15 seconds.
Lead generation ad
If you want to gain information from your audience, then this is the ad for you. The benefit of using Facebook’s lead generation objective tool is that you are able to retrieve information from the audience, without them going through the hassle of leaving the Facebook website.
How do I optimise my content for Facebook?
For video ads
15 seconds long, aspect ratio: vertical 4:5 with sound enabled and including captions. But remember, 85% of Facebook video ads in 2017 were watched with the sound off. Making your videos understandable without audio is key.
Mention the brand early on
Research has shown that buyers are 23% more likely to remember your brand name if it’s mentioned within the first 4 seconds.
Include your CTA in the middle
Facebook video ads with a CTA at the end achieved an average conversion rate of 10.98%, whilst ads with a CTA at the start averaged 3.15% conversion. But ads that placed a CTA in the middle of the video achieved an average conversion rate of 16.95% – the highest of all three.
Think Mobile
With over 95% of users accessing Facebook via a mobile device and 65% of video views coming from mobile users, optimising your content for mobile use is a worthy investment.
What results can I expect from Facebook?
They’re not so bad
An average visitor-to-conversion rate for the channel is 0.77% and the average cost-per-click is $0.80. Although these stats are an average and there will be industry variations, this is a benchmark you should shoot for, and if you’re well before, it’s worth rethinking your strategy and creative – which is something Earnest can certainly help you with.
Where in the customer journey should I be integrating Facebook?
The platform can be applied across different stages of the funnel
No need to worry, Facebook has a tool that lets you input your goals (e.g. awareness vs conversion) and recommends the most appropriate action in response to these objectives.
Its lead gen capabilities are underrated
Only 11% of marketers use Facebook to raise sales and generate leads, but according to the figures in this blog post, it’s actually it’s quite successful at lead generation and conversions.
Struggling for inspiration?
That’s okay
Here is a list of the five best Facebook ad campaigns from 2018, and the key learnings that can be taken from them.
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So there you have it – Facebook’s extensive range of different ad options to suit any objective, with an audience base that is growing amongst decision-makers is a platform that you can use to differentiate your strategy.
If you need a hand getting your Facebook strategy started, or help with optimising your current one, then drop us a line.
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(Header photo: Kon Karampelas on Unsplash)
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