Is Facebook effective for B2B? Here’s the ugly truth… And an 8-step plan for success

Facebook can be effective for B2B… Or it can be a huge waste of time.

Here’s how to make Facebook useful in a B2B world…

1. Find your audience
2. Get tracking in place
3. Create polarizing content
4. Use engaging / interactive content formats
5. Boost high-performing content to achieve scale
6. Focus more on Facebook ads than on organic reach
7. Remarket to engaged users & website visitors
8. Leverage audience insights to find new targeting

More on effective Facebook marketing strategies for B2B

Free eBook: The Facebook B2B goldmine revealed

Now here comes the ugly truth…

Just b/c Facebook can work, doesn’t mean you should (or must) do it.

Some B2B verticals that just aren’t made for Facebook.

I always tell clients… Just b/c something is new or hot or “everyone’s doing it” doesn’t mean you have to!

Case in point — when Facebook isn’t worth it

We have an enterprise B2B software client in the security space.

Their prospect is a technical buyer. And their product addresses a sensitive problem that most don’t really want to talk about or admit they have.

It’s not something they want to be “social” about if you get my drift.

So the cards are stacked against them.

They’d just rebranded their company & now had TWO Facebook pages they wanted to merge together.

They emailed me asking for help. It was a very big priority for them… Despite having near zero engagement or evidence that Facebook was in a viable channel.

I thought, “Is this the most effective use of time?”

Here’s what I told them…

=====EMAIL REPLY======

Hi [client], happy to help.

First thought — how important is this, really? Has Facebook been a viable channel? Ever closed a deal from it? Is it worth the squeeze? What happens if you do nothing? I always tell clients that just because something’s “hot” or everyone’s doing it, doesn’t necessarily mean you have to do it.

Second thought — are these bought likes? The new page has ~15k likes. Gut tells me most of these were probably from paid campaigns. Bought likes are lower-quality & generally engage at a much lower rate. Note how engagement rates on the old account (only 590 likes) while still very small (e.g. 1-3 likes per post) are astronomically higher as a % than the new account (e.g. 1 like out of 15k people)

Third thought — try surveys or quizzes or more interactive / engaging formats like video. Facebook algorithmically prefers video so they’ll generally get more views & higher response rates. But again, is the juice worth the squeeze?

Fourth thought — make sure the content is polarizing … since FB is heavy B2C make sure the interactive content is designed to attract the right audience & repel the wrong ones. For instance, “Are you safe online?” [not good] … “Is your company an easy target? Take the quiz” [better]

Fifth thought — boost the interactive content to a 1-2% lookalike audience, put $50-100 / day behind it. Configure the pixel to fire on some engagement event — perhaps viewed 50% of a video or completed a quiz, etc. Once that pixel fires 1,000 times, peel out the “engaged” segment of the audience & create a 2nd lookalike based on that engaged segment. This should be a pretty solid audience & the one you’ll focus on moving forward.

Sixth thought — I’d focus more on FB ads than organic. They’re pretty actively limiting organic reach for brands (as is LinkedIn) because well… they want you to pay! Not to say organic success can’t happen… But it’s a much bigger job. Here’s a good read for more on this…

I can call our Facebook rep to look into merging the accounts if you like, let me know. Unless you wanna just shut em both down & go all-in on LinkedIn ? (hahah jk…… kind of)

=====END REPLY======

This wasn’t what they client wanted to hear, but they appreciated the advice.

From my perspective, it’s our responsibility to let clients know when they’re barking up the wrong tree.

So is Facebook effective in a B2B world?

It certainly can be. But it can also be a big waste of time if not done right.

Want more? Check out this free ebook — Facebook B2B Facebook marketing strategies that work

Need help? Contact us for some free ideas

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