Is Facebook Challenging LinkedIn In B2B Marketing?

Is Facebook Challenging LinkedIn In B2B Marketing?

LinkedIn has long reigned supreme in the B2B marketing space.

It is known as the professional platform and the place to connect with businesspeople, entrepreneurs, and business owners. So, it stands to reason that it is the place to be for B2B marketing.

But, is that all about to change?

Meta (Facebook) has announced they are launching new targeting options specifically for B2B advertising.

So, here’s everything you need to know if you use LinkedIn or Meta for B2B advertising.

Meta Launching New B2B Advertising Option

Meta announced this month that they were adding new targeting options specifically for B2B advertising. If you work in B2B, this will make it easier for you to target the right audience with your campaigns.

“Combining our scale with the power of our targeting segments, B2B marketers can reach key decision-makers across small, medium and enterprise businesses”
– Meta Support

The new advertising options are focused on helping businesses reach decision-makers in other businesses. The segments will target based on job titles and/or interests and can be set up in a similar way to existing audience segments.

In theory, this should boost the effectiveness of your advertising, as it will be easier to get it in front of the right audience.

New B2B Targeting Options

So, what kind of targeting will you be able to do now? Rather than focusing on demographics and industries, you will now be able to dig deeper into careers and professions.

Meta’s new audience segments are:

• IT decision-makers – based on their job titles
• Business decision-makers – based on job titles and interests. There are two segments here: one that targets all business decision-makers, and another that targets decision-makers in engineering/IT, operations, HR, strategy or marketing
• New active businesses – identified by Admins who are on engaged business pages on Facebook that were created in the last 6, 12 or 24 months (three separate segments)

These new targeting options are available globally, so you can reach an international audience as well as a local one if relevant to your business.

Potential Reach: Meta vs LinkedIn

Meta has an enviable reach. According to Meta, they have 200 million businesses across their platforms (primarily on Facebook and Instagram).

An even more impressive statistic is that 2.9 billion people use Facebook daily – including key business decision-makers.

In comparison, LinkedIn has only 810 million members. But their ad reach grew by 22 million people in Q4 of 2021 (Hootsuite), and the platform is continuing to grow.

LinkedIn also has the reputation of being the best platform for B2B lead generation, with LinkedIn claiming that 4 in every 5 LinkedIn members help drive business decisions.

Why Context Matters

Meta is clearly hoping to compete with LinkedIn for B2B marketing spend. The benefits seem obvious: they have a much larger audience, and more eyes on your ad is a good thing. However, there’s another thing that you should consider when deciding where to advertise for B2B: context marketing.

Context marketing is “delivering the right content, to the right people, at the right time” according to Hubspot. Context marketing applies to all digital marketing – blog posts, emails, and advertisements – and across a range of variables including timing and circumstances.

When we’re looking at Meta vs LinkedIn for B2B marketing, it’s important to consider the context in which the potential customer is viewing your ad. What platform are they on? What is their purpose on that platform?

Attention to advertising has been shown to be higher where ads are viewed in a context that makes sense for the ad message. So, it follows that your ad message may be more effective when viewed in circumstances that make sense for the viewer.

Most business decision-makers on LinkedIn will be actively thinking about their business while using the platform. In comparison, the same users may be on Facebook in their leisure time when a business-related advert could have less impact.

This isn’t to say that Facebook would be a bad place for B2B advertisements, but the message in the ad will need to be curated to the different contexts in which it will be viewed.

What To Do Now If You’re B2B

Meta launching new targeting options is a great thing if your business is B2B because it gives you another option for advertising.

If you’re already advertising on Meta platforms, I would definitely recommend looking at the new targeting options and considering which segment could benefit your business.

Consider your target audience and where they are most likely to be spending their time online. Choosing between Meta and LinkedIn for advertising will be highly individual depending on your target audience and goals. For example, if your current goal is to increase brand recognition and awareness, then the higher number of users on Meta platforms may tip the balance towards advertising on Facebook or Instagram rather than on LinkedIn.

If you want to know more about choosing the best platform for B2B advertising, book a free 30 minute discovery call to find out more about how we can level up your marketing.