We’ve seen B2B marketers shun the idea of advertising on Facebook for a while now. They’ll argue: “LinkedIn is better.” or “We don’t see any ROI from Facebook.” New research from AdRoll challenges them. AdRoll presents compelling research on how Facebook has shifted from being viewed as not only a B2C channel, but a B2B channel as well. We have questions though. What is driving this shift? Have B2B marketers seen success? How are they measuring ROI? I’ll answer some of these questions below and discuss a critical opportunity for the future of B2B marketing on Facebook.
Why Is This Shift Occurring?
Facebook’s B2B shift comes down to three things: social logins, content marketing, and advertising opportunities.
- Facebook jumped to the lead of all B2B social logins. (There was also a corresponding downward spike in LinkedIn logins.) They owned 35% of all logins in Q1 2015, according to a study by Janrain. The study explains that Facebook’s “renewed focus on consumer data privacy and increased control over personal data sharing may be driving this quarter’s gains.”
- B2B marketers are focusing on content marketing more than ever. (And social media is a valuable content creation and promotion tool.) According to Salesforce’s 2015 State of Marketing report, 66% of B2B marketers indicated they were planning to increase their investment in content marketing in 2015. This was the top area of focus, with social media advertising coming in fifth with 64% of B2B marketers.
- New and innovative Facebook advertising opportunities have emerged. With a growing B2B audience logging onto Facebook, B2B marketers have been able to take advantage of new advertising opportunities on the social platform. Better retargeting capabilities through Custom Audiences (including on mobile), engaging ad types like carousel ads, and ads designed to drive immediate conversion (such as the “Call Now” button).
Does Facebook Drive B2B Results?
AdRoll’s study shows the impressive growth in key ROI metrics for B2B marketers using Facebook retargeting. And, as more B2B marketers see these impressive results, more are adopting Facebook as a key part of their B2B social media strategy.
From 2014 to 2015, B2B marketers on Facebook have seen:
- Average spend per advertiser increase 60%
- Click-through rates skyrocket 140%
- Cost per click decrease 11%
- Cost per acquisition plummet 42%
How Are B2B Marketers Measuring ROI?
Facebook offers a number of valuable measurement tools for advertisers that give you reports on page insights and campaign performance, breaking down results, reach, and cost. While the CTR, CPC, and CPA AdRoll reported on are impressive (and easy to measure via Facebook), there’s still a black hole for many B2B marketers: PTR. More mobile Facebook users and mobile advertising means phone-through rate is a metric that needs to be tracked.
Calls from Facebook ads will occur in two ways: the majority from an ad’s landing page, or from a click on a “Call Now” button. The only way to truly know how your Facebook advertising drives calls is to track and attribute those calls back to the ad the user clicked. Research firm BIA/Kelsey predicts calls from social media will multiply 4x by 2019 and drive over 36 billion calls to U.S. businesses. B2B marketers need the right metrics in place to optimize for call conversions.
If you want to learn more strategies for converting mobile-first Facebook users, check out this free guide, “New Facebook Ad Strategies to Convert Mobile-First Shoppers.”
