B2B Facebook Ads are tough to crack. 71% of B2B ads fail to generate sales, according to a study by LinkedIn-backed B2B Institute. So, how to create B2B ads on Facebook that actually convert? In today’s blog post, I’ll show you the 7 best practices to create successful B2B Facebook advertisements.
Table of contents
Why B2B Facebook Ads Are More Challenging than B2C ones
B2B Facebook ads are more difficult to win than B2C ads for several reasons:
Complex audience targeting
One of the hardest parts in B2B Facebook ads is targeting the right audience. It’s simpler to target B2C ad audiences, as they are often individual consumers. However, while B2B companies sell their products or services to other businesses, their ads aren’t always reaching the end user (the CEO, for example), but the purchasing officer of an organization. You need to understand who your buyers actually are and their specific pain points for effective ad targeting.
Higher product value and longer sales process
B2B products and services tend to be more costly and complex, necessitating a more extended sales process. Unlike the impulsive nature of many B2C purchases, B2B decisions involve careful consideration, multiple stakeholders, and often, a lengthier negotiation period.
Product complexity and knowledge demands
B2B products and services are typically more complex than B2C products. B2B customers may need more time to consider and do research before purchasing. Even after buying, B2B customers may require specialized knowledge and support to effectively use and maintain the products they purchase. In contrast, B2C products tend to be simpler, require less consideration and specialized knowledge.
These factors collectively contribute to the heightened challenges of B2B marketing on Facebook.
Does B2B Facebook Advertising Work?
Despite mentioned difficulties, Facebook’s potential for driving business growth is undeniable. In fact, Facebook is a top social media channel for B2B marketing. Here are some proofs:
- 76% of B2B marketers utilize Facebook, reported by Content Marketing Institute.
- B2B marketers rank Facebook as the platform with the largest return on investment (Source: Statistica).
- 78% of consumers are more willing to buy from a business once they’ve had a positive social media interaction. With over 200 million businesses and 3 billion monthly active users, Facebook offers unparalleled opportunities for B2B engagement and lead generation.
Now, keep scrolling down for the most important part.
Best Practices To Create Successful B2B Facebook Ads And Real Life Examples
Here are some B2B Facebook best practices for ads to consider.
Understand the targeting industries
Understanding the industries you’re targeting is a must to win your B2B Facebook ads. Whether you’re a software company aiming for large businesses and enterprises or a design tool targeting developers, intimate knowledge of your audience is essential.
Uncover their challenges, desires, and industry trends. This insight empowers you to create content that resonates deeply, rather than generic promotional material.
To stay updated on your industry, consider these strategies:
- Follow key industry influencers and organizations on social media
- Attend relevant events, and participate in webinars
- Read more industry-specific newsletters, blogs, and publications
- Use social listening tools to track industry conversations, emerging topics, and customer sentiment.
Focus on the humans you’re speaking to, not the companies
Remember, when launching B2B ads, you’re actually speaking to the real people behind business accounts.Therefore, while keeping your content informative and professional, don’t forget to add a human touch. For example, ad copies with a more human, less formal voice will be preferred.
Also, as mentioned above, the targeted audience of your B2B Facebook ads are not always the CEO, but can be the purchasing staff. Therefore, your copy should prioritize their benefits, mention how it can save their time and effort.
Here’s an example from Freshbooks:
Optimize your B2B ads through A/B testing
A/B testing enables B2B businesses to systematically refine their campaigns by testing one factor of ads at a time, such as: copy, image, video, audience targeting, bid. This helps you identify what drives optimal performance and save cost.
For example, MailChimp tested different images for similar copy:
Leverage Facebook Lead Ads to generate B2B leads
Facebook Lead Ads offer a streamlined approach to capturing high-quality B2B leads. Unlike traditional ads that redirect users to external landing pages, Lead Ads present a pre-filled form directly within the Facebook platform.
This frictionless experience encourages rapid lead capture as users simply confirm their information with a few taps. The result? A faster, more efficient lead generation process for your business.
You can see an example from Salesforce:
Advertise free resources to get leads
Providing free and valuable resources like email examples, templates, ebooks, checklists, and webinars can help you attract your target audience and capture leads.
For instance, this is how KlientBoost promotes free marketing plan:
Educate before you sell
Instead of immediately pitching your product or service, focus on building awareness and understanding. Share valuable content through blog posts, webinars, or how-to videos that address your audience’s pain points. This educational approach positions you as an industry expert and builds trust. Once your audience grasps the value you offer, they’ll be more receptive to learning about your product through a demo or trial.
Here’s an example from Culture Amp:
Social proof is a potent tool in B2B marketing. By showcasing real-life customer success stories, you can significantly enhance your brand’s credibility and trustworthiness. This can effectively persuade potential clients to choose your business.
You can see a B2B ad example showcasing social proof from Infusionsoft:
Complete Guide To B2B Facebook Advertising
Define your B2B marketing objectives
While Facebook offers various campaign objectives, not all are worthwhile for B2B businesses to deploy on a consistent basis.
4 main objectives you need to focus are:
Brand awareness
Brand awareness campaigns attract prospects to the top of the marketing funnel. They introduce your brand to a wider audience, creating problem and solution awareness. While they’re not likely going to lead directly to a sale, these campaigns lay the groundwork for future conversions.
To maximize reach, target broad audiences within your brand awareness campaigns. Consider leveraging lookalike audiences based on your existing customer base to expand your reach to similar potential customers.
Traffic
Traffic campaigns aim to increase website visitors, providing valuable data for building remarketing lists and lookalike audiences. To optimize results, you should narrow down your target audience. Align your ad messaging and visuals with specific demographics, interests, and behaviors that closely match your products or services. This refined approach maximizes the potential of your traffic campaigns.
Lead generation
Lead generation campaigns focus on converting prospects into qualified leads in the middle of the funnel. By offering valuable content and resources, you can nurture potential customers and encourage them to share their contact information. Facebook Lead Ads, which I had mentioned before, remain a top choice for these campaigns.
Conversions
Conversion campaigns are at the bottom of the marketing funnel. New leads can now make an informed purchase decision. To maximize conversions, I suggest directing users to dedicated landing pages rather than your general website.
Tailoring your landing pages to specific products or services, such as offering product trials or demo sign-ups, significantly increases the likelihood of conversion.
Remember to optimize your landing pages for conversions by using strong calls to action, clear benefit statements, and compelling visuals.
Budget and schedule B2B ads
You can allocate your ad budget Facebook in 2 ways: daily budget or lifetime budget.
Early-stage B2B businesses can use a small daily budget to experiment and figure out what works for their campaigns without overspending.
Seasoned Facebook advertisers may benefit from a lifetime budget. Facebook will automatically deploy the budget within the selected periods based on ad engagement.
Ad scheduling is a useful tool to run ads when your prospects are most active on Facebook, which help increase conversion rate and optimize budget.
Choose right ad placements
After determining ad budget and scheduling, you come to another important step to make your B2B Facebook ad successful: choosing ad placements.
While news feed and right column are the useful placements for B2B Facebook ads, others (like groups and in-stream videos) are less visible and can decrease conversion opportunities.
You can opt for the Automatic Placements option to make sure your ads are shown to the audience in the optimal places where they’re most likely to perform.
Target perfect audience
When it comes to running B2B ads on Facebook, there are three types of audiences you can target.
Core audiences
Core audience targeting is the foundation of most Facebook ad campaigns. It’s where you define who sees your ads based on specific criteria.
Key targeting options include:
- Demographics: Age, gender, education, job title
- Location: Countries, states, cities
- Interests: Hobbies, activities, pages liked
- Behaviors: Purchasing habits, device usage
- Connections: People connected to your page or events
The Detailed Targeting section, located at the bottom of the Audience interface, allows you to refine your audience based on factors like company size, industry, and job seniority. This precision helps you reach decision-makers and optimize your ad spend.
Custom audiences
Custom Audiences represent the gold standard for Facebook ad targeting. These highly specific groups are built from existing customer data, making them incredibly effective for delivering tailored messages.
While there are multiple ways to create Custom Audiences, B2B marketers should prioritize these three core methods:
- Customer File: Upload your existing customer email list to target those who’ve already shown interest in your brand.
- Website Traffic: Use the Facebook Pixel to create audiences based on website visitors, allowing you to retarget specific segments.
- Engagement: Target users who’ve interacted with your Facebook page, content, or ads, indicating a level of interest.
Lookalike audiences
Lookalike audiences are powerful tools for discovering new customers based on your existing custom audiences.
When creating a Lookalike Audience, you choose a source audience (a custom audience) for Facebook to model. You can use percent range to choose how closely you want your new audience to match your source audience. The size you choose depends on your goals. Smaller percentages more closely match your source audience, but larger percentages create a bigger, broader audience.
Bottom Line
While B2B Facebook ads can be a bit tricky, applying these best practices and deeply understanding your audience can help you unlock significant sales potential. Need expert guidance? SpeedX Agency offers specialized support to help you navigate the complexities of B2B Facebook advertising and achieve your business goals.
