LinkedIn? Facebook? Which is better for B2B marketing? The infographic at the end of this post offers some suggestions, but we wanted to dig a bit deeper. To help you decide which platform is better for you, we’ve had a look at some of the latest thinking on B2B marketing on each platform. By the end, you’ll have a better idea which one to choose.
And don’t forget to tweet the stats at the end of the post…
B2B Marketing on LinkedIn
1. How to Use LinkedIn to Generate and Qualify B2B Leads
Is LinkedIn just for job seekers? Jason Miller from Marketo says it’s not. He points out that a LinkedIn profile contains a lot of useful information for B2B marketers and presents a table with eight types of data that you can use for lead generation and qualification.
Key stat: LinkedIn is most used during the workweek, with peak time between 12pm and 3pm each day.
2. Top 3 Reasons LinkedIn Was Made for B2B Marketers
Frank Isca says B2B marketers should use LinkedIn because it’s easy to gain credibility with your target market. Already, 58% of B2B marketers are using the network. LinkedIn rocks, he says, because of its pre-eminence as a network for business professionals, the ability to communicate to prospects via company pages and the chance to grab leads via LinkedIn groups.
Key stats: LinkedIn has more educated professionals than any other network. High tech, finance and manufacturing sectors have the biggest worldwide presence on LinkedIn.
3. B2B Marketing – 3 Powerful Ways To Get More Out Of LinkedIn
They say the best things in life are free and Dawn Westerberg is feeling the love for the free version of LinkedIn. She shows how you can achieve marketing success by choosing and joining appropriate groups and checking for common connections to build your network.
Takeaway: Use the ‘who’s viewed my profile’ as a starting point for building a relationship by finding out why the person viewed your profile.
4. Linkedin for B2B marketing – Social Media Week
Who’s on LinkedIn? According to Tasmsin Fox-Davies since the site has somewhere in excess of 150 million professionals as members, many of the people B2B marketers want to target are there. LinkedIn is particularly important because of the rich data it provides via people’s profiles. The site can be used to build community (especially through groups), attract influencers and carry out a content strategy, as well as for lead generation and sales.
Key stat: One in four professionals has a presence on LinkedIn and 15% of European businesses use it every day.
5. How to Be Social on LinkedIn for B2B Marketing
Ron Medlin gives tips on using LinkedIn effectively, including identifying active profiles to connect to, choosing groups by industry and location and making good use of LinkedIn Answers.
Takeaway: To get impact from LinkedIn you need to network strategically.
B2B Marketing on Facebook
6. Five Ways to Find Leads from Facebook
Ann Handley outlines how to succeed with B2B marketing on Facebook. She highlights the size of the audience (only China and India have more people) and the competition from other kinds of Facebook messaging. She suggests using a business page to generate leads and increase customer engagement. Tips include integrating contests, varying posting times and asking for interaction with open questions.
Takeway: understand how the Facebook algorithm penalizes less interesting content and stay on top with compelling, enticing, interactive content.
7. The New Facebook Ads: Game Changer for B2B Marketers?
Spark Marketing shows how the new Facebook ads can provide a way to connect directly with your target audience. They allow direct promotion to your market and allow you to link previously written content with the ad. This takes advantage of social content advertising and will allow people to respond to the ads directly.
Takeaway: this combination of advertising and content will enhance marketing potential.
8. 6 Ways That Facebook is Better Than LinkedIn for B2B Marketing
Glenn Glow points out that Facebook is a better B2B marketing platform than LinkedIn because more business people spend more time on it, something our infographic also points out. In addition, Facebook allows you to reach the friends of your key audience, expanding your reach.
Takeaway: The ability to create closed groups on Facebook levels the playing field with LinkedIn.
9. Getting Facebook Right – Tips for B2B Marketing Success
Eloqua’s Joe Chernov suggests another way to look at Facebook – not focusing on fan count but on engagement. This includes trying out different techniques to see which ones bring in new fans, profiling the fans, and focusing on engaging rather than simply self serving content.
Takeaway: Manual publishing gets more eyeballs than automated publishing so a DIY approach is better. (Their stats show a 61% difference in visibility.)
10. A Guide To New Facebook For Busy Social Media Marketers
The big change for B2B marketers is the completion of the rollout of Timeline which changes how your pages work. Tips here include choosing a cover photo, getting visuals for the tabs or apps you want to feature, fixing your about content and considering how to use what’s already there in milestones.
Takeaway: check out the examples of Timeline in action as well as the additional resources.
Tweetable Facts:
So, have you made your mind up yet? Here are some stats for you to ponder and tweet:
- 61% of LinkedIn users use it for industry networking; 55% use it for networking with co-workers » tweet this «
- 55 million. Number of LinkedIn users in the US; 22.5 million are aged 35-64
» tweet this « - 326 million. Number of minutes spent on LinkedIn each month by US users
» tweet this « - 41% of people marketing on Facebook got a customer this way » tweet this «
- 155 million. Number of Facebook users in the US; 51 million aged 35-64
» tweet this « - Thought leadership is the top use for social media among B2B marketers
» tweet this «
