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Now that Facebook is crowned as the social site of choice for B2B decision makers when researching a purchase, marketers need to adjust their sales to navigate the course. Many marketers focus on Google AdWords and LinkedIn as the primary pay-per-click (PPC) platforms, thinking Facebook is designated for personal interests and social life updates.
Marketing on Facebook at best has been considered relevant for consumer and lifestyle type of goods and services. But this is really not the case. This new shift in preferences indicates that the social media giant is taking over yet another aspect of business and life, big time.
Even for the marketer currently using Facebook PPC campaigns, your efforts might be failing to deliver their ROI potential. There could be any number of reasons for this failure. Read on for our insight into how to approach Facebook paid campaigns with more vigor, focus and strategy for increased success.
Unfocused Targeting- A problem many companies struggle with is the scope of their targeting.
- Your targeting is too narrow- It’s important to narrow Facebook targeting, but it’s also critical to not go too narrow. The key is to start narrow and then broaden targeting to include interests. By focusing PPC content first by individual profiles and then expanding to general topics of passion, companies will find the most ideal prospects to convert. Then, marketers can leverage Facebook’s Lookalike feature. This uses an uploaded list of current audiences to identify similar accounts and pull them into the group you are targeting.
- Your targeting is too wide- Marketers often set their net too wide, trying to gain conversions from every user who indicated interest in a particular topic or from a broad demographic category. This is wasting good marketing content on the casual Facebook user, instead of focusing in on the accounts with job titles and relevant companies. For example, Lookalike Audiences is a great way to target audiences but for most B2B audiences, adding interests will narrow down your target audience to those who are really interested in you product. So instead of targeting the 2 million Facebook users who are "similar" to the developers who have converted on your website, add also programming languages and other skills to make sure your ad is only shown to those who actually are developers.
- You're not using audience exclusions- Another tactic to use with PPC targeting on Facebook is to exclude certain targeting options from your campaign. If you know you don’t want to engage with users who work with your competitors or your content is tailored to customers of a particular product, you can create stipulations that will leave them out of your campaign pool. For example, if you are trying to reach only developers interested in Microsoft Azure, you can exclude those who have Amazon Web Services in their interests. This ensures your ad appears only to those with converting potential.
Useful Tools Unused- Facebook has so many useful features that many marketers neglect either out of ignorance or unawareness.
- Not using a dedicated landing page for Facebook- A landing page that is the destination from a PPC ad should highlight the value of a company’s offering. It should be specific to what channel your ad was clicked on. For instance, if a software company is trying to target CIOs on Facebook, who are not currently searching for your product, there's not much point to ask them to request a demo. Your ad should lead to a content offer that can help the CIO do his job better or to offer more personal value such as salary surveys or career advice.
- Not using Lead Ads - Using The purpose of a PPC ad that works, is to generate leads. That’s why Facebook created a new feature last year called Lead Ads. These allow customers to input their information in a lead generation form directly from the ad. Using this type of PPC instantly increases the worthwhile leads created through a campaign. Integration with CRM systems also makes them extremely valuable in the digital marketing age. With a lower cost of cookies, these ads can lead to higher conversions.
- Forgetting to remarket on Facebook - The biggest mistake of all in any type of social marketing, but especially Facebook, is to neglect the power of remarketing on social. Your customers are spending most of their time on social media and not on search. Even if you didn't find relevant audiences on Facebook, remarketing to those who came to your website on social media will usually have the highest reach. Remember - website visitors retargeted with a display ad are 70% more likely to convert on the previously visited site.
Ignoring Customer Lifecycle- When it comes to Facebook PPC campaigns, it is critical to understand and market to the customer lifecycle.
- Ignoring the marketing funnel - Marketers who ignore the lifecycle structure are going to lose prospects at the top of the funnel. Many try to get ahead of themselves by pushing free trials or demos as the first step in the customer journey. The top of the funnel is about awareness where landing pages, blogs, relevant content offers and visuals are a stronger choice. It is well worth the budget invested in increasing the likelihood that a potential customer will search for your brand or come back and purchase at a later stage.
- Forgetting your "B2B" customers are... people - Use trends to increase engagement rates- Also within the funnel, it’s good to use pop culture, references, humor and relatable topics to pique the interest of prospects and draw them in. Jumping on trends, like the current ‘Pokemon Go’ craze or ‘Game of Thrones’ insanity, creates an instant connection between brand and customer even for more "boring" industries such as CyberSecurity or Cloud. Using trends will increase CTRs and reduce lead costs.
- Not looking at cross device conversions - Companies who don’t take cross-device performance or account for mobile behavior in contrast to desktop habits will lose a significant portion of potential converts. More than 700 million people visit Facebook on their smartphones or tablets every day. Don’t miss their business because you couldn’t factor mobile ad strategy into your campaign.
Make the Most of PPC
If your Facebook or social PPC campaigns are suffering, you might be committing one or multiple of these mistakes. You can rectify your strategy and right your ship by following our tips to a better Facebook PPC campaign. Reaching customers in all the right ways is possible when you know where to look and what to present. If you still feel lost or just need the first push, contact us for a free consultation.
