How do you reach other businesses with your Facebook ad? Social Media Marketing can be used to target business decision makers.
It’s important to remember that while business to business advertising differs from business to consumer advertising, businesses are essentially still consumers. Facebook will allow you to target people based on the typical demographics such as age, location, and gender, as well on their unique behaviors, interests, and demographics. The only criteria not allowed by FB is targeting your audience through FB groups and pages. Here are some specifics to keep in mind when defining your target audience for B2B marketing:
1. Target B2B interests, behaviors, and demographics with FB
When targeting consumers, most businesses target their audience based on their specific interests. Targeting businesses is no different. Most business owners and employees take some sort of interest in the industry in which they are working. What does this mean to you? Let’s pretend your business produces commercial mixers. Businesses that you might consider marketing to would be bakeries, restaurants, hotels, and schools. Think about what types of magazines their industry professionals might be reading, or what types of TV shows they could be watching, etc. With a bit of thought, you may be able to target your audience in creative ways.
2. Target fans of your competitors
Going back to the commercial mixer example, let’s pretend you would like to target bakeries. You can target an audience following the business pages of other commercial mixer companies. Your advertisement would appear in the news feeds of these followers and hopefully pique the interest of viewers in taking a look at your new commercial mixer.
3. Target business page admins
Probably one of the easiest ways to choose another audience, and one that is often overlooked, is to target the business Facebook page admins of small and medium businesses. Most businesses of these sizes run their own Facebook pages. This strategy increases the chance that your advertisement will be seen by a decision-maker.
4. Target by job title
Targeting mid-level employees can be an effective strategy. Entry-level employees will not typically be involved in decision making. CEOs, owners, company presidents, etc. will not usually manage a company’s Facebook page.
5. Pick the right objective
When marketing to other businesses, picking the right objective is crucial. What is the goal of this advertisement? The objective should be different for each advertisement. Awareness objectives such as brand awareness and reach are designed to pique interest in what you have to offer. Consideration objectives like traffic and engagement should be considered to reach people who may have some interest in what you have to offer and are likely to want more information. Conversion objectives are designed to prompt viewers to register, opt-in, purchase, or visit your store. Conversion objectives should be used with caution, however. If you have a low amount of conversions, there will be insufficient data available for Facebook to determine the characteristics of those people who are converting. As a result, your ads will not be accurately optimized in their delivery and could be rendered less effective than they could be.
6. Set up Facebook Pixel
Why is this very important step often neglected? Many businesses overlook it. Setting up Facebook Pixel allows you to create custom and lookalike audiences. Creating a “custom audience” allows you to home in on what you believe to be your target market and directly target those who may have visited your website and took a specific action. This also allows you to follow up with those who were interested but may not have purchased. Creating a lookalike audience has shown to be one of the best indicators if your advertisements are doing their job and reaching their targeted audiences.
Seota Digital Marketing has Facebook “Blueprint” certified social media marketers on staff. Getting certified is tough and most social media agencies don’t have a person on staff who has passed the exam. Trust Seota for all your Social Media needs.
