LinkedIn is the social network for business. Facebook is the social network for fun. The positioning of both platforms is clear.
So you might think that to run a B2B advertising campaign LinkedIn Ads is the best option. However, it is not that simple.
Facebook Ads vs LinkedIn Ads: Which Platform Should You Choose for B2B Campaigns?
We will compare the two advertising platforms point by point in order to determine the strengths and weaknesses of each for a B2B marketer. We will focus on 5 axes:
1. Facebook Ads vs LinkedIn Ads: Audience
As of Q2 2019, Facebook had approximately 2.41 billion monthly users ( source ). It is (by far) the largest social network in the world. On the other hand, LinkedIn has 303 million monthly users ( source ).
To situate the two platforms in the myriad of social networks, here is a very informative graph on the number of active users per network (data from January 2019):
Most-Popular-Social-Networks-World-Wide-2019-Statista
Furthermore, comparing the time spent on each platform is also very interesting. On Facebook, users spend an average of 6 hours and 45 minutes per month ( source ). On LinkedIn, they spend an average of 63 minutes per member on the platform.
>> In terms of audience, Facebook Ads therefore allows us to reach many more Internet users.
2. Facebook Ads vs LinkedIn Ads: Context
Context is a real differentiator between Facebook and LinkedIn, which could have a definite impact on the performance of your campaigns.
LinkedIn is the world’s leading professional social network. It is a quality social network focused on content and exchanges between members (15 times more content than ad publications in the feed). Advertising on it can therefore allow you to promote your brand in a professional context.
You will also have the opportunity to reach a qualified professional audience. Indeed, 70 million decision-makers worldwide are present there and 9.7 million C-levels .
On the other hand, Facebook certainly has a huge audience, but professionals go there more in a personal context, for leisure.
3. Facebook Ads vs LinkedIn Ads: Targeting
In terms of targeting, both platforms offer very advanced but also very distinct targeting options.
Facebook Ads LinkedIn Ads Targeting
On LinkedIn’s side, the targeting possibilities are:
Geographic criterion : possibility of targeting by country or urban region (eg: Paris area, Lyon area)
Professional criteria : this is a major advantage of LinkedIn Ads, you can target Internet users according to their position, the company in which they work, their sector of activity, the size of the company, their function, their seniority, their number of years of experience, their skills… You can even target the first-degree relations of a company’s employees.
Studies : target Internet users according to their field of study, their diplomas or even the school they attended.
Subscribers : Target your business page subscribers
Groups : Target people who are part of specific LinkedIn groups
Demographic criteria : target Internet users according to their gender and age (information estimated from LinkedIn profile data)
Retargeting : retargeting Internet users who have visited your website, or even carried out certain specific actions on it
Similar Audiences : Target people who are similar to a given audience, such as visitors to your site in the last 30 days
Account targeting : targeting a list of companies
Contact targeting : targeting an email list
For more information on targeting possibilities on LinkedIn, I invite you to read my Complete Guide to Advertising on LinkedIn
On the Facebook side, we can target by:
Geographic criterion : geographic targeting on Facebook Ads is more precise, allowing you to target Internet users at the level of postal code, city, region, country or from a selected point on the map (radius)
Socio-demographic criteria : age, gender (more precise information than on LinkedIn Ads because provided by members), language, position, studies, etc.
Interests : a category that groups together extremely varied interests, both personal and professional.
Behavioral targeting : Targeting people based on their behavior, such as their travel frequency or use of mobile apps, etc.
Connections : target subscribers to your Facebook page, but also friends of your fans, people interested in your events,
Custom Audiences : Ability to create custom audiences from data from a CRM database, your website, your mobile app, interactions with your content on Facebook, and even offline activities (e.g. in-store purchases) for certain advertisers.
Similar Audiences : Since Facebook’s algorithm is very powerful, similar audiences generally work very well if you already have qualified traffic and conversions on your site. This is a definite advantage of Facebook!
>> Both ad platforms offer solid targeting possibilities. In quantity, Facebook Ads wins the match. But LinkedIn Ads offers more qualitative and precise professional targeting that is often more practical and relevant for B2B advertisers. In addition, the professional data of LinkedIn member profiles is generally more up-to-date than on Facebook.
4. Facebook Ads vs LinkedIn Ads: Advertisements
If you are looking for a variety of ad types, Facebook has plenty to choose from: single image, carousel, video, slideshow, canva, lead ads to name the most relevant.
However, over the last two years, LinkedIn Ads has also expanded its range of advertising formats with the arrival of lead gen (prospect generation forms), carousel ads, video ads and even the self-service opening of personalized ads (Dynamic Ads).
The lead ad / lead gen is a form to be attached to an advertisement. When clicking on an advertisement, the Internet user is sent to a form within the advertising platform, instead of landing on a page on your site. It exists on both Facebook Ads and LinkedIn Ads and is a tool that I highly recommend for lead generation (especially if you do not have an optimized landing page on your site).
Example of an ad with a lead generation form on LinkedIn:
Sponsored InMail is also a very interesting format in a B2B context, and only available on LinkedIn. Note that the opening rate is 40 to 50% on average.
For any business, a WhatsApp database list has the potential whatsApp data to be pivotal. With the WhatsApp number list, you may promptly connect with potential customers worldwide. Every WhatsApp country is available to us. WhatsApp is a significant advertising medium.
>> Multiple advertising formats allow you to engage the Internet user on both platforms. Using the lead generation form, on Facebook or LinkedIn, is often a very effective tool for lead generation purposes.
5. Facebook Ads vs LinkedIn Ads: The Cost
If you only look at the cost of traffic to your site, you’ll likely cut your LinkedIn ads quickly… To focus 100% on Facebook Ads…
The average cost per click is much lower on Facebook Ads: $1.72 per click on average according to the latest Wordstream report and it often drops to a few dozen cents in certain sectors (in the clothing sector, Wordstream displays an average CPC of $0.45). In addition, the minimum bid on Facebook for CPC campaigns is €0.05.
When you know that the minimum bid on LinkedIn Ads is €2 for Text Ads campaigns with manual CPC bidding, you understand that CPCs can go much higher. It is not uncommon to spend more than €5 per click.
However, the question should not be (only) about the Email Directory cost per click of the two advertising platforms. The ability to generate B2B leads/sales at a reasonable cost and attract new quality customers is what matters most. For this, it is essential to test Facebook Ads vs LinkedIn Ads over a test period and with a test budget. This allows you to see which platform(s) allow you to reach a qualified audience and an interesting return on investment.
>> Cost-wise, Facebook Ads generally has a much lower cost per click than LinkedIn Ads. However, when it comes to qualified traffic and conversions, LinkedIn Ads can bring B2B advertisers more qualified leads and customers thanks to unbeatable professional targeting power.
Conclusion: what to choose?
In my opinion, it is necessary to do tests to determine which advertising platform to use. Use the strengths of each platform to create campaigns with potential, analyze them and optimize them.
After a testing period, you will be able to determine alb directory if both platforms are relevant for you. Or if it is better to focus on one of them only.
Please note that if your objective is B2B lead generation, it is essential to compare the number of leads generated on each platform but also the respective costs per lead and the quality of the leads once they have been processed by your teams!
Facebook Ads and LinkedIn Ads
each have their strengths whether in terms of audience, context, targeting or cost. The advertising platform showing the best results is not the same for all B2B advertisers. The use of these two advertising platforms can also be complementary.
