Why Facebook is losing to LinkedIn at B2B Content Marketing

It's an accepted fact in the industry that if you're a B2B marketer, LinkedIn is a more effective tool. 

This is all about the audience – LinkedIn has a much smaller user base, but the people who are using it are much more likely to be useful for a B2B marketer – such as decision makers or individuals looking for information on companies who are more likely to be receiving work-related messaging.

LinkedIn has catered for marketers with tools like company pages, groups, Inmail options, job targeted ads and sponsored emails. Now both LinkedIn and Facebook do sponsored ads - LinkedIn can be more expensive, an acknowledgment that the people clicking through are going to be more valuable to a B2B marketer with its job-related targeting.  On Facebook the data used is of a much more personal nature.

That may change. From this month advertisers will be able to target Facebook users based on employer and job title – a sign that it does want to grab a chunk of this B2B marketing pie. But now when it comes to generating B2B leads and conversions, LinkedIn is far ahead. Here are some useful tips on how to set up a successful B2B marketing campaign.

It's about the content

So LinkedIn has the advantage when it comes to social media B2B advertising. But it is with content marketing where it is really streaking away. Facebook does have a lot of content, but it is generally made up of images or links on a news feed – in general you're not reading stories on the platform, but elsewhere after being linked out.

LinkedIn has actually turned into a publishing platform to encourage companies, brands and representatives to provide content. With the LinkedIn Influencer program, B2B marketers have a forum to share knowledge with blog-style posts, promoting their businesses at the same time.

In addition, LinkedIn also introduced a data tool called Content Marketing Score (CMS), which allows a brand to find out how effective paid and organic content is doing, on channels such as its company page groups, sponsored updates, employee updates and influencer posts.

It's possible to compare this score with an anonymous list of competitors, and compare how your own strategies and campaigns are doing. If a marketer wants help in finding the subjects to write about, there is a 'Trending Content' tool that measures what topics are doing well.

Paper: Facebook content marketing?

At the moment, a content marketer actually aims for a consumer of content to leave the site, generally for their branded blog. It’s unlikely you'll be staying on Facebook to read a piece of blog-style content, unless somebody had written a particular big status update, or posted an particularly informative infographic –the news feed has more in common with Twitter in the way people consume content.

With Facebook Paper though, that could change. Out in the US, this is a visually appealing app which allows users to consume content in a relevant place in Facebook – such as Tech, LOL and Family Matters sections Paper developers have introduced.

You can imagine how this could work for B2B companies – experts could create posts offering value to other businesses in a section similar to what the LinkedIn Influencer platform is doing. 

You could also see native advertising working in a similar way – think a technology or financial company writing a long-form post and placing it in the relevant section.

Use the tools that are suitable for your business

Whatever social media channel you're using, you need to make sure you're doing the right thing for your business and using them effectively as possible. 

That can be difficult, and with technology changing so fast what works today may not necessary work in six months. Funnily enough, that's another way content marketing can also help you – staying up-to-date with latest trends that can make a real difference to your bottom line.