Social Smackdown: What Are the Best Social Media Ads for Manufacturers?
by MGB2B
Social media advertising is a valuable piece of your manufacturing company’s marketing program. It’s right up there more traditional media like in-person events and trade publications. And just like choosing trade shows or magazines to run ads in, social media channels depend on your brand, message, and budget. So, to help you along the way, we’ve evaluated Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn below. Take a look and determine which offer(s) the best social media ads for manufacturers based on campaign goals and budget.
Social Smackdown: The Best Social Media Ads for Manufacturers
First up: the channel that is still largely believed to be a B2C only platform. While Facebook certainly falls on the more social side of social media, it has a whole host of B2B benefits. Facebook is a good place to highlight your company’s personality and culture through photos and videos. Imagine your target audience scrolling through their news feeds – what are they doing? Glancing at photos of friends and family, checking out local events, and reading articles related to their personal interests. So Facebook isn’t the ideal place to promote your highly technical white paper. But it is a great home for photos of your latest employee recognition night, holiday party, or trade show. When it comes to advertising on Facebook, here are a few things to keep in mind:
What Facebook Ads Are Good For:
- Growing your social media audience
- Recruiting talent
- Promoting content (blogs, infographics, videos)
What Facebook Ads Cost:
- Under $0.50 CPC (cost per click)
- Under $0.50 per like
To learn even more about what to expect with Facebook advertising, check out this guide from Buffer.
Next up: Twitter, the micro-blogging channel often favored by manufacturers and B2C companies alike. Twitter has made rapid response a standard in social media customer service. Twitter is ideal for dropping a quick hook and pulling users onto your manufacturing website. Many users follow a combination of personal and professional accounts. Users are generally less put off by promotional messaging than they would be on Facebook. That being said, Twitter has become an advertising ocean where your message can easily get lost. Using attention-grabbing visuals and carefully built audiences can help your ads land in front of the right eyeballs.
What Twitter Ads Are Good For:
- Growing your social media audience
- Promoting content (blogs, articles, infographics)
- Building awareness
- Highlighting event attendance
- Launching new products
What Twitter Ads Cost:
- Around $1 CPC
- Under $2.50 per follower
To learn how to improve your Twitter ads (while they’re running), read this blog.
As the social media network for professionals, LinkedIn fits right into many B2B social media strategies. Since profiles are tied to users’ professional identities, it’s more likely that their information is valid and up to date. Half of B2B buyers refer to LinkedIn when making purchase decisions. Running social media ads for manufacturers makes a lot of sense. Content like white papers, blog posts, and technical articles that didn’t work on Facebook are a great fit for LinkedIn. And, you can target users based on their job titles, functions, and seniority. But before you slap some ads up, here’s what you need to know:
What LinkedIn Ads Are Good For:
- Promoting content (white papers, technical guides, downloadable resources)
- Recruiting talent
- Building awareness
- Lead generation
What LinkedIn Ads Cost:
- CPC ranges between $3-$10
Including social media advertising in your marketing strategy can help your manufacturing company reach new audiences, share valuable content, gain leads and talent, and help support existing customers. Every campaign is different, as are the costs and benefits, but the guidelines above can help you begin to form a plan for your social strategy. Need help taking it to the next level? Drop us a line.
Continue ReadingThe LinkedIn Lead Generation Tool You Should Try Right Now
by MGB2B
Two big product announcements have come out of LinkedIn over the past couple of months, one of which your manufacturing company can take advantage of right now. First, the leading social media network for professionals leaked that in November 2017, “Matched Audiences” will enable LinkedIn advertisers to target users based on their web activity and email addresses. And good timing – these options are already available on Twitter, Facebook, and other social sites. Unfortunately, you still have a few months to go before trying this particular feature. But here’s one you can put to use immediately. B2B companies, rejoice: there’s a new function currently available to LinkedIn advertisers: a LinkedIn lead generation tool.
Just In Time
This roll out comes at an opportune time for LinkedIn, who is historically behind the ball when it comes to ad offerings. Twitter, the second most popular B2B social media channel for content distribution, has just sunset its lead generation ad format after several years of stagnancy. And while Facebook continues to offer a similar lead generation ad format, its use by 76% B2B organizations for content distribution pales in comparison to LinkedIn’s 89%. The professional social media network is in a rare position to lead the pack in, well, leads.
For now, the new LinkedIn lead gen ads are available on mobile devices only. And with almost 80% of social media time spent on mobile today, it’s not a bad move. (Though a desktop version will likely roll out eventually.) Thinking about getting started? Here are a few ways to use the new LinkedIn lead generation tool.
3 Ways to Use the New LinkedIn Lead Generation Tool
- White paper downloads. LinkedIn is effectively removing two steps from the traditional 3-step process of 1) advertising your white paper on LinkedIn, 2) directing users to a form fill page on your website, and 3) requiring users to fill out and submit a form to download. Now, users don’t need to leave the confines of LinkedIn to complete steps 2 and 3. And better yet, using their LinkedIn profile information, the form is largely autofilled.
- Webinar registrations. Like the example from this VentureBeat article, these lead gen ads give users a quick, easy way to sign up for online events like webinars. And LinkedIn content ads resemble regular posts – featuring social engagements right on the ad, including the ability to share. This social vote of confidence can work as extra incentive for users to sign up.
- Freebies. What if you could hand select which trade show visitors stopped by your booth for a branded lanyard? With LinkedIn ads, you can target based on demographics, down to which company users work for. And with new lead generation ads, you can offer these targeted users unique experiences and materials that will truly benefit their business, from consultations to a trial run of your product.
Most pieces of content that requires users to register for can be applied to the new LinkedIn lead generation tool. It’s important to remember, though, that until LinkedIn begins offering integrations with CRMs, you still need to download all collected leads from LinkedIn’s campaign manager. From there, they can be entered into your database and mailing list. Most importantly, into registering for whichever piece of content inspired them to click in the first place.
Can you see your company using this new LinkedIn lead generation tool? Need help getting started? Drop us a line.
Continue ReadingB2B Monday Myth: Social Media Advertising for B2B Brands Isn’t Important
by MGB2B
The Myth: There’s No Need For My B2B Brand To Advertise On Social Media
The Truth: B2b Advertising On Social Media Has A Number Of Benefits Which Encourage Prospects To Move Through The Sales Funnel.
B2B brands have finally come on board to social media, and many boast a large posting presence. But when it comes to social media for B2B brands, this is often where the buck stops. It’s a misconception that social media advertising is a playing field for B2C brands only. Unfortunately, that type of thinking keeps new leads from getting into your prospect stream. Now more than ever, there’s compelling reasons why platforms like Facebook offer serious lead generation simply from social advertising. The number of benefits of social media advertising for B2B brands is undeniable – and we’ll break them down for you.
B2B Buyers Are On Social Media
It takes a number of touch points before a buyer is ready to make purchase decision. The more visibility your brand has, the better. These B2B buyers are absolutely present on social media. If you want to place your brand in front of your target audience, this is where you need to be.
If you ignore social media advertising, you’re missing out on a crucial chance to interact with your audience. Remember that behind every social media account is an actual human, and emotion goes much further into the B2B buying decision than you may think. While promoting business value may seem like the logical angle to take, you may find that other strategies that create a personal connection could reign supreme when reaching people on their own networks.
Targeting Options
There are robust capabilities across every social media platform that allow your brand to reach relevant audiences. The nature of social media allows us to analyze different behaviors and actions of users. Then, we can target our ads to those who do what we want. While there are different tools on each social platform, most allow you to segment your audience by age, location, gender, and occupation.With Facebook, you can even target by events, which is helpful if your brand is participating in a trade show or conference. And Twitter allows you to advertise based on intent, using interest and keyword targeting, to create meaningful campaign insights.
It’s Cheap
Social media advertising for B2B allows you to set your own budget, so you can spend exactly what and where you’d like. Whether you choose a long-game strategy or short-term bursts, you can customize your social media advertising campaign to fit exactly your budget.
Flexibility Of Message
When you release a print ad, you’re stuck with what is published. Not so with a social media advertising. Change your message as frequently as you’d like. This is especially helpful if your campaign is evolving, long-term, or if you’re unhappy with the insights produced from your original ad. Plus, with the many audiences active on social media, you are able to change your message for different targeted segments.
Social media advertising for B2B brands is just as necessary as it is for B2C. Utilizing platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn allows businesses to reach and segment their target audience, maintain message flexibility, and stay within budget. Not only does this build brand awareness, but also generates new prospects.
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