axis-social-blog-featured-b2bfunnel

A Simple Facebook Ads Funnel for B2B

This article discusses a simple, but effective, 3-step B2B facebook advertising funnel that you could implement in your business today.

Suppose you are interested in dipping your toe into the wonderful world of Facebook advertising for your B2B company. In that case, this article will give you a highly practical framework to do so.

Required Reading

This article is a direct follow on from a previous post, in which we attempted to debunk the myth that social media advertising does not work for B2B.

So if you’re thinking that to yourself right now, be sure to check out this article first

Goals Of Social Media Advertising

2 of the primary goals of social media advertising for B2B are:

  1. Education of your prospects
  2. The positioning of your company

This simple, but effective, funnel attempts to tick those boxes whilst ultimately driving high-quality B2B leads.

The B2B Facebook Advertising Funnel

As shown below the three steps in this funnel are:

  1. Content
  2. Case Study
  3. Conversion / Call To Action

Below we explain each in more detail.

Step #1: Content

At the very top of the funnel, we have content.

Ideally, this is high-quality content that your company has produced, developed specifically for one of your ideal buyer personas, to hit one of their potential pain points. 

Further, this pain point should have direct alignment with the problem that your company solves.

To illustrate this point and the rest of the funnel, let’s make up an accountancy firm which services small business owners, and let’s call it ‘Pennywise Accounting‘. 

Pennywise Accounting could develop a series of blog articles or videos on how small business owners can take the stress and time-suck out of developing and lodging their company tax return.

After they develop this content, they use the powerful Facebook advertising platform to put this content in front of small business owners within say 30Km of their offices. 

NB: Targeting small business owners is beyond the scope of this article. However, our targeting mini-series covers this in-depth. 

Whilst this content might sound boring to many, for the business owner who is struggling with their tax is highly likely to engage with this specific, relevant, helpful and timely content. 

By engaging with this content, they are putting their hand up as saying “I am feeling the pain of this right now”.

And what’s more, if the content is of high enough quality it will position Pennywise Accounting as an expert in the space of small business tax returns.

Step #2: Case Studies

The Facebook advertising platform allows you to retarget people who visit specific pages on your website with additional advertising.

So in step 2 of the funnel, you retarget anybody who engages with your top of the funnel content with a highly impressive and relevant case study.

This case study should be;

  • Informative to the reader
  • Relevant to the pain points they would like to address
  • Cement your company’s position as an expert in that field

For Pennywise Accounting, in step 2 of the funnel, they use Facebook to retarget the small business owners who engaged with their ‘Small Business Tax Returns’ series at the top of the funnel.

They would do so by promoting a highly impressive and relevant case study. 

For example, “How John smith’s small business saved six figures on their annual tax bill through Pennywise Accounting”. 

Whoever has engaged with this case study has now read a piece of fantastic content from Pennywise and has also been shown that Pennywise can solve the problem that they have, in this case, tax return issues.

Step #3: Conversion / Call To Action

Conversion or call to action means it is time to go in for the kill.

It means asking for someone’s contact information or enquiry for the product or service you are promoting. Whilst there are many devices for getting the conversion, at the bottom of the funnel here you are retargeting those who have engaged with both your high-quality content and impressive case studies to say ‘let’s take our relationship to the next level’.

In the case of Pennywise Accounting, they could promote a landing page for their annual tax return services for small businesses. 

This landing page is where they go for the ask, with a call to action that could say something like “Apply For A Free Small Business Tax Return Savings Session!”.

The best bit is that those that submit an enquiry on this landing page are a warm inbound lead.

The Most Important Variable: Content Quality

One final point is that whilst this framework is essential, one of the most significant variables of success in this is the quality of the content.

We have seen cases where the content was just so good; the company did not need steps 2 and 3 – because their clients converted at the top of the funnel. 

On the other side of the coin, your ideal clients might take a lot more warming up, with more content and touchpoints at the top of the funnel. 

So invest heavily in great, high-quality content to promote. 

In other words; don’t pay to promote shit content!

axis-social-blog-featured-b2beffective

Is Social Media Effective For B2B Companies?

In this article, we tackle a common misconception head first:

Social media advertising is ineffective for B2B companies

If you believe this myth, hopefully, we can change your mind with this article.

And We’re Not Alone!

Now, before you start thinking “of course this bloke is going to tell us social media works for b2b companies, he runs a social agency” it’s worth pointing out that it’s not just us who believe this!

In a recent study, which I will link to in the post that goes along with this video, a whopping 87 per cent of B2B marketers have suggested that they use social media as a critical part of their marketing strategy. 

Whilst LinkedIn is, perhaps understandably, the most popular platform, with 89% of marketers utilising it, it isn’t just LinkedIn – with Facebook at 88% usage and Twitter at 83% usage in the mix too.

Still A Non-Believer?

Regardless, if your mindset is still that social does not work for B2B companies, then you’re not alone.

We regularly have conversations with clients and prospects who have the same mindset. Some are companies that have both commercial and residential arms which for some reason, despite us generating residential leads for them, incorrectly believe we can’t generate commercial leads using social.

Social Media for B2B

Whilst I understand their hesitation, social media platforms have grown well beyond just selfies and cat videos. 

Successfully using social media for B2B is primarily about two things:

  1. Education of your prospects
  2. The positioning of your company

The strategy itself does not change that much between B2C and B2B businesses.

The basic strategy, which I’m about to oversimplify massively, still stands, which is;

  1. Define your ideal buyer persona
  2. Decipher their pain points
  3. Develop content to educate them on how your business solves these pain points
  4. Position your company as the best possible solution out there

Now whilst there are undoubtedly differences in tactical execution, if you do everything I just mentioned, it doesn’t matter whether it is B2B or B2C, your social media advertising will be successful. 

It will be successful in driving impressions, content engagement and leads for your business.

Social Media Is A Cog In The Wheel

Importantly, social media advertising is just one part of the marketing strategy and a much larger sale process.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t do it all.

In a previous article ‘Social Media Does Not Make You Sales‘ we explained just that. Social media can give you impressions, engagement and leads, but it doesn’t magically put money in the bank.

More often than not, you will require lead nurturing through marketing automation or active management by a sales team to take over the conversion of a social lead. 

Remember – people buy from people.

Additional Reading and Resources

If you’re still sceptical, below I link to additional reading and resources for social media advertising in B2B: