Guys, let's stop wasting our time debating.

Let's just use the data, please.

B2B digital marketing strategy needs both Facebook AND LinkedIn. There is no debate, the truth is in the data.

Yes, we all agree that LinkedIn is the business platform and Facebook is the leisure platform. You're hitting Sally CEO on Facebook when she's "checking in on her grandkids" and you're hitting her on LinkedIn more likely when she's "in work mode."

Those are all real thoughts, consistently, from real people I talk to daily. I get it. But for a low cost per audience attention (less than $2 on Facebook, and if done correctly less than $0.50 on Facebook and around $3-$6 on LinkedIn - yes, LinkedIn is more expensive than Facebook), we can be in front of B2B prospective clients with content relevant to them and the problem they're trying to solve.

Don't tell me that "our audience is not on Facebook." It's just not true. "Sally" needs to see your brand's messaging in both of these places, as many times as possible, and Facebook plays a role in getting you there, just like LinkedIn - with more volume and LESS cost.

Pay attention.

There are more than 18 MILLION CEOs on Facebook, and more than 1.3 MILLION COOs on Facebook.

There are 1.4 million CEOs on LinkedIn and 180,000 COOs on LinkedIn.

Not to be a jerk, but which one is bigger?

Do you want to pay MORE money for LESS reach on a perceived B2B platform?

Or do you want to may LESS for MORE reach on a perceived B2C platform that clearly shows Job Title targeting exists and is effective?

I think you know the answer to that. (This is Facebook...)

This is LinkedIn...

In addition to the audience data that we experience on a daily basis in each of these platforms, we also experience and aggregate our own real web data from more than 325 websites in which we have Google Analytics Access to. This is all in our data download, here.

The data shows that increasing your Facebook post frequency on your business page to 3-5 times daily, returns 16x on your web traffic from Facebook.

This is the same for all businesses, including those that market B2B.

For professional services firms, LinkedIn drives slightly more engagement, but Facebook wins on volume in every. single. case.

Thus, the debate is over. Stop wasting time. There is a place for both. Think that way, act that way, and continue to look at the data along the way, and your B2B business will generate awareness and leads.

And, oh, by the way, I'm not the only one writing about this. 🙂 More data here. 🙂
Thanks for reading - and have a great day!

Paul Hickey has created and grown businesses via digital strategy and internet marketing for more than 10 years. His sweet spot is using analytics to design and build websites and grow the audience and revenue of businesses via SEO/Blogging, Google Adwords, Bing Ads, Facebook and Instagram Ads, Social Media Content Marketing and Email Marketing. The part that he’s most passionate about is quantifying next marketing actions based on real data.