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Three Facebook Fallacies Every B2B Company Should Know

Three Facebook Fallacies Every B2B Company Should Know

On average, B2B marketers allocate 28% of their total marketing budget to content marketing. So if you're in B2B, there's a pretty good chance that you are either already using or consider using content marketing as an essential part of your overall marketing strategy. Seth Godin was saying “Content marketing is the only marketing left” way back in 2008. We've been on this path for nearly a decade now.

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Assuming you're using B2B content marketing as a key strategy, you're probably also using social media as one of the big ways to push that content out there to the world. And if you're using social media, you're likely to be including Facebook as one of the channels you're pushing content to. 

But there are some misconceptions about marketing on Facebook. Here are three that we want to help clear up so you can make the most out of this channel in your B2B marketing mix.


Fallacy #1: Followers are Everything

Yes, you do want followers. You want people to "Like" your page and see all the fantastic content you're sharing. The desire for followers is strong and we may go to great measures to gain more, we may even be tempted to pay for followers. Either overtly (buying them) or less overtly (bribing them -- running contests and giveaways, for example).

The fallacy here is that we let quantity trump quality. We can't prove our value by the number of followers we bribe. We prove our value by earning followers. And we earn followers by a) producing content people care about and b) running a business that people want to be connected to (the reasons people want to be connected to your company is a whole 'nother article).

Patience is key.

By all means, ask your customers and prospects to follow you on Facebook. Add your Facebook link to your email signature. Run campaigns that promote your excellent content to your target audience and encourage them to follow you on Facebook to see more excellent content. Just know that it will take time to earn these followers. And trust that it's worth it. Because the followers you earn are genuinely interested in your company's offering and not just the iPad your raffling off.

Fallacy #2: People Love My Videos

People do love videos. We love videos. It's an immersive way to tell a story unlike any other medium. And it is a powerful marketing tool. Videos on landing pages can increase conversions by 80% or more. And if you've scrolled through your Facebook feed lately, you've likely noticed it's dominated by video content. Facebook is even adjusting its algorithm to ensure videos you're likely to find engaging will appear higher in your feed. So using video in your Facebook campaign strategy makes a lot of sense.

Just be wary of the numbers. Facebook counts a video view as anyone that has the video on their screen for more than 3 seconds (even with sound muted). It's likely they are capturing some incidental views from people who paused while scrolling (maybe to watch your video but maybe also from reading the post just below your video) and the Views metric could be inflated.

Take all metrics with a grain of salt, especially Views.

 

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Fallacy #3: Facebook is Free

Facebook is forever adjusting its algorithm, aiming to improve the experience for its users, showing them the content they're most likely to care about. In the summer of 2016 they shifted their preference towards showing more content from friends and family over content from brands. This means if you want your content to be seen, even by your fans, you are going to need to put a little money behind your posts.

With over 2 billion monthly active users, Facebook remains the preeminent social media platform. So it makes sense to see if it works for your business and the only way to know that for sure is to spend a little to promote your posts.

Sometimes, though, a little goes a long way. We've seen spends as small as $5 make a significant impact in the reach of a post so experiment to find the spend that gives you the best bang for the buck. But it's smart boost your investment. You're already spending lots of time (and probably even money) producing high-caliber content. Spending a little bit more ensures you get the maximum mileage out of your content.


Bonus Content

The variety of marketing options available to you as a B2B, tech-focused company can be overwhelming. Download our free infographic to help you keep it all straight as you figure out what marketing options are right for you.
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