Content Connection

Facebook Marketing: What B2B Marketers Can Learn from B2C Brands

Editor’s Note: Eloqua, a provider of marketing automation and Revenue Performance Management solutions, recently released a presentation called “10 Ways to ‘Solve’ Facebook for B2B.” The following article explores how the company breaks down “newsfeed optimization,” as well as the project objectives, production process, and ultimately, how it helped Eloqua garner real results on Facebook.

By Joe Chernov, VP of Content Marketing, Eloqua  

There is only one pure B2B company among Facebook’s top 100 brand pages: Intel. Great news for the ace team at Intel (and they certainly do have an ace team over there), but for the rest of us in B2B marketing, one indeed is the loneliest number. It would be easy for a B2B marketer to see Facebook as an insurmountably steep hill, climbable only by their consumer marketing counterparts.  

In other words, it’s like something my friend Ann Handley said, “B2B on Facebook can feel like the guy wearing socks with sandals.”  

This is why when it was time to focus on “solving” Eloqua’s Facebook presence, I brought on board a company that specialized in “newsfeed optimization” for consumer brands – BrandGlue. Although the term newsfeed optimization may sound like social media geek-speak, it’s really not. It simply means coming up with ways to make sure what your company shares on Facebook is seen by as many of your Fans as possible. You see, if your EdgeRank is low (EdgeRank is to Facebook what PageRank is to Google: a digital meritocracy that determines what should be seen … and what shouldn’t) few of those Fans you’ve worked so hard to earn will ever see the content you publish.  

I know what you are thinking, “Maybe they don’t see the updates in their feed – that’s for friends’ statuses after all – but when they visit our company page, they see all of our latest posts, right?” Sure, that would be true if they ever returned to your page. But the harsh reality is that only about 1% of Fans ever return to the page of the brand they Liked. One percent. In other words, if you want to reach your community, it needs to happen in the newsfeed. That’s why Fan engagement is so important for Facebook marketing programs – it boosts EdgeRank, which, in turn, boosts the reach of your content.  

So what exactly can B2B marketing pros learn from their consumer brand counterparts? A lot. We captured our 10 most important tactics in a recent presentation called, “10 Ways to ‘Solve’ Facebook for B2B,” but for those short on time, here are six essential insights:  

1. Sweepstakes may drive fan acquisition (during our BrandGlue program, sweepstakes accounted for 43% of our new Fans), but without engaging content, new Fans will churn. 

2. Fans engage with your content passively (via the newsfeed) but you acquire them through direct action (via search or entering sweepstakes or clicking ads).

3. Fan behavior varies very little between B2B and B2C brands. For example the ratio of Comments to Likes for B2C brands is 28% to 72%, whereas for B2B brands its 23% to 77%.

4. People like to be told what to do. For example, directing new visitors to a simple landing tab (versus showing them your full Wall) can increase new Fan conversions by as much as 71%).

5. Business people, like all consumers, engage on weekends. Just because you sell a B2B product doesn’t mean you shouldn’t post on weekends. You should. In fact, Eloqua found we reached new audiences then.

6. Everyone loves rich media. Posts containing videos were more engaging than those containing pictures; posts containing pictures were more engaging than those containing links. You get the idea.

I suppose, in the end, the biggest surprise shouldn’t have been surprising at all. Whether we are connecting with our favorite sports team, the makers of the energy drink that gets us through an early morning run, or Eloqua’s marketing automation platform, people are people. Need further proof, our most engaging post was a photo of our newest “employee”: our office manager’s golden retriever puppy. Consumer advertisers have long known that babies and puppies sell. It’s time we B2B guys figure that out.