Too often when we think about using Facebook, we think about business to consumer marketing. We think about reaching a person sitting on their home computer playing on social media and not enough about another business’ marketing team surfing their social media channels as well.

While “friending” and “liking” social media pages can ultimately help to grow your business, a real value for business-to-business sales can be brought to life through social media ads. These ads reach thousands and thousands of businesses, as well as consumers, and can get you noticed without any extra effort on your end.

So How Does It Work?

Facebook offers three different types of ads that you can purchase and they range in price and effectiveness:

• Sidebar Ads – The cheapest option offered but also the lowest click-through rates
• Newsfeed Ads – Offer the highest click-through numbers but are the most expensive
• Mobile Newsfeeds Ads – Ads that run through your mobile device application only

The name of the game when choosing what is best for you is that you really get what you pay for. If you want tons of exposure, then you want to run a newsfeed ad. If you want to dip your toe in the water and see how it works, consider a sidebar ad.

In today’s mobile technology world, if you are considering running a newsfeed ad, you should also run a mobile newsfeed ad for maximum exposure. Many business marketers and owners are viewing social media on the go, instead of behind their computer screen.

Who you reach and how many people you reach with your ads depends on your budget and also on your target audience.

Finding Your Target Audience

This is where the real value of Facebook ads comes in – finding your target audience. Facebook uses three different approaches, which can be used separately or used in combination with each other.

1. Broad Category Targeting – Facebook targets people by the general things that you would have in common with them. Examples of broad category targeting would include people engaged to be married, small business owners, marketing professionals or healthcare workers.
2. Precise Targeting – This is where the value comes in. These ads target the people who are directly interested in your business subject matter. This is done by evaluating users likes and interested listed in their profile as well as interaction with other followers of the same interest. This kind of targeting is your cash cow. This is where it’s at!
3. Demographic Targeting – While this is an option, this is not usually effective for marketing professionals. Most businesses don’t place any value on gender or age-specific marketing. Demographic targeting runs off of the general information in your profile. Although most businesses won’t have much of a use for this, there are certain niche marketing businesses who could greatly benefit from this kind of targeting.

Is It Worth It?

The bottom line is, if you want to reach thousands of people and businesses with little to no effort in a very cost-effective way, then Facebook advertising is perfect for your business. With the different options available, there is a way to go all in or to just start off small and test the waters.

Something that other ad and analytical sites can’t do is to reach out to lost readers. Facebook’s Retargeting does just that. It reaches out to people who have shown interest or visited your website or blog and reminds them to come and re-check it out. It can also direct people to your site if they have shown any interest in products similar to the ones you provide. Additionally, it can access your email subscribers and send advertising to them as well.

For more B2B marketing strategies to help build your business, check out our other articles on LeadsPanda.