Social media marketing has changed the game of digital promotions using various platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook. However, the only thing that matters is – which is the most effective platform to generate conversions for your business.

A social media marketing agency would trust LinkedIn, while others go with Facebook for lead generation. At the end, both platforms come with their own merits and demerits. With a generic overview knowledge of social platforms, businesses often get misled and are not able to make complete use of a platform that can actually change their business presence in the digital space.

Here is a ready reckoner for you to make a clear comparison between the two and make an effective choice for your business.

What is LinkedIn Marketing?

Image Credit: LinkedIn

LinkedIn, being the largest business networking platform today, offers a wider reach and helps connect with businesses directly.

LinkedIn marketing refers to an ecosystem utilising LinkedIn to connect with people, generate leads, raise brand awareness, foster business relationships and partnerships, share content, and drive traffic to your website. Because of its effectiveness in expanding professional networks, LinkedIn is now an essential component of many successful marketing strategies.

The best LinkedIn marketing practices include:

• Having a remarkable and all-round LinkedIn profile
• Having a clearly laid down business page with aims, objectives and offerings
• Understanding the difference between an individual profile and a business page
• Creating and sharing valuable content on your own profile and your business page
• Knowing the relevant hashtags and making use of them
• Understanding various post formats and creating content accordingly
• Maintaining a consistent post schedule
• Sharing curated content
• Making organic efforts to connect and engage with the businesses in the same niche
• Making organic efforts to engage with the target customers

How Does LinkedIn Help Generating Leads?

Ask any social media marketing agency; they’ll all say – LinkedIn is the best innovation internet has given. LinkedIn has changed the trend in social media marketing over the years dramatically.

Originally designed to connect job seekers with potential employers, a platform is now a place for professionals to find and build connections. Most users access the platform intermittently throughout the day as they receive notifications on their mobile apps. Some people also prefer to browse across their newsfeed during conferences and lunchtime.

Another intriguing inclusion that has helped in LinkedIn marketing strategies is the newly introduced lead generation forms feature. LinkedIn lead generation forms, also known as Lead Gen Forms, were initiated in April 2014 and are directly aimed at mobile users, eliminating the need to fill out contact forms if a user clicks on paid posts from their cell phone.

Whether you are a B2C or B2B enterprise, LinkedIn marketing for lead generation is always for you.

Image Credit: Pinterest

Pros of LinkedIn Lead Generation

Following are the advantages of LinkedIn lead generation:

Email Marketing via In-Mail

Apart from Facebook, LinkedIn also allows sending emails primarily for promotional reasons. These emails are referred to as InMails. This has several advantages, including delivery to the user’s inbox and personal communications. In addition to this, it can also aid in lead generation.

Professionals in Attendance

The platform caters to a very particular demographic – people who are looking to develop their careers. Everyone on the platform is extremely organised to present their best image to the world. LinkedIn users are also highly professional. As a result, any connections originating from the platform are trustable and reliable.

“Firmographic” Target

A company’s profile and resume information are known as Firmographics on LinkedIn. This includes information such as the user’s generation, language, geography, industry, and current and past employers. Identifying the right leads may depend on this information.

Cons of LinkedIn Lead Generation

Following are a few disadvantages of LinkedIn Lead Generation:

Cost

LinkedIn is more expensive than Facebook. However, the good news is because the leads are professional, you have a better chance of converting them.

Spam in Your Inbox

It is considered spam to send unrequested promotional emails to contacts, although InMail appears to be a blessing for marketers looking to close leads quickly.

What is Facebook Marketing?

Image Credit: Facebook

Facebook is a platform that provides a range of unique targeted paid ads and organic posts, allowing brands to showcase their products and services to a large audience. Facebook has evolved from the most notable form of social media on the internet to one of the largest marketplaces over the last decade.

How Does Facebook Help Generating Lead?

A social media agency employs several lead generation techniques. However, the most used technique is launching lead generation campaigns. All you need to do is fill in an “Instant Form”. Also, you can track lead conversion events on your website using the Facebook pixel.

Using Facebook for lead generation has greater chances of turning them into paying customers. This is the primary reason that makes Facebook marketing intriguing.

Here, you can capture two types of direct and indirect leads. If you are unaware of the terms, read below for better insight.

Direct Leads are generated by sharing content linked to the lead form on your website. Visitors usually share their information in exchange for an offer. These offers can be anything like – eBooks, coupons, infographics, or any content available on the internet. This lead form is usually kept on the landing page of that offer.

Indirect leads are captured using Facebook, where you use CTAs on your landing page. Once the consumer clicks on the CTA, the information goes to your website that Facebook shares indirectly.

Pros of Facebook Lead Generation

Following are the advantages of Facebook lead generation:

Pocket Friendly

Facebook lead generation is much less expensive than LinkedIn. Non-competitive keywords start at $2 on LinkedIn. You may have to pay up to $5 per click to rank for the most competitive keywords. In the meantime, the minimum needed daily budget on Facebook is $1. You could generate plenty of leads without spending a fortune by doing your research, writing excellent ad copy, and targeting your audience appropriately.

Improved Targeting

Facebook provides many targeting tools, attempting to make it very simple to reach the targeted audiences. Targeting college students in a specific city or work-at-home mothers across a state is possible. You can also target people based on age, interests and activities, marital status, and other factors. This enables marketers to create significant leads consistently.

Create Relationships to Increase Customer Loyalty

Consumers today have unprecedented access to information, making it difficult for entrepreneurs to convert them into loyal customers. Continuous engagement and “heart-to-heart” moments are required to compel them to stay with you. Facebook allows marketers to engage with customers on a more personal level, allowing them to build long-lasting connections and earn consumer loyalty.

Ideal for B2C

Unlike LinkedIn, Facebook does not place a high value on a person’s professional life. Yes, users can mention their professional accomplishments. However, the primary emphasis is on social interactions. This strategy works particularly well for B2C marketers primarily interested in customers rather than professional achievements. Because of the platform’s informal nature, marketers can try any trick in the book. When done correctly, this can generate a large number of B2C leads.

Image Credit: Pinterest

Cons of Facebook Lead Generation

Following are the disadvantages associated with Facebook lead generation:

Organic Views are Limited

Facebook has recently made organic traffic generation extremely difficult. Their newly updated algorithms ensure that only 8% of your audiences see your branded texts.

Inappropriate for B2B Transactions

Facebook, being hyper-social, with photos and videos of users’ daily lives filling in the gaps and events, just doesn’t cut it for professional engagements.

If you are someone looking to boost your business or a social media marketing agency looking to grow and rank your clients, these options are best for you. Now, as we have mentioned all the pros and cons of both platforms, you are the best one to decide what will give you the best results.

LinkedIn Groups and Facebook Groups – How are they Different?

Businesses can network and engage with prospects and other like-minded businesses using the Groups function on LinkedIn and Facebook.

However, it’s important to consider users’ intentions when they’re on various websites. There is a good possibility that people who interact with one another in LinkedIn Groups are doing so in some way linked to their jobs.

On the other hand, people are more inclined to express their personal opinions in Facebook Groups on anything, from politics and hobbies to lifestyle and food.

In order to choose the Groups feature that is appropriate for you, consider the audience you intend to reach. For instance, Facebook Groups are probably the best place to advertise if you’re selling the newest food blender and want to reach general consumers interested in cooking.

How to Compare LinkedIn Ads with Facebook Ads?

Image Credit: LinkedIn

Let’s finally talk about how the advertising component works for both sites.

Several ad types are available on Facebook and LinkedIn, including lead, carousel, and video advertisements.

Your ads can reach more individuals because Facebook has a greater user base. With Facebook, you may also target based on more individualised information, such as behaviour or life stages.

LinkedIn, however, has its own targeting options and excels at generating leads for businesses.

While LinkedIn now offers a number of ad formats, including video, carousel, lead, dynamic, and Sponsored InMail advertisements, Facebook has long touted a wide variety of ad types (we’re talking canvas, carousel, video, dynamic, and lead ads, to name a few).

Each provides an accessible ad manager. This implies that you may begin arranging your creative assets on a content marketing platform and then create your ad on either LinkedIn or Facebook in just a few simple steps.

If you believe Facebook has the ability to target a larger audience, you are correct. This does not, however, imply that LinkedIn lacks effective targeting options. Both platforms prioritise user input and deliver adverts and content that are pertinent to the data their users provide them.

You can target individuals on Facebook and LinkedIn both based on their job title, household income, firm, geography, and age. Facebook has an advantage in that you can target consumers more precisely there based on things like their behaviour, life stages, and other personalised data.

Both platforms also allow businesses to employ source audiences to connect with customers compared to their current clientele. LinkedIn refers to it as “Audience Expansion,” whilst Facebook refers to it as “Lookalike Audience.”

Finally, it’s critical to take the price into account.

On Facebook, you typically get greater value for your money. In contrast to Facebook, where the average cost-per-click is $0.97, LinkedIn ads have a staggering average cost-per-click of $5.26, according to WebFX.

But a greater price doesn’t always equate to a bigger return on marketing investment (ROAS).

Conclusion – Facebook Vs LinkedIn – Which One You Choose?

While Facebook and LinkedIn may have some similarities, it is obvious that they serve quite distinct audiences and have very different goals.

Which one you choose to employ entirely depends on the sector you work in, the audience you’re attempting to attract, and your marketing objectives.

It’s also crucial to remember that you don’t have to make a decision. Maybe you utilise Facebook marketing to build brand awareness and interact with customers, while LinkedIn is used for a targeted lead-generating effort. It is completely a choice depending on the business marketing needs.

If you are looking for LinkedIn marketing for B2B lead generation or Facebook marketing to reach out to larger audiences, iWrite India, your friendly social media agency, can help you generate content and crystal clear marketing strategies.

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