Do you know what works when it comes to business-to-business (B2B) lead generation? In this upcoming article, we’ll break it down into understandable steps. Below, let us explain some basic concepts so that you can better understand B2B lead generation strategies better.

What is a lead?

A lead is any person who shows interest in a company’s product or service in some way.

Types of leads:

Why does a B2B company need to generate leads?

When a person first initiates a relationship by showing an organic interest in your business and its products or services, the transition from a stranger to a customer becomes much more natural. Lead generation falls within the second stage of the inbound marketing process, which consists of Attracting, Converting, Closing and Delighting. More specifically, this occurs after you have attracted an audience and are ready to convert those visitors into leads for your sales team. As you can see in the diagram below, generating leads is a fundamental point in the buyer’s journey to becoming a delighted customer.

How does B2B lead generation work?

The middle of the sales funnel is lead generation; this happens after you have researched your target audience.

This stage aims to move prospects through the funnel to the final sale. Figuring out how to obtain B2B sales leads is only a part of the puzzle. The three main steps of a B2B lead generation process include:

1. Finding potential buyers who are facing a problem that your product or service can solve.
2. Showing them how your product or service can help solve their problem.
3. Successfully convince them to make a purchase.

Before trying any lead generation strategy, always keep in mind that it might take some trial and error before you get the right strategy for your business. What seems to be working for other businesses may not necessarily work for yours.

Knowing your target audience is essential so you do not waste time and money promoting your marketing messages to those who are not interested in your business. Advertising or creating content specifically for your target market, on the other hand, will help to raise brand awareness, which will likely have a knock-on effect on your lead-generating capabilities.

What is an example of a lead generation tool?

Long gone are the days when Meta was simply used as a platform for keeping in touch with friends or family. Currently, Meta’s products and services are a fantastic way to generate B2B leads for your business. After all, it is the world’s most popular social media channel, and business decision-makers spend close to 75% more time on its Facebook app daily compared to the general population.

Besides, 67% of B2B marketers consider Meta the most important social media platform for lead generation. As two-thirds of Meta users visit a local business Facebook page at least once a week, it is not surprising that it is a vital marketing channel for companies!

Run high-quality Lead Ads on Meta

There are many ways in which B2B companies can leverage their social media channels to generate new leads and nurture them for conversions.

With Meta lead ads, users can simply tap on a business’s ad, which will then direct them to a simple pop-up form without sending them off-platform. This means your audience will not have to leave Facebook in order to access an external lead generation landing page.

The form is already filled in with their contact information – pulled from Meta – so the form can be ready to send to you with just a few clicks.

Meta lead ads help to deliver exceptional results as long as you have something good to offer to your target audience. It is all about experimenting and seeing what works for you. That is why you must split test different ad designs, formats, text, lead forms, targeting options, audiences, and more.

Remember that B2B Meta ads must be mobile-friendly. This is because most users are accessing Facebook primarily through their mobile phones. So, this means that your ads need to conform to mobile dimensions.

Mobile-optimized Meta ads should include the following characteristics:

1. Prioritize shorter copy or include the most important part of the ad copy within the first two lines of ad text so it doesn’t get cut off.
2. Use vertical images and videos that can be expanded to full screen when viewed.

You can see in the B2B ad example below that Freshbooks has a desktop-focused video and one that’s vertical for mobile users.

Why is Meta a fantastic tool for lead generation?

Are you wondering why we have not mentioned other platforms like LinkedIn in this article, since it is extensively known for delivering high-quality leads? This is because, after our experience with a specific client case, we believe that on the whole, Meta is the way to go.

One of our clients in the acoustic panels industry showed us that after testing both LinkedIn and Meta, LinkedIn was sadly not the platform for them to generate qualified leads. We could further see that in the testing period; LinkedIn only generated 32 leads at a cost-per-lead (CPL) of 1,039 EUR and a cost-per-click (CPC) of 1.93 EUR. On the other hand, Meta brought us 2,706 leads at a CPL of 45 EUR and CPC of 10.74 EUR.

As a result, we realised that LinkedIn’s specialty in targeting job titles and job functions is not always something that can help B2B businesses generate leads. On the other hand, Meta’s broader audiences allow the platform to concentrate on people’s interests and behaviour patterns, which can help businesses attract many new leads. In this case, we also should not forget that we are targeting real people that work for businesses. Moreover, Meta also brings excellent insight and opportunities for companies.

Additionally, Meta ads across all industries is $0.97 per click or $7.19 per 1,000 impressions — for lead ads, Meta charges by impressions only. The average value of CPC LinkedIn ads is $5.26 per click, and LinkedIn ads cost around $6.59 per 1000 impressions, though it depends on the industry and the size of the target audience. LinkedIn’s ad prices are also significantly higher than Meta’s. The reason for this is simple. LinkedIn has a smaller audience of around 750 million users. This also leads us to conclude that Meta is a better platform for B2B businesses looking to try utilising lead ads.

In conclusion…

While it may seem tricky to generate leads, especially in the B2B industry, it is not impossible to do so.

The goal is to develop a plan that works for you, and in most situations, content is at the heart of an effective lead generation strategy.

The reason why we as a digital marketing agency advise this platform to our clients is that as current buyers continue to use their handheld devices to access quick, easy information, Meta lead ads will give brands the opportunity to capture new leads with the click of a button. But just like any other form of lead generation, you need to monitor and tweak your lead ads and campaigns to ensure you receive optimal results.

Meta lead ads provide B2B companies an opportunity to gain leads and a larger reach. If you have not tried this yet, we highly recommend allocating some of your social advertising budget to this platform.