As a tech startup, you need to allocate your marketing budget wisely. That means only investing in channels that can guarantee significant ROI. For B2B marketers, Facebook Ads is not the solution many believe it to be.

Results Only Come at a High Cost

The average engagement rate for a single Facebook Post is 0.07%, with photos gaining the highest level of interaction. Facebook Ads are paid posts that marketers use to boost this engagement rate and reach more of their target audience. These ads potentially reach about a third of the world’s population, yet their effectiveness for small-to-midsize B2B organizations isn’t what it should be.

Kate Wojewoda-Celinska of CI/CD platform Spacelift suggests that small businesses may be spending $200 a day on Facebook Ads with mixed results. The bottom line is that you can spend a fortune on Facebook Ads and not see significant ROI. One reason for this is…

Constantly Shifting Algorithms

While this applies to all platforms, anecdotal evidence from B2B businesses seems to suggest that Facebook’s algorithm shifts are detrimental to smaller businesses. This is somewhat backed up by the social media giant’s decision to focus more on personal content back in 2018.

There are also feature changes that impact businesses. Recently, Facebook decided to remove a ton of its detailed target audience options. Previously, social media marketing experts could direct ads to incredibly focused audiences. Without those features, it’s difficult to understand exactly who is seeing your posts.

What’s the Alternative?

Thankfully, there are so many alternatives to utilizing Facebook advertising. Facebook is still a highly effective platform for B2B marketers, especially for video marketing. However, many benefits come primarily from building communities of followers that share and engage with content. Facebook Pages and Groups are ideal ways to achieve this.

For those looking to move away from Facebook completely, other options include Circle, Mighty Networks, and Discord, among others. These platforms go back to the basics of social media: Creating communities that want to engage with the brands they’ve chosen to connect with.

Final Word

Social media marketing is challenging but not impossible to crack, especially with a cohesive brand strategy and marketing experts on your side. Book your 15-minute introductory call with Arch Collective and discover how we can help your tech startup achieve sustainable growth.

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