Solved: Ideas to Boost Social Media Reach Needed for B2B Service

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out and sharing what you've been seeing with your social media efforts. Happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance based on what you've described.

It sounds like you're facing a common challenge, especially for B2B companies in niche industries: getting organic reach on social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and X is incredibly difficult these days. The algorithms just aren't designed to push out business-to-business content to a wide audience organically unless it goes viral or you've already built a massive following over years. Posting consistently, while generally a good practice for maintaining a presence, isn't going to magically fix the reach problem on its own when the platform dynamics are working against you.

You mentioned your target demographic is eCommerce sellers aged 24-35. This is a specific audience, and reaching them effectively requires getting past the gatekeepers (the social media algorithms). For B2B services, particulary, relying purely on organic reach is often a losing battle for lead generation or direct customer acquisition. It's great for brand awareness and staying 'top of mind' for your existing network, but it's not typically a scalable way to find new customers who don't already know you.

I'd say you need to consider paid advertising...

If your goal is to get your message and your offers in front of your target audience consistently and at scale, paid advertising is usually the necessary next step. Unlike organic, paid ads allow you to bypass the algorithms' restrictions on reach and directly target the specific types of people you want to reach. You pay for visibility, clicks, or leads, but in return, you gain control over who sees your content and a much better chance of reaching potential customers outside of your immediate network.

The key is picking the *right* platform and using the *right* targeting options for your specific audience. You're already on Facebook, LinkedIn, and X. For B2B, based on my experience with clients, LinkedIn is often the go-to platform. Its targeting options are specifically designed for B2B – you can target users by company, industry, job title, job function, company size, etc. If you know your ideal customer profile (ICP) – which companies they work for, what their roles are – LinkedIn lets you get pretty granular. For eCommerce sellers, you might be able to target by job title (e.g., "eCommerce Manager", "Online Store Owner"), industry (e.g., "Retail", "Internet"), or even specific company names if you have a list.

Given your target audience is on the younger side (24-35), Meta (Facebook and Instagram) could also be viable. While its B2B targeting isn't as robust as LinkedIn, you can still use demographic and interest targeting. You might be able to target people based on interests related to eCommerce, online selling, specific platforms (Shopify, Etsy, etc.), or even job titles if they are available as targeting options. It's worth testing both LinkedIn and Meta, as the cost per lead on Meta can sometimes be lower than on LinkedIn, even for B2B, if you find the right audience segments.

X (formerly Twitter) can work for some B2B niches, but its targeting is generally less precise than LinkedIn or Meta for professional roles. It might be better for broader awareness or tapping into specific conversations using keyword targeting, but for direct lead generation targeting specific professional roles like eCommerce sellers, it's often less effective than the other two, in my experience.

It's not just about reaching them, it's about what you offer...

Just like consistent organic posting of general content isn't breaking through, simply running ads that promote articles or generic tips might not yield the results you're looking for either, especially if your goal is lead generation or getting trials/sign-ups. You mentioned you're posting articles, tips, testimonials, etc. While this content is valuable, for paid advertising, you often need a more direct "offer" that encourages someone to take the next step towards becoming a customer.

Think about the B2B SaaS example I've seen where the ads weren't working well. A big part of the problem was they didn't offer a free trial for their accounting system. Changing an accounting system is a massive decision for a business, and nobody would pay for it without trying it first. Offering a demo is okay, but a proper free trial lets the potential customer explore on their own terms. For your B2B service, what is the "next step" you want a potential client to take? Is it booking a consultation? Requesting a free audit? Signing up for a free trial of your service? This offer needs to be compelling enough for someone to click your ad and provide their contact information.

Once they click your ad, where do they go? Pointing them to your website's homepage might not be effective. You'll likely need dedicated landing pages that are specifically designed to convert visitors for that particular offer. These landing pages need clear, persuasive copy that highlights the value of your service and the specific offer you're promoting. I've seen first-hand how much of a difference professional copy makes for SaaS and other B2B clients – it really does go a long way in improving conversion rates.

You'll also need the right ad formats and creative...

Once you've decided on the platform and the offer, you need to consider the ad format and the creative itself. For lead generation on LinkedIn, Lead Gen Forms are often effective because they make it very easy for users to submit their information right within the platform, which can lower the cost per lead compared to sending traffic to a landing page. However, leads from landing pages are sometimes more qualified, so it's worth testing both. Sponsored Content (single image, video, or carousel) is the format you'd typically use for this.

For Meta, you also have options like Lead Ads (similar to LinkedIn's forms) or sending traffic to a landing page. Video creative can be really persuasive and sometimes gets lower lead costs, but static images or carousel ads can also work well, especially for driving traffic quickly. Split testing different creative (different images, videos, headlines, ad copy) and different targeting audiences within the same campaign is crucial to optimising performance and finding what works best for your specific audience and offer.

I've seen results ranging quite a bit for B2B leads. On LinkedIn, a B2B software client saw leads at $22 CPL. On Meta, for another B2B software, we saw registrations at $2.38 each, and for a B2B SaaS medical job matching service, we got the CPA down to £7. The exact cost per lead will depend heavily on your industry, audience, offer, competition, and the quality of your ads and landing pages, but these examples show that efficient B2B lead generation is definately possible with paid ads.

How much should you budget?

Starting small is fine to test, but you need enough budget to gather meaningful data. It's difficult to give an exact number without knowing your business goals and the competitive landscape, but you can estimate. If you know roughly how many leads you need per month and what a realistic cost per lead might be (based on industry averages or the examples I mentioned), you can calculate a starting budget (Number of leads needed x Estimated CPL = Ad Spend). For some B2C services, we might start with £1-2k per month, and while B2B is often more expensive per lead, this gives you a rough idea of the scale needed to generate a noticeable volume of leads. Remember, paid ads are scalable – if a campaign is working profitably, you can increase the budget to get more results.

So, while your current organic efforts are good for maintaining a presence, if you're looking for significant, scalable reach and lead generation for your B2B service targeting eCommerce sellers, shifting focus and budget towards paid advertising on the appropriate platforms (likely LinkedIn and/or Meta) with compelling offers and optimised landing pages is the most reliable path forward. It requires careful planning, testing, and ongoing optimisation, but it's how you actively get in front of the people who need your service, rather than hoping they stumble upon your organic posts.

Overview of Recommended Actionable Solutions:

Figuring out the right strategy, setting up campaigns correctly, designing effective landing pages, and continuously optimising takes a fair bit of expertise and time. With B2B, the costs per click and per lead can be higher than B2C, so any inefficiency gets expensive quickly. Having someone who has experience navigating these waters for B2B SaaS and service businesses can make a significant difference in getting results efficiently.

If you'd like to discuss your specific situation in more detail and explore how a paid advertising strategy could be tailored for your business, we'd be happy to book in a free consultation.

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh