Paid social
payd SOH-shul
Advertising on social media platforms to reach targeted audiences beyond your organic following.
Paid social is advertising on social media platforms. You pay to show your content to a targeted audience that extends beyond your followers. LinkedIn ads, Twitter promoted posts, Facebook/Instagram ads, and YouTube pre-roll are all paid social.
For B2B companies, LinkedIn is typically the most effective paid social channel because of its professional targeting options. You can target by job title, company size, industry, seniority, and skills. This precision means your ad for an engineering leadership tool reaches VP of Engineering at companies with 500+ employees, not random consumers.
The trade-off is cost. LinkedIn ads are the most expensive social ads. CPCs of $5-15 are common. CPMs of $30-80 are normal. But if the audience is precisely your ICP, the higher cost per click can still deliver a reasonable cost per qualified lead.
Examples
A company runs LinkedIn sponsored content ads.
The ad promotes a free benchmark report targeting DevOps managers at companies with 200+ employees. CPC is $8. The landing page converts at 15%. Cost per lead is $53. The leads are highly qualified because the targeting was precise.
A startup uses paid social to accelerate content distribution.
A blog post gets strong organic engagement. The team puts $500 behind it as a LinkedIn sponsored post. The boosted post reaches 50,000 people in their ICP, generating 2,000 visits to the blog and 150 new newsletter subscribers.
A B2B company retargets website visitors with social ads.
Anyone who visits the pricing page but does not sign up sees a LinkedIn ad with a customer testimonial video within the next 7 days. This retargeting campaign converts 3x better than cold ads because the audience already showed purchase intent.
Frequently asked questions
How much should a B2B company spend on paid social?
It depends on your target cost per lead and available budget. Start with $2,000-5,000 per month to test. Measure cost per qualified lead, not just cost per click. Scale what works. For LinkedIn, expect $50-150 per lead for well-targeted campaigns.
Should you advertise on LinkedIn or Facebook for B2B?
LinkedIn for reaching decision-makers and professionals with precise targeting. Facebook/Instagram for broader awareness at lower cost. Many B2B companies use LinkedIn for direct response and Facebook for retargeting and brand awareness.
Related terms
Unpaid social media content shared through a company's or individual's profiles to build audience and engagement naturally.
Using social media platforms to promote content, engage audiences, and build brand awareness.
The process of promoting and sharing content across channels to reach your target audience after publication.
Want the complete playbook?
Picks and Shovels is the definitive guide to developer marketing. Amazon #1 bestseller with practical strategies from 30 years of marketing to developers.