The short answer
Choose LinkedIn when you sell to specific roles, industries or company sizes and each customer is worth thousands. Choose Facebook and Instagram for consumers, small-business owners and when you need volume cheaply. Many B2B companies use LinkedIn to reach the right people first and Facebook to retarget them at a much lower cost.
LinkedIn Ads vs Facebook Ads compared
| LinkedIn Ads | Facebook & Instagram Ads | |
|---|---|---|
| Targeting | Job title, function, seniority, company, industry, size | Broad, driven by creative; limited interest options |
| Typical CPC | $6-$15+ | $0.50-$2.50 |
| Typical CPM | $30-$100+ | $8-$25 |
| Audience mindset | Professional, work-focused | Personal, entertainment |
| Lead quality for B2B | Generally higher, right person | Mixed; needs qualifying |
| Best B2B use | ABM, enterprise, senior buyers | SMB owners, retargeting, events |
| Creative volume needed | Moderate | High, refreshed often |
When LinkedIn is worth paying more
If your ideal buyer is "VP of Finance at a SaaS company with 200-2,000 employees", LinkedIn is the only major platform that can find them reliably. Paying $12 a click is fine if a customer is worth $30,000, because you're not paying for the thousands of wrong people Facebook would show your ad to.
LinkedIn also puts people in a work frame of mind. A pitch about compliance software lands differently between industry posts than it does between holiday photos.
When Facebook wins, even for B2B
Small-business owners are on Facebook and Instagram like everyone else, and they're far cheaper to reach there. If you sell accounting software to sole traders, marketing services to restaurants or equipment to tradespeople, Meta can bring leads at a fraction of LinkedIn's cost.
Facebook is also a very efficient retargeting channel. Someone who clicked your LinkedIn ad and visited your site can be followed up on Facebook and Instagram for pennies per impression.
Quick decision guide
Lean towards LinkedIn if…
- Your buyers are defined by role and company
- Average deal value is $5,000+ a year
- You're running account-based marketing
- Several people sign off on each purchase
Lean towards Facebook if…
- You sell to consumers or owner-operators
- Deal values are low and you need volume
- Your product is visual or easy to demo quickly
- You mainly need cheap retargeting