Head to head · B2C vs B2B social
Facebook vs LinkedIn Ads
By Oliver Wakefield-Smith, Digital Signet. Updated July 2026.
One platform knows what people enjoy; the other knows what they do for a living. For B2B budgets the question is whether LinkedIn's professional targeting justifies clicks that cost multiples of Facebook's. The answer is a threshold, not a taste.
The priced side and the unpriced side
Facebook lead-gen campaigns averaged $1.92 per link click with a $27.66 cost per lead in 2025 LocaliQ, 2025 data. LinkedIn publishes auction mechanics and minimums LinkedIn, ads pricing but no rates, and no current public benchmark meets our sourcing bar, so no LinkedIn number appears here. What is uncontested is the direction: LinkedIn clicks price at a substantial premium.
The threshold that decides
The premium pays when targeting precision converts to enough extra deal value. Work it as a break-even on each channel with your own numbers:
Worked threshold · illustrative B2B inputs
All inputs illustrative, clearly not benchmarks: replace them with your pipeline's numbers in the break-even calculator. The logic: a £4,000 deal at a 1% click-to-customer rate affords a £40 click on either platform. If LinkedIn's targeting doubles your click-to-demo rate against Facebook's colder audience, LinkedIn can charge double per click and still win. Small deals cannot clear any premium; that is the whole verdict.
A £1,000 test month, split
Practical shape: £500 to each. Facebook with lead forms and job-title-adjacent interest targeting; LinkedIn with tight title-and-industry targeting and a capped bid derived from your break-even. After the month, compare cost per qualified demo, not cost per click. Default outcomes by segment: B2C and low-ticket B2B stay on Facebook; high-ticket B2B usually earns its place on LinkedIn. Full worked splits in the SaaS scenario and the B2B benchmark page.