Side by side
| LinkedIn Ads | Meta Ads (Facebook, Instagram) | |
|---|---|---|
| Targeting | Declared: company list, job title, function, seniority, industry, size, skills; retargeting of engagers, viewers, visitors; CRM segments | Inferred: interests, behaviours, lookalikes from your lists, pixel retargeting, Advantage+; detailed B2B targeting (employer, title) removed 2022 to 2024 |
| Where the person is | At work, in a professional feed or inbox | At home, in a personal feed, Reels, Stories |
| Typical B2B CPM | $36.23 median (944 accounts); $50 UK, $84 US; $65 thought leader ads | $10 to $25; higher for narrow custom audiences |
| Cost per click | $17.54 per landing page click median; $9.18 good | $1 to $4 for B2B; cheaper on broad audiences |
| Cost per lead | $164 content, $343 demo (form); $56 / $175 message ads | Widely reported $20 to $100 on lead forms; quality varies with the audience |
| Formats unique to it | Thought leader ads, document ads, conversation and message ads, event ads, CTV with professional targeting | Reels, Stories, Advantage+ shopping, WhatsApp and Messenger ads |
| Retargeting | Ad engagers, video viewers, form openers, site visitors, CRM stages; $46 CPM median | Site visitors and engagers via pixel; the cheapest retargeting impression in B2B |
| Account-based reporting | Companies tab, company breakdown, matched lists | None |
| Creative testing | Slow and expensive on small audiences | Fast and cheap; the place to find the hook |
| Where it is weakest | Cost per impression and per visit | Cannot name the buyer; senior audiences are diluted; low list match rates |
When LinkedIn wins
- The buyer has a title. "VP Finance at a 500-to-5,000-person company" is a LinkedIn audience; on Meta it is a lookalike of whoever is on your customer list, which is not the same thing.
- The plan is a list. Account-based programmes need the list at every seniority and a report by company; Meta has neither.
- The format is the message. Thought leader ads (read, not skipped; 22% cheaper per landing page click than the company version), document ads (20% form completion), message ads (40% completion) do not exist on Meta.
- The deal is large. At a five-figure deal, a $343 demo lead from the right title beats a $60 lead from the wrong one.
- The audience is senior. Executives click through at 0.29% on LinkedIn, the best of any audience cut, and Meta's inferred targeting cannot isolate them.
When Meta wins
- Retargeting site visitors. The same person, at home, at $10 to $25 CPM instead of $46. This is the standard use of Meta in a B2B plan.
- Creative testing. Find the hook on Meta for a few hundred dollars, then run the winner on LinkedIn where a test costs ten times as much.
- SMB, product-led or founder-led sales. Broad buyer, short cycle, a product people can start using: Meta's reach and price fit, and LinkedIn's SMB-only audience ($39 CPM, $12.57 per click) covers the senior slice.
- Founder and personal brand at scale. Reels and Stories reach a founder's audience for less; the LinkedIn version of the same play is thought leader ads to the list.
- Events and communities where the audience is already following you and the job is to remind, not to find.
How they work together
LinkedIn creates the visit from the named list; the Meta pixel catches the visitor; Meta runs the follow-up at a third of the price; both feed the same CRM. LinkedIn's own retargeting still runs for ad engagers and video viewers who never visited, because those audiences do not leave LinkedIn. Creative hooks are found on Meta and promoted on LinkedIn. Reported on one page: reach and engagement on the list (LinkedIn), retargeting reach and cost (Meta), pipeline by source (CRM). That is how the two sit in our paid media plan, and why we do not run Meta cold prospecting for a senior B2B buyer.
Splitting the budget
| Situation | Split | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Named buyer, deal over $10,000, mid-market or enterprise | 70 to 85% LinkedIn, 15 to 30% Meta | LinkedIn finds them; Meta follows them home |
| Enterprise ABM | 85%+ LinkedIn (CTV above $30,000 a month), Meta retargeting only | The list is the plan |
| SMB, product-led, short cycle | 50 to 70% Meta, 30 to 50% LinkedIn | Reach and price on Meta; LinkedIn's SMB audience for the senior slice |
| Founder-led brand, broad B2B audience | 50/50, tested quarterly | Same content, two feeds; let cost per opportunity decide |
| Under $5,000 a month | One platform, chosen by who the buyer is | Splitting tests neither |
The LinkedIn numbers are on how much do LinkedIn ads cost; whether LinkedIn is worth it at your deal size is on are LinkedIn ads worth it; the Google comparison is here; agencies that run both are in best B2B paid social agencies.
Meta figures are typical B2B ranges from published industry benchmarks and Kiin's client accounts, not a Kiin Labs panel; LinkedIn figures are the median advertiser account across 944 accounts, 12 months to 7 September 2026.