Business-to-business (B2B) companies are famously known for their poor online presence on social media. However, new research from content operations software company StoryChief.io reveals the top companies spearheading engagement rates on Facebook.
Accenture, Sandia Labs, Optum, Tata Consultancy Services and Cognizant are the best at generating reactions for their content. Businesses in specialized design, legal services, and PR and advertising have the lowest engagement rates.
The study evaluated 44 firms registered in the US offering professional and business services across nine sectors. These businesses are in the top ten companies within the same North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes for their annual sales volumes as at July 2022. Their engagement rates are based on average reactions per post for all the content published on their main Facebook pages throughout October 2023.
Computer Systems Design and Related Services
Businesses in the computer systems design sector have the highest engagement rates among all B2B companies evaluated by StoryChief.io. Excluding an organically viral post from Accenture in October that may skew the overall results, the average rate of engagement for the industry is 63 reactions per Facebook post. The median number of posts per month is 14.6. However, the quality of each post determines how engaging a piece of content is, more than any other factor.
Accenture still leads the sector, even without the viral post taken into account, with an average of 247 reactions per post and only one post per week. However, Accenture has a large follower base to rely on, counting around 913,200 likes as at November 13, 2023, while smaller pages like Leidos’, which has 14,000 likes, still attract healthy engagement rates of 42 reactions per post across content published almost daily.
Management, scientific and technical consulting services – 44 reactions/post
Management, scientific and technical consulting services have the second-best engagement rates of all top-selling business-to-business firms in the US. Although the page follower count is much smaller compared to businesses in computer system design, they tend to publish once a day and attract an average of 44 reactions per post. Relative to their page size, firms in this sector are slightly more engaging than those in computer system design. Healthcare plan provider Optum is the best in their industry at engaging Facebook users, averaging 115 reactions across 36 posts published in October.
Scientific research and development services – 37 reactions/post
Businesses in scientific research and development services are the third best at engaging Facebook users among all the leading American B2B companies. Despite much smaller page sizes, they attract 37 reactions per post. Pharmaceutical company Charles River Lab has the best engagement rate in the industry, averaging 62 reactions per post across 24 pieces of content published in October 2023. They often use real-life photos uploaded directly to their Facebook page, which generated good engagement rates, especially compared to many other B2B companies whose content is rarely associated with real-life people.
Biotech company IQVIA is the second most engaging company in their industry and has a good balance of effort and reactions. Though it posts once or twice a week, the content is adapted to Facebook’s native formats, which leads to good organic engagement, averaging 259 reactions per post.
Top 10 B2B businesses acing Facebook
| B2B Business | Facebook page likes | Total organic posts in October 2023 | Average reactions per post |
| Accenture | 913,200 | 5 | 1,817 |
| Sandia National Labs | 22,800 | 22 | 166 |
| Optum | 198,600 | 36 | 115 |
| Tata Consultancy Services | 778,800 | 27 | 107 |
| Cognizant | 399,400 | 4 | 88 |
| Charles River Labs | 21,900 | 24 | 62 |
| Burns & McDonnell | 10,000 | 11 | 54 |
| IQVIA | 62,000 | 5 | 52 |
| IDEXX | 126,000 | 14 | 50 |
| Johnson Controls | 128,800 | 26 | 47 |
Overall, across all nine B2B sectors, Accenture is the most engaging business on Facebook, followed by Sandia National Labs, Optum and Tata Consultancy Services. Sandia National Labs often shares highly informative, science-backed updates. Despite a relatively small Facebook page size of just 22,800 likes, it generates an average of 166 reactions per post across 22 pieces of content.
Indian IT outsourcer Tata Consultancy Services has the second largest Facebook pages across America’s top-selling B2B businesses, counting around 778,800 likes. It is the fourth most engaging B2B company, with an average of 107 reactions per post, publishing content almost daily. Their content is as adapted to Facebook’s native formats as possible, leading to maximized engagement rates.
No spark from creative, legal and comms
Surprisingly, creative sectors that could harness their services’ visual perform worst of all top-selling B2B companies in America. Specialized design services need a better Facebook presence to start with, accompanied by negligeable engagement rates.
Legal services are the second worst at engaging Facebook users, with an abundance of blog post links, infamous for performing poorly on Meta’s leading social media platform. The third worst at sparking reactions from Facebook users are, shockingly, businesses specialized in communication – Advertising, PR and related services.
Pro tips to revive Facebook engagement: humanize, reformat and boost
Valeri Potchekailov, CEO of StoryChief.io, commented on the findings: “Small B2B brands generally deprioritize their communication on Facebook, perhaps in favor of LinkedIn, for lack of resources.
However, the top-grossing businesses we evaluated could easily invest in uplifting their engagement rates on Facebook, if not for business leads, at least for the company’s prestige. It does not exactly scream ‘leadership’ to be a multi-billion dollar company with four likes per Facebook post.
