Google Ads or Social Media Advertising? This is a common question when starting a campaign strategy. Which pay-per-click platform should you choose? In this post, we will analyze the possibilities each one offers.
Both platforms can yield a great return on investment (ROI) for your company if you know how to harness their full potential. The first thing is to choose the one that best suits your target audience. Google is the king of search, and Facebook is the leading social network in the world.
Facebook Ads Campaigns
Facebook Ads show ads to people who match the segmentation we choose, and in a very efficient manner. The best thing about this social network is that it doesn’t matter what your daily budget is, as you can get results with a small investment. It’s especially interesting for building branding, as you can reach an audience interested in your business. Facebook Ads also includes Instagram, a social network used by a younger profile.
It is a very effective platform to reach the audience that interests you based on their demographic profile, location, interests, and behavior. You can also segment with the “lookalike audiences” feature, and with this option, advertisers upload information about their active customers to Facebook.
Another feature of Facebook Ads is the visual factor. Images and videos can be used in ads, making them more persuasive than those with only text. You can also include testimonials or success stories.
With this platform, you work with pay-per-click or per-view payments, also known as CPM (Cost per Thousand).
With Facebook Ads, a user can see your ad even if they haven’t shown interest in your product or service. Therefore, it needs to be very attractive to ensure conversion.
If you have a completely new product in the market, and people don’t know about it or can’t search for it on Google, in this case, investing in Facebook Ads may be more interesting to raise awareness and build branding.
Google Ads Campaigns
The most used campaigns in Google Ads are search campaigns, which consist of ads based on keywords. These should have a high search volume so the ads show up more often.
When a user searches for a term, word, or phrase, the ads appear at the top of the Google page. They have a description and several titles.
One of the features of this platform is that you pay for effective clicks, which is where the term cost per click comes from. They have a similar format to organic search results, which makes ads more familiar to users.
Google Ads or Facebook Ads. Which to choose?
So, should you advertise on Google or social media? The choice depends on the short-term objectives you want to achieve. You must consider that the audience on Google Ads and Facebook Ads have different goals. On Google, users perform searches because they have a need, while on Facebook, they are there for entertainment, and that’s when the ad appears.
Both platforms have conversions, but Google has more because users are coming with the purpose of buying the product.
Advertising on Facebook Ads is cheaper than on Google Ads, on the former, you pay an average of €1.60 per click, while on the latter, it’s €2.50.
Depending on the platform, CPC can vary considerably. Google Ads and Facebook Ads work as a bidding system. The more companies bid for a keyword or audience, the more expensive the campaigns will be.
If you need to sell and have a good budget, Google Ads is your best option, because when a user searches for a specific service or product, they are already ready to buy. And in that auction to appear first, you need to be there so they buy from you and not from the competition.
Meanwhile, Facebook Ads is your ally when you have a limited budget, want to get known in a specific audience, or need to raise awareness for your brand.
And if you have the budget for both, are they complementary? Clearly, yes. Plan a budget and a goal for each platform and measure the results. For example, you can run a search campaign on Google Ads, and a remarketing campaign on Facebook Ads. With both, your success is closer. Two is better than one!
