Have you heard of Google Ads and Facebook Ads and don’t know if they are really worth it? Or have you already tried paid campaigns but still haven’t figured out which of the two is best for you ?
We help you clarify.
PAID ADVERTISING
In a previous article titled “ Why invest in paid advertising to make your marketing work ” we explained to you that:
- more and more people of all ages use the internet , especially from mobile phones;
- the visibility of your social profiles is low ;
- if your site is not among the top positions in search results, very few users will visit it .
Precisely for these reasons, paid campaigns are a really important element for your marketing , because:
- you can immediately see if an ad or sponsored content brings the results you expect and, if this does not happen, you can correct the shot immediately;
- the costs are, in most cases, still affordable ;
- you are in total control because advertising platforms monitor different metrics;
- audience targeting is very precise ;
- You can cover the entire Buyer’s Journey , from the first contact between you and a user who doesn’t know you to the final sale, up to post-sales.
There are several paid advertising platforms. We will now focus on the two most popular ones: Google ADS and Facebook ADS.
GOOGLE ADS AND FACEBOOK ADS
Google ADS and Facebook ADS are two platforms that allow you to create ads of various types and invest money to make them visible to a specific audience.
At a superficial glance, Google ADS vs Facebook ADS would therefore seem to work in the same way. Hence, they are profoundly different .
First, they operate in two different ecosystems : one within Google, which is a search engine ; the second within Facebook, which is a social network .
As the term itself suggests, a search engine is a tool that allows you to do research.
If you open Google, Yahoo or Bing, a page appears with a space where you can write a word or phrase of your interest to retrieve a large amount of information about it .
These words or phrases are called keywords and allow the search engine to find among all the contents published online those that contain the same terms, similar terms or related terms. Then, the engine sorts this content, putting the most relevant to your search first.
As you can see, a search engine needs the user to be active , to tell him what to look for.
Conversely, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and all social networks are passive tools : open Facebook and Instagram and scroll through the feed looking at what others have posted. And you can find a little bit of everything!
The contents that are offered by social networks depend on various factors, first of all the previous interactions . For example, if you’ve interacted with a post or two from kittens, more posts from kittens or other posters will appear in your feed. This is because the social network interprets your interaction (like, comment or share) as an expression of interest in that type of content or whoever posted it.
What about YouTube ?
YouTube is a hybrid : you can either actively search for content or browse through recommended content. The same goes for Pinterest .
Therefore, when a user opens Google, he does so because he has a need to satisfy : he is looking for information on a topic, or he wants to buy a product, or download a document. This intention is called search intent .
But when he opens Facebook, he’s not looking for anything in particular: he just wants to be entertained . Kind of like he turns on the TV and starts zapping: he changes channels that don’t interest him, stops on something that strikes him, maybe stays there for a few seconds and then goes on.
…AND IMPACT ON PAID CAMPAIGNS
This difference in the functioning and use of Google and Facebook also affects paid campaigns.
Campaigns on Google serve to directly intercept the specific needs of the user (expressed by the keywords entered in the search bar). They are ads that offer the answer to a precise question. For this reason they are mainly based on the choice of keywords, precisely to accurately intercept the search intent.
Instead, Facebook campaigns serve to intercept people . They are used to show potentially interesting content to a specific target (public), to capture their attention while they are busy doing something else, i.e. scrolling through the feed. There is no request.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
The Pros and Cons of Facebook Ads
Pros
- Targeting
You can precisely choose the characteristics of the people you want to reach: age, position, interests, etc.
You can also create similar audiences to the audience that has brought you the best results in previous campaigns. - Creativity
From videos to photos, the formats available to you are diverse and allow you to create attractive and exciting content. - Placements
Sponsored content can appear in different places, not just in the feed. Plus, you can also run campaigns on Instagram. This allows you to have multiple points of contact with users. - Virality
If you create great content, users will be the first to share it and make it run, increasing the reach of your campaign beyond the budget invested. - Costs still limited
Even if the costs are rising, paid campaigns on Facebook are still within everyone’s reach. And the returns are beneficial. - Performance monitoring
You don’t operate blindly, but the platform offers you all the data you need to understand if your campaigns are performing well or not. - Large audience
As of September 2021, Facebook had 2.90 billion monthly active users .
Against
- Direct conversions are difficult
- Works best for B2C
Facebook is a social network used by people for personal purposes. - Limited audience for certain sectors
However many they are, Facebook subscribers represent only a subset of all internet users.
Read Also: 10 Best Tips How to Grow Your Business Locally
The Pros and Cons of Google Ads
Pros
- Intercept search intent accurately
Through your sponsored ads you can give users exactly what they are looking for - Climb the SERP
Sponsored ads with Google ADS are at the top of search results, so users see them right away - Keyword research tools
Google ADS offers you everything you need to identify the most suitable keywords to intercept the right users - Direct conversions
If a user wants to buy something, your ads can take them directly to your product page, speeding up the journey. - A Larger Audience
Google is the leading search engine. Just think that Google Chrome covers 64.5% of the global web browser market - B2B also good
Of course, Google also covers work-related and business-related searches. - Monitoring tools
As with Facebook ADS, Google ADS also allows you to monitor the progress of your campaigns.
Against
- It requires skills
- Costs can also be high
- Fewer formats, scarce creativity, zero vitality
IS GOOGLE ADS OR FACEBOOK ADS BETTER?
As you see, Google and Facebook do not overlap .
The best choice is to use both to cover all stages of the Buyer’s Journey .
With Buyer’s Journey we mean the path that transforms a user who knows nothing about your business into a customer . This process is divided into 3 phases :
- Awareness
It is the phase in which the user has realised that he has a need/problem/desire and is looking for answers and solutions. - Consideration
In this stage, the user explores the options available in the market to fulfil his need. - Decision
It is the phase in which the user chooses the supplier of products or services able to satisfy him.
There is a fourth which is after-sales . Often overlooked, this phase is very useful for encouraging new purchases, collecting reviews or UGC, i.e. content (photos, videos, posts) created by customers themselves.
Facebook ADS , with its ability to capture a user’s attention while he is doing something else and to leverage the more emotional aspects, certainly gives its best when you want to make your business and your products/services known to an audience that knows nothing about you . It’s a little less effective if you want to sell something directly (but that doesn’t mean it’s not possible).
Conversely, Google ADS can lead users interested in a purchase directly to your product pages. At the same time, however, it can also bring together people who want to learn more about a topic or who are still looking for the best solution for them.
A good marketing strategy includes activities that cover all of these situations . And paid campaigns are the best – if not, sometimes, the only – way to get your message across to customers and prospects.
However, investing in paid campaigns can also turn out to be a trap . This happens when the tools available , their characteristics and their functioning are not fully known. The main risk? Waste time, money and energy to bring home nothing.