Have you been trying online advertising with no tangible results?
On average, paid ads have a 200 percent return on investment.
As a business owner or founder, one of the best ways to have a successful online advertising campaign is via paid ads. Paying for ads helps to increase brand awareness, get new leads, and boost returns on investment.
This comprehensive guide will cover all you need to know about Google vs. Facebook advertising.
Here’s a sneak peek at what we will cover:
- Why Pay for Ads?
- Google vs. Facebook Advertising
- How Do Google Ads Work?
- How Do Facebook Ads Work?
- Do Google Ads and Facebook Ads Have Anything in Common?
- Critical Differences between Google and Facebook Advertising
- The Best Way to Optimize Your Campaigns
- Choosing A Platform That Suits Your Needs
Alright. Let’s dig in.
Why Pay for Ads Online?
Are ads worth paying for?
Formstack reveals that PPC ads make up one of the top three generators of on-page conversions.
One of the best tools to add to your digital arsenal for immediate results is paid ads. There is always a cost associated with pay-per-click (PPC) ads. You pay each time someone clicks on your advertisement. Some advertisers use an advertising network to place their ads and pay a fee based on how many times they appear.
(Source: Popup Smart)
This paid advertising strategy allows you to target specific sites and videos rather than having your ads appear everywhere. For example, if you want to advertise on YouTube, you might purchase video ads through Google’s advertising network.
But why pay for ads?
Here are five good reasons:
1. They Are Cost-Effective
Running paid ad campaigns is relatively cost-effective because you only spend based on the type of ad you choose to run and your objective. In addition, these ads are easy to create and may not cost you much if you have the right tools and system in place.
With paid social media advertising you can only pay for the ads when a user clicks on them. In addition, you can create an adjustable budget. You can increase or decrease your allocation to refine your targeting, invest, and get better results with time.
2. Increased Visibility
Paying for ads gives you a better chance of being noticed by users on Google and other social media platforms. As a result, you will have a better reach and better access to your online audience.
3. Competitive Advantage
Paid ads are an excellent way to reach your target audience faster than via organic traffic, and out-compete other businesses, mainly if your competitors rely solely on SEO rankings.
Of all paid ads, search ads offer the most competitive advantage because search ads take you to the top of SERPs when people search for your products or services.
4. Faster, Measurable Results
Do you want faster results from your digital marketing efforts?
Then you should consider paying for your ads. An effective paid advertising strategy guarantees super quick results, compared to organic methods that compound anywhere from 3 and up to 18 months, significantly.
More so, the results you get from paid ads are measurable. You know exactly how much you put in, and you can see where every dollar is going. Soon enough, you will see the results each paid ad yields and determine which ads need to be stopped and which ones have been more effective.
5. Reach a Vast Audience Across Several Channels
There is a superabundant range of channels available online for small and medium business owners to broadcast their business.
These channels range from Google Display Networks to social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat.
Facebook ads are very effective because they target specific groups of people. Twitter ads are also very effective because they allow you to target exact keywords.
Instagram ads are very targeted, but they aren’t as effective as Facebook or Twitter ads. Nevertheless, you can use these ads to target specific audiences and increase your sales and revenue.
Google vs. Facebook Advertising
Of all the diverse advertising channels available out there, we’ll be looking at Google Ads and Facebook Ads. These two leading PPC ad platforms, distinct in many ways, offer many benefits when used separately and together.
How Do Google Ads Work?
According to FourWeekMBA, Google generated $237.85 billion of its revenue from Google Ads.
Google Ads, a type of paid search, is one of the largest PPC advertising platforms in the world. Formerly referred to as Google AdWords, this widely used platform uses an auction system that focuses on audience intent. Google allows businesses to advertise on the search engine using PPC ads such as Google Ads.
(Source: Brands Martini)
Signing up for a Google Ads account is super easy. Simply sign up, add text-only ad copy, and include keyword targeting information.
It is easy for advertisers to build their text-based ads in the Google Ad Manager interface. To do this, create campaigns, ad sets, and separate ads, then add a headline and description. Advertisements for easy-to-use products and services are better suited for Google Ads than campaigns with more complicated products.
Google users often search for specific answers, products, or services by typing keywords and search terms. By providing the exact information they are searching for, you are more likely to get them to engage with your brand and subsequently buy what you are selling.
You will have to either pay for each click your ad gets (PPC) or pay for every 1000 views it gets (Cost per thousand impressions, CPM).
(Source: Altweb Media)
How Do Facebook Ads Work?
Facebook Ads is a paid social advertisement that deals with advertising on social networks. Facebook is a very lucrative and competitive networking platform with the most monthly active users worldwide – 2.8 billion. It offers business owners an opportunity to reach out to vast and diverse audiences by using PPC ads.
Social Media Today reports that up to 72% of marketers spend more of their marketing budget on social ads.
To create an ad on this social media platform, you must use the Facebook Ad Manager platform to choose your preferred budget, ad run time, and ad placement.
The Ad Manager is super easy to use for building your ads. On your account dashboard, click on “Create,” choose the ad format you prefer, select your audience, edit the ad settings, write your ad’s copy, and then add a couple of graphics or videos.
These platforms will display your ads to your targeted audience, defined by demographics, interests, engagement patterns, and behavior.
(Source: Fastlykke)
Do Google Ads and Facebook Ads Have Anything in Common?
Both Google Ads and Facebook Ads are paid advertising platforms that help promote businesses by running pay-per-click (PPC) ads.
Critical Differences between Google and Facebook Advertising
Google and Facebook Ads are different in a couple of ways, but both can complement each other if used suitably. So , first, let’s explore the key differences between them.
Buyer intent:
Google Ads tend to convert customers more effectively than Facebook Ads because you’re able to place your offer directly in front of potential customers when they need your product or service, while most people on Facebook are there to socialize rather than buy.
Ad format
What is the visual component of your business?
The ad format is different for Facebook and Google. It is easier to be more visually appealing on Facebook, as you can choose from several ad formats, including images, videos, carousel ads, and slideshows.
Google Ads, however, is limited to displaying visual ads in banners and text-based ads in search results, Gmail, and YouTube;
Hence, you may find Facebook Ads preferable if your business deals with products rather than services.
(Source: Yokel Local)
Google Ads and Facebook Ads are best used at different stages of the buyer’s journey. On Google, for instance, there are more than 5 billion searches daily, and these searches fall on various stages of the buyer’s journey. Therefore, the buyer’s intent will depend on the keywords used in the search box.
Facebook users mostly explore their interests on social media rather than buy products.
Cost
A good paid advertising strategy considers the cost and ROI. Small businesses with a limited budget will find a platform with lower CPCs and lower CTR, but a higher conversion rate and ROI are favorable. However, the low-cost nature of Facebook Ads depends on users’ location.
The Best Way to Optimize Your Campaigns
If you are interested in optimizing your campaigns so that you will reach more audiences, here are five things that you need to do:
1. Have a Campaign Objective That Works With Your Business Goals
What are your business goals? Do you want to attract more traffic or get more sales?
The first step is to define success for you and your business. Then, identify what actions and inactions can give you the success you want.
Once you have all this spelled out, you should also consider the actions you want your target audience to take when they see your ads. Once you have all this in place, the next step is to choose a campaign objective that works with your business goals.
Your campaign objectives should cover business goals like driving traffic and generating awareness about your business.
Facebook Ads are great for creating awareness of your brand; hence, you can reach audiences closer to the top of the customer journey funnel.
2. Create Ad Campaigns on Multiple Platforms
You must create Ads campaigns on multiple platforms to increase your optimization chances. Customers’ journeys are not limited to a single platform. For example, a customer may start his journey on Google, move to Facebook after a few minutes of interaction, and end the journey on Instagram.
A multiple-platform ad campaign means combining different promotional channels and distribution into one platform. This allows you to reach a wider audience.
Save time and money through the reuse of media and, very importantly, offer your customers a good experience as they move across the different platforms.
Creating an ads campaign on multiple platforms also means that irrespective of the customer’s journey, you have a sure way of interacting with the customer through your ads. Frequent interaction means higher chances of conversion and profits.
3. Monitor Campaign Performance
To optimize your campaign, you need a paid advertising strategy for measuring and tracking its performance. Today, technology has advanced to the extent that several tools can be used to monitor campaign performance, even in real time.
Tracking your campaign performance helps you understand your campaign’s key performance index, such as the media and contents your target audience resonates with, keyword performance, channel distribution, and audience behavior.
4. Install a Facebook Pixel
If you are a Facebook user, installing the Facebook Pixel is an excellent way to optimize your campaign successfully. The Facebook pixel has features that help you track actions taken by your target audience on your website.
These features help you learn how customers and others follow your business. This information can help you optimize your ad campaign to reach the right audience.
5. Create Custom Audiences Based on User Behavior
Your Facebook Ads custom audiences comprise existing customers, website visitors, and users ewho have engaged with your brand. To create this audience, you must reach people who have engaged with your brand on Facebook through your ad campaigns. Creating a custom audience will help drive sales and generate leads for your business.
6. Create Ad Groups To Increase Conversions
Having several ad groups inside your campaigns allows you to create more ads for a more specific set of keywords. You can include a particular keyword in your ad group with variations to create highly optimized advertisements for specific search queries. However, If your awareness ad group is dying, you can add remarketing lists for search ads (RLSA) to it.
Ad groups allow you to optimize your landing pages, improve performance monitoring, control your budget, and benefit from long-tailed keywords.
7. Set Budget Goals
Setting budget goals for your PPC campaign gives you control over your advertising cost. You can link your PPC platform to an online analytics tool to constantly monitor your ads to see how many sales and conversions they deliver. Then you can decide to adjust your budget accordingly.
8. Use Remarketing
Remarketing campaigns are an effective marketing strategy for driving sales, increasing subscriptions, and boosting brand awareness.
Here are valuable tips for a successful remarketing campaign:
- Define your audience
- Start with easy wins and top-performing campaigns
- Focus on visitors who have expressed purchase intent and bid aggressively for them
- Target high-value customers
9. Learn How to Use Data Effectively
PPC data comprise all information collected from your PPC campaigns for analysis. The data is represented by metrics like click-through rate (CTR), cost per click (CPC), and impressions (KPIs). Once you understand your PPC metrics, you can turn them into assets.
Your PPC data will indicate the effectiveness of your campaign in meeting your goals. Hence, you must understand them to know more about your users and improve your campaign.
Choosing A Platform That Suits Your Needs
Because of the many platforms available today, it has become more challenging to know which platform to choose. Here are some things to look out for before determining the platform that best suits you.
1. Prioritize the Platform’s Security
There was a 61% data breach resulting from stolen or misused sensitive data in 2021.
Because of the high rate of cyber crimes, one of the first things that should be considered when choosing a platform is its security. Therefore, prioritizing is for the good of both you and your customer.
Customers should be confident that hackers cannot use any information they give on your platform. If customers don’t feel safe using a platform, you can hardly engage with them because they will not trust the person on the other side. Therefore you need to be sure of the security measures on the platforms.
2. The Platform Should Meet Your Goals
There is no need to use a platform that can not meet your business needs. Before choosing a platform, you should do due diligence to determine if the platform can help you achieve your business goal. Any platform that cannot help you achieve your business goal is useless.
3. Have Your Audience In Mind
Since you want to use other platforms to engage with your target audience, they should be in your mind when choosing a platform. Therefore, you should tell your target audience which platform they would like to use before choosing one.
You should consider demographics such as their age, gender, income, educational level, and interests. Different people have their preferred platforms, and knowing this information about your target audience will hint at which platforms they like to use. That should be your choice.
Google vs. Facebook Advertising: Which Is the Best for Your Business?
Google Ads and Facebook Ads have many advantages to offer business owners when used individually. Although they are both different in many ways, instead of focusing on one PPC network, an intelligent business owner would harness both for premium results.
If you don’t have an experienced in-house team that can help you maximize these platforms for increased conversions and higher ROI, you can partner with us.
At Flying V Group, we can help you develop a multi-channel, cohesive paid advertising strategy that serves sales-based ads and content-based ads, across the best social media networks.
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