Google vs Facebook Advertising

12 Dec 2017
Paid Ads Charlie Clark

Which One Should You Invest In?

Both Facebook Advertising and Google AdWords are viable paid media options, but choosing one or the other depends on your goals and marketing budget.

Google AdWords is world’s largest and most popular PPC advertising platform and Facebook is world’s largest social network, comprising over 2 billion monthly active users. You can read more about them here and here.

Let’s take the main differences between the two platforms, and see which paid channel would serve your purposes best.

Advertising Intent

The main difference between Facebook and AdWords is that the first one allows you to reach prospects and the second one allows your prospects to find you. In other words, people that reach your landing page via Google are prone to have a greater purchasing intent than the people you’re reaching via Facebook.

What you should do is choose your advertising funnel depending on your business’ profile. If you’re offering more direct services like plumbing, for example, chances are people won’t go on Facebook to find you. But, if you’re a coffee shop you can attract visitors by sharing attractive photos and promotional coupons via Facebook Ads.

Target Audience

Both Facebook and Google Advertising allow you to target audience based on different aspects.

Google Ads targets people based on keywords research. This means that you have to anticipate what words people will search for when they want to find a product similar to the one you’re offering. What service do you provide? What do you sell? What problem do you help resolving? Google AdWords also allows you to target people based on location and language.

On the other hand, Facebook targets your potential customers based on their location, age, shared interests and other behavior-based criteria such as their travel tendencies or job roles. This allows you to get a more in-depth knowledge of your prospects and create a more intimate dialogue with them.

Once again, this shows that the use of AdWords is favorable for businesses that serve a more immediate need while. Facebook allows you to create an ideal customer profile and talk to them in the specific tone.

Now think about your business profile again. Do you serve an immediate need or are you more concerned about your brand awareness and exposure?

Ads Format

Google Adwords has a more straightforward approach and gives less room for creativity. Most of the ads are primarily text-based and show up when a prospect searches for specific words. Ads that appear on the Google Display Network can be images, short videos or shopping ads. Each ad has specific metrics that you need to meet in order for the ad to be displayed.

Facebook ads are more flexible and creative. You can choose to advertise through an image, a short video or a list of products that you’re offering. You can also promote your direct call to action buttons, such as “Call Now” or “Message” features on your Facebook page.

And again, the difference is made when looking at your business’ profile and deciding if you want a faster response.

Facebook ads are better for increasing brand awareness and visually display your products and services. Sometimes it’s a two-step process to turn a prospect into a customer, whereas Adwords has a more direct way to do it.

Also, Google Ads are easier to set up than Facebook ones so take that into account as well.

Price

This is the one million dollar question.

“How much will it cost me?”

Price is one of the main concerns for business owners and it is a fair concern. A lot of the studies conducted to showed that the average PPC for Adwords is around 2$ and for Facebook around 0.27 $. As a rule of thumb, Google Adwords tends to be more expensive than Facebook Ads.

The conversion rate, however, is higher on AdWords and a click on your Google Ad might turn into a sale faster than a click on your Facebook Ad.

Conclusion

As you can see, there is no one-size-fits-it-all answer to whether you should use Facebook Ads or AdWords. What you need to do is to take a step back and look at your organization. What do you want to achieve? What is your marketing budget?

Facebook may be better for creating brand awareness and getting closer to your audience while Google is better for more immediate actions and can turn prospects into customers faster. Don’t think of the two platforms as competitors. If you have enough money, investing in both will definitely help your business grow faster.

Whichever you choose, however, remember to be patient! The results from investing in Ads, be it Facebook or AdWords don’t come right away. It might take up to three months for the Ads to reach their full potential so take that into account as well.If you’re looking for someone to take care of your Ads and develop an Ad Budget for your business, let us know. We’ll help you make the best decision that fits both your company’s profile and your budget!

Charlie Clark
Founder of Minty Digital. Charlie has over 10 years of experience within the Digital Marketing industry. Background in Project Management, SEO, and Google Ads.
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