When it comes to making money on the internet, there are options galore. But, when it comes to advertising, you have a few to choose from. Google Pay Per Click and Facebook Ads are two of the most prominent advertisement platforms on the internet today. In case of the former, you usually go for Google Adwords. But if you focus on advertising through social media, then Facebook Ads is the way to go.
The battle between Google and Facebook ads continues, making it even more difficult for advertisers to choose which one to go for. Let’s do a comparison between the two giant advertising platforms to find out which one is better:
Demographic/Keyword Targeting: When an ad campaign is created using Google Adwords, search phrases and keywords are used to target audience. Since the search space is already overcrowded with advertisers, you may find it difficult to find your space in the competition for keyword selection. However, if you are advertising on Facebook, you advertise towards interests instead of keywords. Facebook offers much less competition as compared to Google.
Cost of Pay per Click: As stated earlier, Google Adwords focuses on ‘keyword’ type advertising; if you choose high end keywords like “debit cards”, you may have to pay $5 to $10 or more per click. However, in case of Facebook ads, you may end up paying around $20 to $50 per click. The difference between the two is that with Adwords, users actually look for debit cards while with Facebook ads, users may see your advertisement while they are on FB.
Demographic Targeting: While it is possible to get demographic targeting based on geographic location with Google Adwords, nobody does it better than Facebook Ads. It has billions of users, thereby helping you target all its users based on location, interests, gender, age etc. To get some idea about “Facebook Home” you can check my previous post Facebook Home: A New Era Of Mobile Advertising.
Landing Pages: Google mainly focuses on quality search results and user experience. Quality score is one of the biggest worries when it comes to advertising with Google Pay Per Click. But, in case of FB ads, you need not worry about having a site or a landing page with high quality score. With this, you can directly link to the landing page depending on the approval of the team. Your selection of an advertisement platform actually depends on what you are trying to promote and the competitors you want to go against. Each and every one of them has some favor to offer you.
Be Clear About Your Goals:
You need to have your goals clearly defined before you choose your advertising campaign. Ask yourself whether your goal is long or short term, whether you want to sell a particular product or service or are trying to enhance your brand awareness.
Choose Google Adwords if you wish to sell something specific. Users mostly search for specific products or services on Google. You need to meet this demand by bidding on the relevant keywords. Adwords give you quick and short term solutions for your advertising requirements. It offers you quick and specific conversion rates, thereby giving you faster results.
On the other hand, if you want to enhance your brand awareness and visibility, Facebook can be very helpful. Brand awareness is built on the basis of long relationships and no other platform but a social networking site like Facebook can allow you to do that better. Undoubtedly, it takes some time but the relationship you establish is much stronger than the one built with strategic sales-oriented advertisements on Google.
The Verdict :
Determining a winner is tough. Google has proved to be very useful for savvy advertisers who need immediate conversions and ROI for businesses publicized on the platform. Facebook, on the other hand, has the all-important ‘social’ factor. Businessmen can profit a lot with this social networking site as it provides an opportunity to influence users. People spend huge time on FB, which increases the chances of their interacting with the businesses they have liked.
So, you see there is quite a difference between Google Adwords and Facebook Ads and this is just the tip of the iceberg. You cannot really choose which one is better because both have something to offer. So the best thing you can do is make use of both of them!
