Facebook Ads vs. Google Ads – Everything You Need To Know
Until recently, Google Adwords and Facebook Ads were considered direct competitors. The unnecessary comparisons made between them by certain digital marketing resources only caused businesses to wonder which platform is better for their business. Hence, this perspective closed off people from considering strategies where both are used in tandem
Contrary to popular belief, both of these paid digital advertising platforms work well in online marketing campaigns. When both are employed in a campaign smartly, they bring better results than those achieved from choosing one over the other.
Google Adwords promotes products and services on a wider scale due to Google’s near-ubiquitous presence on the web. In contrast, Facebook ads leverage the enormous reach and targeting capabilities of its own platform to deliver ad impressions. Strategies, where both ad platforms are used in tandem, were not developed until Facebook Pixel became mainstream and organizations realized the combined potential of both digital marketing giants.
In this article, I will shed light on the benefits of Google Adwords and Facebook Ads while touching on the minor difference between both that make a huge difference.
What Is Facebook Ads?
Most customers use Facebook as their primary social media platform because that’s the platform they know. Facebook has transitioned from merely being a platform for college students to connect with each other across campuses. This idea was long replaced when the company realized the latent potential of online communities and the revenue generation potential in online ads.
As the user population surged, Facebook slightly shifted from being a photo-driven social media platform to a ginormous marketing hub, giving rise to the terms “Facebook Ads” and “Facebook Marketing.” The concept of Facebook Marketing is centered around promoting a product on Facebook alone. However, social media marketing is an entirely different topic that covers all social media sites, including Facebook.
When businesses started to create “Facebook Pages,” establishing their presence on Facebook to engage audiences, it soon became evident that the platform would be ideal for running paid ads. Initially, Facebook Ads were used to promote products and services to the entire Facebook user population. However, later, Facebook Ads introduced targeted niche specific audience.
In simpler terms, Facebook marketing involves the use of Facebook Pages and Facebook Ads to promote products and services on Facebook to create awareness and generate leads.
Why Do I Need to Promote On Facebook?
This is a common question baffling most decision-makers, and finding a straightforward answer is impossible. This complexity is due to the many benefits Facebook has to offer to marketers.
While the idea of using multiple marketing channels might perplex new businesses, it’s crucial to spread your name on Facebook, the third-most visited site in the world. This platform has users from all audiences, which means that your potential customers are on Facebook. Online users often research a market offering on Google before spending money on it. A study concluded that brand trust is positively related to social media and community identification.
What Is Google Adwords?
Customers and businesses alike wonder about Google Adwords and how it’s useful to them. This is a common question because most customers don’t understand why brands promote their product or service on Google when their website can rank on search engine result pages. This question carries the lack of knowledge about Google Adwords and what it is.
Simply put, Google Adwords is a platform created and managed by Google to help businesses promote their products and services on the web. However, since Google has a massive audience and most Google visitors don’t share their information, Adwords doesn’t have niche-specific targeting. Regardless audience segmentation, Google Adwords allows businesses to narrow their target audience by country and device.
Why Do I Have To Promote on Google Adwords When I Have Facebook?
You might lean towards using Facebook Ads over Google Adwords because of its robust targeting features. However, you should know that running Facebook Ads alone is not effective if you want to capture a larger audience. Moreover, using these platforms together make re-targeting possible, allowing businesses to capture their target audience through all digital touchpoints.
Although Facebook Ads seems like a clear winner with its detailed targeting options, using it simultaneously with Google Ads can substantially boost your marketing efforts and help reach your objectives much faster and on a wider scale. This is possible when businesses have Facebook Pixel integration on their website. When a user clicks on a Google Ad and visits a website, the Facebook Pixel integrated on the website code captures the user’s data and transfers it to businesses’ Facebook Page. This seamless sharing of information allows businesses to re-target the visitor on Facebook and improve their marketing campaigns effectiveness.
Difference Between Facebook Ads and Google Adwords
Google Adwords and Facebook Ads both serve ads online, but they are somewhat different from one another. These differences are due to their privacy policies and business models. Here are some significant differences between the two marketing giants.
1. Differences in Paid Ads Model
Google works through keywords, while Facebook operates through its robust targeting algorithms. This unique method of targeting makes their paid ads different. While Google Adwords boosts ads based on keywords, Facebook has other means. Through Google, businesses can invest in keywords and show their ads to online users who type the keywords they bid on. This exceptional targeting technique eliminated the need for audience segmentation as people who are interested in communicating with the said business would type in relevant search words.
For example, a person who wants to buy Nike shoes will search for this term. Hence, this approach mitigates the chances of faulty targeting and spillover of spend. Let’s revisit the same example; if an online user searches for “best running shoes,” the result page will show various links to distinct brands.
This is where Facebook Ads enter the scene. Google users will open more than one link unless they wish to shop from a specific online store.
Once the user clicks on an Adwords link and visits the website, Facebook Pixel on the website captures their data and targets them through its platform. While both marketing platforms might differ from one another, their union is a recipe for marketing success.
2. Difference in Payment Models
Google Ads are straightforward. Businesses bid on keywords so that their ad appears when they are searched and pay Google when a user clicks on their advertisement. However, Facebook works differently. There are plenty of payment models Facebook offer, and they are all tailored to the promoter’s specific marketing needs. For instance, if a promoter wishes to increase web traffic, they can opt for paying Facebook a cost per click. Adversely, if a promoter’s objective is to increase brand awareness, they can choose to pay Facebook on a CPM or cost per 1,000 impression basis.
More often than not, promoters use the “boost post” option, and only Facebook marketing experts resort to ads manager and run complicated ads. However, in a cost comparison, both mediums cost more or less the same.
3. Difference in Ad Delivery
Facebook and Google are unique and provide different experiences to their users. While Facebook is a more visual platform, Google is more text-based, and this reflected in the ads served on their platforms. Facebook offers visual ads while Google shares links to other sites. This feature gives Facebook an advantage over Google because online users don’t have to make a single click to view the product in an advertisement. While Google ads resort to navigating through websites to find the product users are looking for. On the other hand, customers prefer searching on Google, because it’s focused on displaying more information at once.
Advantages of Google Ads
Being the world’s most popular and widely used search engine Google is unparallel against the competition. Here are a few advantages of Google Ads you might not know of.
1. A Stellar Audience
One of the most significant advantages of Google Ads is its huge audience. Google handles 40,000 searches per second, which amounts to 1.2 trillion searches per year. This massive search volume allows businesses to capitalize on this increasing population of search engine users and boost their revenue. While keyword bidding might become expensive at one point, an experienced ads manager knows how to reduce cost and improve efficiency.
2. A Leveling Field
One of the biggest misconceptions of Google Ads is that businesses with the most capital are bound to rank higher on Google search ads. However, this is entirely untrue, as there are different parameters to ranking on Google ads. A business with a relatively low budget can increase its sales by targeting the right keyword and optimizing its website. Google ranks ads if the quality score is upheld. Businesses that harbor high-quality scores on Google Adwords notice significant results.
Advantages of Facebook Ads
We have established that both ad-serving platforms shouldn’t be seen as competitors, sharing their advantages helps users become aware of their marketing scope.
1. Active Audience
Facebook has a massive active audience than Google. Although the search engine giant harbors massive searches, users tend to move away from Google’s search page after one simple search. However, Facebook has an enormous audience of active users, meaning the ad results are viewed in real-time. Besides this, marketers use different mediums for promoting their offering on Facebook. For instance, Facebook is a better medium for promoting video advertisements because Facebook is a visual-centric platform for viewing videos is relatively easier for the user.
2. Expressing the Power of Visuals
Regardless of how gigantic Google is compared with Facebook, its search engine is focused on presenting textual information. Facebook is known for its robust marketing algorithms, and it gives businesses the option to use designs, photos, videos, and any form of visual elements to market their product or services. These visual elements grab the customer’s attention and create recall. The visual elements create intrigue for the online user, and they become willing to click on the advertisement to learn more about the offering. Once a user interacts with an ad by sharing or commenting, third-party software allows pages to reach out to these customers. This enhances Facebook’s advertising capabilities for businesses.
Besides these features, Facebook Ads can also redirect users to businesses’ Facebook Pages so they can engage their audiences. Businesses can then deploy robust sales agents to target niche-specific audiences and start communication to land sales. However, there are certain limitations to messaging page members that companies need to adhere to.
The Bottom Line
Google and Facebook are far from being adversaries. Combined together, these two marketing giants can prove to be highly beneficial for any organization. However, for most businesses, the use of Google Adwords and Facebook Ads together is uncharted territory. To benefit from the capabilities of these platforms, look into using the tactics mentioned above and start building an audience to target and promote your ads.
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