Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a very effective means of digital marketing. There are various online platforms in which PPC ads may be used, the main platforms currently being Google and Facebook. But if you are new to PPC ads, it can sometimes be confusing as to what the difference is between using these two platforms.
As we’ve discussed in other articles, PPC marketing involves running ads online, in which you only get charged when someone clicks on your ad. You can run pay-per-click ads on search engines like Google, as well as on social media platforms like Facebook. But is one better than the other?
The short answer, as is often the case, is that it depends on what your marketing goal is.
With Google Ads, you are paying for your ad to appear at the top of search results when someone searches for specific “keywords” you are targeting. You can also narrow down your targeting, so your ads only appear to someone within a certain geographic location too. For example, if I had a plumbing business in Kingston, I might want to only target people within a 10 mile radius of Kingston. I might use keywords and search terms like “plumber near me”, “plumber in Kingston”, and “blocked sink”, amongst other relevant search terms. And as mentioned already, you only get charged when someone clicks on your ad.
As you can see, Google PPC ads are a very powerful way of targeting your ideal customer online. However, to be effective, I must know what words and phrases my customers would use on search engines. Additionally, I must have the ad budget to be able to afford to target such words and phrases. You find that the more popular and commonly searched words that have a high “search volume” are more expensive. PPC ads work on an auction basis, so again using the plumbing business example, if there are a lot of rival plumbers targeting the same keywords as me, I will find the cost per click can get pretty expensive. I would struggle to compete against a larger plumbing company that has a bigger ad budget.
Facebook PPC Ads are not to be confused with Facebook social media marketing. Facebook marketing is regularly posting content on Facebook so to engage and nurture my audience, to convert them into paying customers over time. However, Facebook wants you to spend money on ads rather than just relying on organic traffic (it’s how the company makes money after all!), so Facebook’s algorithm will always limit the exposure of your organic content.
Facebook Ads on the other hand, involves running ads that appear to people while they scroll Facebook. Like with Google PPC Ads, you only get charged when someone clicks on your ad, and again you can narrow down your targeting so your ads will only be shown to people within a specified geographic location. However, the main difference with Facebook Ads, is rather than target people that search for certain keywords, you can narrow down who you show your ads to based on people’s interests and behavioural traits. Facebook’s algorithm is very intelligent, in that it recognises the similarities between the people for which your ad is working best, and starts showing your ads to more people like them. You have the capability of creating “lookalike audiences”, to find more potential customers that fit the persona of your “customer avatar”.
Facebook Ads is a powerful means of digital marketing, but it very much relies on you truly understanding and profiling your ideal customer. If you don’t have a strong understanding of this, you can end up targeting the wrong kind of people that won’t convert into paying customers!
Further aspects to consider with both Google Ads and Facebook Ads, is having a clear strategy behind where you want to send your potential customer once they click your ad. Do you want to send them to a contact form for them to message you? Do you want to send them to your online store? Or do you want to send them to your website, and if so just to your homepage or to a specific “landing page” or other page?
So which PPC ads are best, Google Ads or Facebook Ads? Really there is no clear but answer to this, as both can be very effective. Also, if you were to use both at the same time, they can work synergistically of each other, especially through “retargeting”. This could be a topic for a separate article, but ever feel like you are being followed around the internet? Ever search for a product, and then keep seeing ads for that product pop on different websites and social media platforms? That is “retargeting”! Both Google Ads and Facebook Ads allow you to use tracking pixels, so you can target someone and then continue to target them again and again. Through utilising the Google Display Network, you can continue to show ads to a potential customer online on different websites, as well as across social media platforms. This is a very powerful tool.
Of course, choosing between picking to use PPC Google Ads, Facebook Ads, or both, ultimately comes down to your overall digital marketing strategy, and the size of your marketing budget. If you are ready to take your business to the next level, get in touch for a free consultation!
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