A Comparison of Facebook Ads vs Google Ads
When looking at paid media trends over the last year, there has been a shift of online advertising dollars being shifted away from Google Adwords towards social media advertising platforms like Facebook, X (Twitter), Instagram, and LinkedIn. As some of these platforms are continuing to grow their user base at what seems to be an exponential rate, and they have a more cost-efficient way to reach said base, smart marketers are spreading out their advertising budgets and they are tackling both Adwords PPC campaigns and social media advertising—specifically Facebook.
When it comes to which ones is better, Google Adwords or Facebook Advertising, there are many factors to consider. Here are the 5 worth zeroing in on from a business owner’s perspective: targeting, audience profiling, ad quality, creative assets, and marketing goals.
Target Options
When comparing your targeting options, Facebook ads target audiences based on age, gender, geo-location, behaviors, demographics and interests. While all of these are significant, the special feature that you get here that you can’t get from Google advertising is interest—with interest, you can ensure that you are targeting to those that actually show a like towards things related to your product or services.
For Google, their target options are based on geo-location, context, and search intent. Search intent is very important. You capture people who are actively looking for your product and service, but it is difficult to target people who may be interested in your products but are not searching for it.
Audience Profiling
Much like above, Facebook has the ability to advertise to a person based on who they are as a person, what they like based on their interest. Google can only advertise based on what a searcher is looking for at that exact moment. With the exception of gender and age, Google cannot take into account their personas.
Ad Quality
The quality for Facebook can be based on social proof—shares and likes—whereas for Google, the quality is based on the relevancy of search queries to the ad copy of the landing page. Google does this based on a scoring system they call the Quality Score.
Creative Assets
The actual assets used in the ads for Facebook are usually rich media (images, slideshows or videos), human interest stories, and content that is meant for engagement. For Google, advertising usually relies on clever banner ad copy, optimized landing pages, and using words in text ads that are relevant to the search term and users’ intent.
Marketing Goal
When using Facebook paid advertising, the overall goal should be to build awareness and generate buzz. The idea is to get in front of people while they are online and can potentially be converted into customers. For Google Adwords advertising, the overall goal should be to reach those that are researching with high buying intent. The idea is to target those specifically looking for services and products you offer.
Combining the Two for Great Success
Each of the two advertising options are great for generating leads, fostering brand growth, producing remarketing strategies, and helping to convert those showing interest into those clicking the purchase button…but each have their faults.
To be truly competitive in most industries, it takes the two working together to really convert everyone in all corners of the market. For those in search and buyer intent mode, Google will have your back, but for those just browsing the web that didn’t know they needed your product—Facebook has you covered.
