In the ever changing advertising world, choosing one marketing platform is a daunting task. Facebook and Google have become major forces to reckon with in the online world. Although Google dominates the search engine market having more than half the market share, Facebook is fast catching up with the search engine giant. Both Google and Facebook have advertising platforms, Google AdWords and Facebook Ads, which have similarities in their approach as well as difference in their outlook.
What is Facebook Ads all about?
Facebook uses its social networking site to place unique advertisements on every webpage along one side of its sponsored section. If you are looking at targeting your advertising campaign at one particular group or demographic, then Facebook Ads are perfect for you. Facebook Ads work in a way that allows the advertiser to reach audiences even when they are not on the lookout for your service or product. Facebook allows the advertiser to choose any form of media such as videos, images and text to increase the ads value.
How different are they?
Let’s start by first establishing the fact that both Google and Facebook are very similar in most aspects. Both Google Adwords and Facebook Ads are essentially pay-per-click channels, offer free marketing tools, have the option of running the campaign to targeted customers. Now, that we have laid out the similarities between them it’s time to branch out to their differences.
- Facebook edges out Google when it comes to personalizing or targeting ads to a particular group or community of audiences. Facebook ads are better at getting the message across as compared to Google AdWords. It is easier for Facebook to reach a specific audience like a college alumni or a group that likes to watch Batman series.
- Facebook is not as strong as Google in delivering pure search results. Google is designed to deliver actual clicks and conversions far better than Facebook. People searching for a product in Google have a specific intent or goal in mind than those in Facebook.
- Facebook ads can have impact when building a message only when done over a longer period of time. But Google AdWords targets people who are waiting to buy the products presently.
- Unlike Facebook where your ads will be displayed only when it manages to perform well during its first 1000 views, in Google your ad will simply appear irrespective of its performance
- In Facebook, you get to see what brands your friends are endorsing which make Facebook Ads go viral.
- Facebook uses any information that has been put in by its users that can be used to target ads whereas Google targets more on search or content basis.
- Google is able to target ads that have the right keywords but Facebook shows ads that match users’ information and your criteria.
What to choose?
Although there is no rule that says you have to choose either of the two. You can choose to advertise in both the mediums. When introducing a new brand choosing Facebook Ads may do the job for you. If you are targeting existing users then Google may have the answers. Choosing the right medium that will do justice to your advertising campaign depends a lot on the goal of the campaign. Understanding your advertisement and the medium is very important as the ad can perform very differently in different platforms. And the results generated from the advertisement may also vary depending on the medium.
This is a guest post by Mark Bennett of bw9.com, a site that offers savings and current information on comcast internet, as well as Comcast.com services.