Are you investing in the wrong advertising platform?

The right answer depends on what you are trying to sell, who you are trying to advertise to, and on your marketing goals.

When it comes to online marketing, click (CPC) advertising is one of the most powerful tools you can use. Year after year, it’s getting easier to reach your target market through Facebook ads, Google ads, and more.

Unfortunately, with all the features and options we already have, it can be difficult to find the right way to promote your business. Even in a platform like Google Ads, you have options for manual ads, automated text ads, call ads, banner ads, video ads, and much more. Then, plug in many more platforms that work on this principle and you may feel completely lost in the sea of ​​options in the digital world.

While the range of marketing opportunities available to you is stunning, most of them can be placed in one of two categories: Google Ads Search Advertising and Social Media Advertising. There are several other options, such as display ads, but since paid search and paid social services are the strengths of PPC, we will focus on them.

When you look at PPC advertising options this way, it’s much easier to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each approach and where it fits into your marketing strategy. So in this article, we will compare these two marketing channels and tell you what you need to know to make better marketing decisions for your business.

What is the difference between a Google search ad and a social media ad like Facebook?

Before we dive into discussing the strengths and weaknesses, let’s start by saying that each of these marketing channels works.

Google Ads Search Ads

Paid search advertising platforms show ads in response to search queries. Google Ads is the most famous paid search platform, but most search engines (Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, etc.) also offer paid search options.
What makes paid search significant is the fact that it is an advertisement with a clear intention. People see your ads because they are actively looking for a solution to a problem. This audience is usually ready (or almost ready) to make a purchase, which is good news for you and your business.

For example, if someone is looking for “wedding flowers” online, the chances of him/her having an upcoming wedding are high and he/she is looking for a place to buy flowers. If your business sells flowers for this occasion, then you should want them to find your business. Broadcasting paid advertising on this search phrase is one of the best ways to do this.

Keep in mind that when it comes to standing out to people with high purchase intentions, it can hardly be better than a paid text ad. In this case, you do not have to convince people that they have a problem. You just have to convince them that your decision is right for them.

Social media advertising like Facebook

Unlike text ads, paid social media ads are shown when people are active on them. They can be on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter or even Reddit. Unlike paid text ads in Google Ads, the audience is not actively looking for a solution here. In fact, they don’t even realize they have a problem.

At first glance, social media advertising is very similar to other classic forms of advertising, such as radio ads, billboards or TV ads. Instead of waiting for customers to come to you, you emphasize the need and offer your business a solution. The hope is that people will respond to your message and decide to buy from you, but it can be a bit of a struggle.
Fortunately, unlike radio or television ads, you can track the performance of your ads on social networks. This makes it much easier to identify how people respond and adjust your messages, visions and texts, or targeting targeted audiences.

With a digital social media campaign, you can expand your business by positioning it in front of a wider audience that would never buy from you.
With paid social media advertising, you can reach as wide an audience as you want. So if you want to build awareness of your products, services or your business as a whole, there is no better way than advertising on different social media.

What is right for your business?

In an ideal world, you would trade anywhere, on any platform, all the time. However, for most companies this is not very practical. Time and financial constraints make it difficult to use any advertising opportunity.

With that in mind, let’s look at these two marketing channels and ask the question: should you focus on Google Search Ads or focus more on social networking ads like Facebook?

The right answer for your business depends on what you are trying to sell, who you are trying to advertise and your marketing goals. So let’s look at three different scenarios to help you choose the right marketing channel for you.

1. When you need fast results

When you need sales and need an advantage, Google search advertising is the best choice. Your audience may not be huge, but you’re targeting a market that’s ready to buy. This channel is a great way to reach people who are already at the bottom of the marketing funnel.

In most cases, search advertising is not a long-term panacea. People see your ad and either click … or not. If they click, they either convert or do not. Remarketing can help you capture some lost sales, but most of the time, people who click on your paid search ads are very close to making a purchase.

The good news is that most paid search platforms are well-designed to facilitate quick decision making. After all, that’s the whole purpose of paid search advertising: to get yourself to a clearly defined audience and to persuade them to place an order before that intention disappears.

In contrast, social media advertising is advertiser-initiated rather than consumer-initiated, the purchase intent is much lower and can often take longer to view the results. This does not mean that you cannot get a good return on your social media investment. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always happen immediately.

2. When to reduce costs

We all know you have to spend money to make money, but some of us have more money than others. If funds are limited, it’s natural to want to look for cheaper advertising options.

But things get complicated here.

If you look at things in terms of cost-per-clicks (CPCs), social networking ads like Facebook are much more accessible than Google search ads. As a general rule of thumb, the lower a user’s funnel, the more you can expect to pay for it.

For example, at Google, a law firm might expect to pay an average of $ 10 per click (or higher, depending on keyword and location). For comparison, the average CPC for an advertiser in the Facebook legal space is only $ 2.

So if you’re only interested in CPC, paid Facebook advertising is the easy choice. But that’s not all you need to keep in mind.

3. Which is cheaper? Search Advertising or Social Media Advertising?

Because overall marketing channel profitability can hardly be predicted without actually running ads, focus on choosing the right channel for your marketing goals, not just the cheapest option.
When trying to build brand awareness

As important as sales and profits are, there aren’t many people who do online searches that are relevant to your business at any time. To grow beyond that point, you need to start building brand awareness.
Social media ads are the right choice here.

If you are selling something that people don’t realize they need, then paid social media advertising can be a great way to build awareness of that need. Respectively, if you are trying to build loyal customers so people buy from you when they have a real problem, instead of searching online in Google Ads, social media advertising is a great way to build a solid foundation for your brand awareness and benefits .

In both cases, you are trying to steer people further along the funnel than can be achieved through search advertising. With social media advertising like Facebook, you can tell a product or brand story using images, reviews, or video content that makes people excited about your business, products, and vision.

So, whether you are trying to sell something that people have never heard of before, want to expand your sales funnel, or just want to build loyal online relationships with potential customers when it comes to building brand awareness, it is difficult to beat paid advertising on social networks.

What is right for you?

Obviously, it is ideal to use both marketing channels, but most companies find that highlighting a particular channel works better for their business.

The right channel for your business depends a lot on the products or services you are promoting, your business model, the audience you want to reach, and what your marketing goals are. That’s why it’s so important to understand how each marketing channel works, its strengths and weaknesses, and what it can do for your business.

At this point, we hope it’s obvious to you which channel you should focus on in your marketing. Of course, you will still need to test and have a strategy, but choosing the right marketing channel is the first step to the success of PPC advertising.