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Which earns you the best ROI for your advertising dollars…Google Ads or Facebook Ads?
When it comes to grabbing customer dollars from ad spend, it’s Google vs. Facebook. Or is it?
The long-standing rivalry between both Google and Facebook has led to the perception that you have to choose one platform over the other for advertising.
In fact, that thinking can undercut your advertising impact.
Leverage the strengths of each. You’ll achieve optimal visibility, increase leads and conversions, and find new customers, maximizing ROI on your advertising spend.
The key is knowing the benefits of each and matching your ad and budget objectives to the strengths of one or the other. To gain maximum advantage, combine both in a larger digital marketing strategy.
Understand the Differences
Google Ads are Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising. Referred to as Paid Search, Google Ads target users who are actively searching for specific products or services. Paid Search relies on keywords and text-based advertisements to boost your rank in a user’s search. Each time a user clicks on your ad, you are charged a fee, with Google typically $1 to $2 per click.
Facebook Ads, also PPC advertising, are termed Paid Social. Paid Social refers to advertising on social networks. Facebook Ads are about 97 cents per click.
Unlike Paid Search, Paid Social helps users find businesses based on the things they’re interested in, not specifically what they’re looking to buy.
Google’s Reach, ROI, Ad Formats
Google, with its gigantic reach, is considered the leader in online advertising. Google processes more than 40,000 search queries every second, more than 3 billion per day, and a little over a trillion every year.
Google trumps other search engines with an 86.64% market share and is the most likely platform about 63% of consumers search when they’re looking to make a purchase.
Google Ads deliver an 8:1 ROI. The company estimates that every $1 you spend on an ad generates $8 in profits as measured by conversions. Google draws an average 4.40% conversion rate which is within industry averages of between 2% and 5%.
Google enables localized customization, affords banner ads if you’re looking for brand recognition, and has developed features to make your ads more compelling.
Facebook Audience Draw, Ads’ Visual Richness, Affordability
Facebook boasts a huge global audience: Parent company Meta claims its total advertising audience is 2.11 billion people, or 72.5% of the company’s total 2.91 billion monthly active users.
Facebook’s immense granularity helps you target users. The personal sharing of users’ experiences and interests gives you prime opportunity for messaging. You also have enhanced targeting capability to match your customer data to the aligned interests and behaviors of consumers who comprise a lookalike audience to your existing customers.
Facebook ads are also uniquely visual. They blend well with videos, images, and other visual content in users’ feeds and give you the opportunity to create compelling, persuasive ads with aspirational messages that tap into people’s emotions.
Combine these assets with Facebook’s relative affordability, and Facebook becomes an attractive advertising option—1 of the best, according to WordStream—especially if you’re a small business or have limited resources.
A Whole Equal to the Sum of Its Parts
Google Ads and Facebook Ads have distinct advantages that can make 1 or the other an optimal choice dependent upon your ad’s specific objective. As part of an overarching digital marketing strategy, however, they are best used as complements, not either-or options. The combination of Paid Search and Paid Social make for an effective strategy. The key is knowing how to leverage the strengths of each. Plus, plan on a monthly ad spend of approximately $1,000 to get a return on your investment.
Working with a digital marketing agency like Ballantine will position you to make the most of your advertising dollars and maximize the best of each platform.
Call us and benefit from a well-thought-out advertising strategy and get a leg up on your competition.
I'm the Director of Digital Services and Partner at Ballantine, a family-owned and operated direct mail & digital marketing company based in New Jersey. and started in 1966 by my great uncle!
