Most people don’t understand the difference between Facebook ads and Google ads. In the past 10 years, even in the past 5 years, advertising has changed completely. It’s now petty rare that businesses are taking out print ads or putting their business up on a billboard. Now, they are advertising online, which allows them to reach a much larger audience for a lot cheaper.
Ok, so when you break it down, google ads and Facebook/Instagram ads tend to be the most popular. As users and customers, we see these ads all the time…for example, those posts on your Facebook and Instagram feed with the little “sponsored” tag at the top of the box of results with the small “ad” next to them on google. These platforms have gotten really good at making these ads blend in with the regular content you see and sometimes, we don’t even realize the content we are clicking on our ads at all.
So, how can you use these ads for your own business? Well first you need to understand how they work and the main differences between the two. Understanding how they work and who they are being shown to is imperative in actually making an ad successful. Which platform to choose will be based on a lot of factors such as desired target audience, customer behaviors, budget and more.
So, let’s jump into what these different ads are and how they work.
Google AdWords:
Google AdWords, is Google’s advertising service which allows you to place search results for your website on a search engine results page by paying for them. These normally appear at the top of a search engine results page or on the side, and a lot of the time look just like organic results. One way to tell if it’s a paid ad is if there is a small yellow ‘Ad’ label on them.
Basically, you pick some keywords that a searcher might use on Google, then create an ad that will appear on the search engine page based on those keywords. Of course, you’re probably not going to be the only company wanting to show ads to people who use those particular terms. Your competition can also bid on the same search term and keywords.
So, if you want your ad to show up at all, you have to bid against other companies on how much you’re willing to pay Google AdWords every time someone clicks on your ad. That means the more you pay-per-click (PPC) the more likely your ad will appear in the search results. Some people think that the cost of a pay per click is the only thing that affects if their ad is shown. However, Google also takes into account something called your “quality score’.
A “quality score” is calculated when Google looks at how relevant and useful your ad is to the searcher and the search terms they typed in. It also looks at how many clicks your ad has received previously, which is known as its click-through rate (CTR). One of the most important things that can affect your quality store is how relevant your landing page is to the ad. For example, if your ad is advertising a sale on sandals for summer but when someone clicks on it and it takes you to your “about us” page instead of where they can buy sandals, your quality score will go down.
Most people think that if they don’t have a huge budget to spend on pay per click then there’s no chance they can beat out their competitors for an ad spot. But that isn’t necessarily true. Even if your maximum bid is less than a rival bidder, you still may appear above their ad if your quality score is better.
So, for google ads, You pay Google AdWords each time your ad is clicked. There is also another less common option called cost-per-impression (CPM). This is where you pay the search engine for every 1,000 times your ad appears on the search engine results page. The user doesn’t have to click-through.
Facebook Ads:
Facebook ads are a little different. What’s great about these types of ads is that You don’t need to be a Fortune500 company or get funding to advertise and do well on Facebook. Actually, a couple hundred dollars can get you pretty far already. The best thing about Facebook ads is that you can get started without a large effort and see the first results when spending as few as $10.
Facebook ads belong to one of two categories, Ads or Sponsored Stories. For Facebook ads, you as an advertiser are in complete control of all creative elements of the ad. This means you control the title of the ad, the images and any text that goes with it.
Sponsored stories are different from ads in the sense that you as an advertiser do not create the content of the ad. The content is created by Facebook users and not by advertisers. So to break that down, you’ve probably seen on your feed “Joe Sterling likes Starbucks”. That means that someone, in this example Joe Sterling, interacted in some way with one of your elements on Facebook and a story was created. The content of the story can be that Joe liked your Page or one of your posts, used your App or is going to your Event – to name a few.
So, to help get that story that shows Joe liked your page or is going to your event to show up in the newsfeeds of Joe’s friends, you can sponsor the story – turning them into sponsored stories. Sponsoring a story does not change its content, only how it’s distributed and shown to other users.
Sponsored stories can be really great because they are in essence endorsements by people’s friends, and thereby tend to receive high click-through and engagement rates. These tend to do so well because they come off as a recommendation instead of an ad.
Difference:
Ok, so now that you have a grasp on how these two types of ads work, let’s talk about what makes them different and how you can decide which advertising platform is best for you.
One of the biggest differences between Google and Facebook Ads is the user’s intent. Someone searching for something on Google knows that they are usually searching for something specific. But someone on Facebook will see ads based on their interests and previous search history.
When it comes to Google, searchers are on a mission. They’re looking for something specific and want to find what they’re searching for. For example, if you are looking for a sale on laptops, you will type that into the search bar.
Google will display ads that match your search. It’s in the best interest of the advertisers to show an ad for a sale on MacBook pros because that matches what you were searching.
So, if you are the business running a Google ad, it’s important that the ad copy and the landing page that the user will be sent to when they click on the ad matches the search intent. One big mistake advertisers make is to advertise for terms that are loosely related to their product and not closely matching the search intent.
But Facebook Ads work differently. Facebook allows you to advertise to people who weren’t necessarily searching for your product or your business. They’re minding their own business, looking at funny videos and photos of their cousins new baby when your ad pops up on their news stream. They weren’t searching for your product, but they still see your ad.
This means that Facebook Ads are an awesome way to generate awareness and interest in your product or your business. If you are new business or work in a super niche market, it’s pretty likely people don’t know who you are yet and If people don’t know you exist, they can’t be interested in what you’re selling, therefore won’t be searching for your product or brand. So, Facebook ads can help overcome that issue and expose your brand to people out there who haven’t heard of you at all.
Another great thing about Facebook ads is that you can really fine-tune your targeting. You can target who sees your ad based on age, sex, location, interests and tons more. For example, if I was running an ad about a wedding photography package I’m offering, I can target people recently engaged or people who have like The Knot Facebook page.
Summary
To recap, google ads are generated through Google AdWords. If your ad is shown, is based on how much you bid on particular keywords in comparison to other businesses bidding on that keyword. Another thing that affects your positioning is your “quality score”.
Google will display ads that match a user’s search. It’s in the best interest of the advertisers to show an ad that matches what the user was searching for in the first place because most people go onto google for a specific reason and people don’t want ads popping up that don’t match that.
Facebook ads belong to one of two categories, Ads or Sponsored Stories. They allow you to advertise to people who weren’t necessarily searching for your product or your business. You can target specific audiences and people who fit into that audience will see your ad. This means that Facebook Ads are an awesome way to generate awareness and interest for your product or your business when you are not as well known or new.
So how do you choose between the two?
If you’re looking for superior targeting if you want to try retargeting to a new audience if your industry is small and you need a wider reach. Or if your business has strong images, great videos, or you have an interesting eye-catching graphics. I would go with Facebook ads.
If you’re looking for higher intent traffic and you know your audience will be specifically searching for you or If you’re wanting to get your business’s name out there and get closer to the top of search results on google, I would suggest AdWords.
It’s ok to use both if you have the budget. If not, consider experimenting with both for a short period of time and then cutting the one that performs worse until your budget grows.
