We’re often asked whether Google Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising or Facebook Pay Per Click advertising is more effective. Although we prefer Facebook PPC on the whole, there are many advantages and disadvantages of both, so here’s a rundown of some of the key points that you and your web team need to bear in mind when considering online advertising options.
Google PPC
Advantages:
1. Google PPC usually brings in much more general traffic.
2. The system has comprehensive analytics that allow you to set goals and monitor the effectiveness of campaigns very easily.
3. A large network of websites display Google ads through the company’s Adwords programme. This means that there’s more chance of your ad being seen by a larger range of different audiences.
4. As Google owns YouTube, this means there can be lots of integration with YouTube campaigns that you’re already running.
5. Google’s advertising platform does re-targeting, which means that you can target people who have clicked through to your website before. For instance, if someone visits your wine website, you can make it so that they will be shown ads about your wine deals even when they’re on another website.
Disadvantages:
1. Due to many of the advantages of using Google advertising, it can often be quite expensive.
2. As an advertiser you know little about the users that you’re advertising to. Although they may have already searched for your search term, you don’t know information about their age, interests, etc, and in many ways this is a little vague.
3. By using Google, competitors are able to run your budget down by clicking on your ads continuously.
4. There’s a very intense bidding way for the most competitive search terms, which means it can be a lot of hard work and you may not get what you want in the long run.
5. Although there are many advantages of Google’s management system, it is very complex and requires a lot of constant attention.
6. Due to point 5, it’s best for Google ads to be managed by professionals, so it’s not the best option for smaller budgets and teams that want to keep all activity in-house.
Advantages:
1. Facebook advertising can be very targeted as users have submitted a lot of information upon joining Facebook, such as their age, sex, interests and favourite activities. This really helps when it comes to targeting a specific audience.
2. Facebook ad options are often much cheaper than Google.
3. Facebook advertising is very easy to set-up and run, particularly with Facebook’s new guides that you can read over at the Facebook for Business website.
4. You can pay for the ads that you require using Paypal, which is much more convenient for some people.
5. You’re less likely to be targeted by competitors on Facebook as they appear on users’ profile pages as opposed to in the public domain.
Disadvantages
1. There’s much less detailed and statistical data available to you when using the Facebook platform, which could put some people off if they want to see a lot of information about how their ads are doing.
2. The Facebook interface isn’t always the most user friendly.
3. Facebook isn’t always the best option for B2B campaigns, but is often good if you’re looking for a B2C ad campaign.
4. On the whole, users prefer to stay on Facebook rather than be directed to external websites, so it’s a good idea to ensure your Facebook page is up to a high standard.
We’re very familiar with both Google PPC, Facebook PPC and online advertising generally, so if you’d like to find out more or discover which option is best for you then get in touch with one of the Codastar team today as we’d be happy to help.
[Image via Sean MacEntee’s Flickr]
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