In today’s era, finding a suitable advertising platform to have your business promoted is no easy task- especially when you are tight on budget. So, what should you do??? Don’t think about focusing on traditional advertising methods… they aren’t as effective as they used to be. The only option you got- that would work best one for any local businesses out there- is digital advertising.
Today’s blog post sheds light on two major players in the digital advertising landscape namely Google Ads and Facebook/Meta Ads. So, let’s get started…
Google Ads In A Nutshell…
Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) is the dominant player in the digital advertising landscape that allows advertisers to make the most of their online campaigns. If you opt for this platform, you get to place your ads across Google’s ecosystem including Search, YouTube, apps, Google partner sites, etc… The exposure your business will get- if you make up your mind to use this Ad network- is like no other. For example:
1 – Google holds an astonishing 28.8% share of the US online advertising business (as per a 2022 report).
2 – In 2022 alone, advertisers spent $224.47 billion on Google Ads. That’s huge…
3 – Advertisers made $8 for every $1 invested.
Google Ads- How Does It Work?
The interface Google Ads provide to run an online campaign is super easy to use. However, it would take more than just a blog post to describe each and every steps involved in the process. So, to save you time and make things easy we decided to keep things short and simple…
Step #1– First things first… to get started with Google Ads, you will need a Google Ads account- which by the way is very easy to create. Once you are done setting up your account, you have to set your bid for a set of keywords and participate in an automated auction. Decide the amount of money you are willing to spend on a pay-per-action ad format. Three primary bidding options you can choose from namely- Cost-per-click (CPC), cost-per-mille (CPM), and cost-per-engagement (CPE).
Step #2– Many believe that bidding the most amount guarantee ad placement in prime positions… which is a misconception. To determine the position, frequency, and timing of ad placement, Google Ad relies on an algorithm known as Ad Rank. In addition to the advertiser’s bid amount, Ad Rank relies on an array of different factors such as ad relevance, landing page experience, ad quality, etc… to decide ad placement position.
Step #3– In addition to searcher’s intent, Google Ads relies on an array of different factors including the targeted location to regulate ad placements. Once the campaign goal is achieved, Google will terminate the process unless you decides to continue. Successful execution of Google Ads campaign require extensive keyword research, landing page optimization, among other things. If you want to make the most of your Google Ads campaign, contact an experienced professional.
Facebook Ads Explained In Brief…
Being a Meta product, it has a huge audience reach. If you want your ad to be placed across Meta owned properties including Facebook and Instagram, Facebook Ads is the key. Slideshow, images, videos, carousels, collections, and instant experience ads are some of the ad formats you can make use of to generate quality leads and achieve the campaign goal. As a leading online advertising platform, Facebook Ads has the following noteworthy achievements;
1 – Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram are two dominant players with 11.9% and 9.1% (respectively) share of the US online advertising business.
2 – In 2023, Meta made $152 billion because of Facebook Ads.
3 – It has an audience reach of 1.98 billion. That’s really huge…
Facebook Ads- How Does It Work?
You don’t need to have extensive experience to successfully execute a Facebook Ads campaign. The application comes with a very easy-to-use interface- that anyone can use.
Step #1– As with the Google Ads, to get started with Facebook Ads you would need to set up a Facebook Ads Manager account. Once you are done setting up the account, you will have to choose your campaign objective and give your campaign a suitable name.
Step #2– You will need to select a specified ad category and optimize the campaign budget following A/B testing. Then you will have to set up the campaign budget and start bidding. The next steps are very simple… you will have to set up the audience type you want to target and choose between automatic and manual placements.
Step #3– The algorithm Facebook Ads relies on to manage ad placement is known as ‘total value’. Among other things, this algorithm takes bid amount, projected action rates, and ad quality into account for placement.
Why Choose Google Ads Over Facebook?
#1- Audience reach
Being the dominant player in the search engine market, Google processes almost all of searches done on the internet. Google’s market share of desktop search and mobile search are 82.74% and 95.16% respectively. And, it handles more than 40,000 search queries every second… isn’t it impressive??? On the contrary, being a social media platform Facebook only has 1.73 billion daily users… not even close to Google’s vast audience reach.
#2- Incredible ROI
In a report published by Google following a comprehensive study, it was claimed that advertisers made $8 for every $1 they spend on Google Ads platform. The platform analyzes searcher’s search intent and positions ad based on the settings and keywords inputted by the advertiser. The algorithm Google Ads make use of is very efficient and guarantees better ROI. Although Facebook Ads has a huge audience base, Google Ads clearly takes the lead when it comes to ROI.
#3- Generate purchase intent leads
As we’ve discussed earlier, Google Ads analyzes searcher’s search intent to display ads. Ads appear with respect to informational queries would be different from those appear with regard to transactional queries… or navigational queries for that matter. The objective (sales, lead, website traffic, awareness & consideration) you have selected for your campaign will also be detrimental in ad placement. ‘Remarketing’ feature of Google Ads can also help you generate more leads.
#4- Choose from a variety of ad formats
This is yet another field where Google Ads defeats Facebook Ads. Text ads, image ads, video ads, shopping ads, call-only ads, responsive search and display ads are some of the ad formats that you get to choose from to make the most out of your campaign. Responsive Ads can craft impressive ads (using AI) based on the assets uploaded by the advertiser.
Why Choose Facebook Ads Over Google?
#1- It is cost-effective
Running an ad campaign on Facebook Ads is cheap as compared to Google Ads… And guess what??? Even if Facebook Ads don’t target based on search intent, it offers the advertiser a great exposure and promises maximum clicks. This is one field where Google Ads lags behind Facebook Ads.
#2- Demographic data
Being a social medial platform, Facebook Ads poses vast amounts of data… literally everything user share on the platform including age, sex, and location. If you opt for Facebook Ads, you get the chance of leveraging this data set to make the most out of your ad campaign.
#3- The ‘Retargeting’ feature
As with the Google Ads ‘Remarketing’ feature, Facebook Ads ‘Retargeting’ element allow advertisers to remarket a product or service to those who have expressed interest in it. This feature is very helpful in generating quality leads that convert. With the proper use of this feature you can expect multi-fold growth.
Concluding Remarks
So, there you have it… a few points for both of the two dominant players in digital advertising landscape. No matter which platform you choose, we hope your experience is a positive & successful one!
