Google Ads vs. Facebook: Which Platform is Right for Your Marketing

Hmmm...Facebook or Google Ads? Which is the right one to choose? Both are extremely effective advertising platforms depending on your target audience and marketing needs. So let’s compare them.

Facebook Ads: Builds Awareness with a Large Audience

Facebook Ads are a great way to reach a large number of people quickly and easily. With more than 2 billion active users worldwide, there’s no shortage of potential customers who might be interested in your product or service—and with detailed audience targeting capabilities, such as interest-based targeting, age/gender targeting, location targeting, etc., you can ensure that only those people who would be interested in what you’re offering will see your ad. Additionally, Facebook ads tend to be much cheaper than Google Ads; depending on the type of ad campaign you’re running (promotional vs brand awareness), you could pay as little as $0.50 per click.

However, while Facebook offers detailed audience targeting capabilities, it does not offer keyword-based targeting like Google does; this means that if someone searches for something specific on Google but doesn’t search for it on Facebook (or any other social media platform), then they likely won’t see your ad. Additionally, since most people don't use Facebook with their wallets open (as opposed to Google), conversions may come slower than with other platforms—so if time is an issue then Facebook ads may not be the best option.

Google Ads: Narrowly Targets Ready-to-Buy Prospects

Google Ads is a great tool for reaching potential customers who are actively searching for what you offer. The benefit here is that when people search with Google, they typically have their wallets open and are ready to buy—so this can lead to higher conversion rates than other platforms. To use some marketing lingo, these are low-funnel prospects- audiences that are near to making a purchase.

Additionally, Google Ads allows you to target specific keywords or phrases related to your product or service, meaning that only customers who are interested in what you offer will see your ads. You also have control over the budget and bids for each ad campaign; this allows you to customize your spending plan according to what works best for your business.

Here are some considerations for using Google Ads. If there are few searches happening for your product or service, then a Google Ads campaign won’t work very well. On the other hand, if what you’re advertising is highly searched (like car insurance), the cost-per-click may be unaffordable. For example, the term “car insurance quotes” costs nearly $25 per click!

Choosing between Google Ads and Facebook Ads ultimately depends on what type of marketing campaign goals you have. And frankly, you may want to use both because they can complement one another. Facebook builds awareness among early-stage prospects while Google Ads closes the deal with ready-to-buy prospects.

This post was written by John Walker, Principal at J. Walker Marketing, a marketing consultancy. Contact John directly to discuss your marketing challenges.