Facebook x Google: Which one is better for advertising?

We all know that putting ads on the internet is a great way to reach out to prospects and to grow your brand's awareness, amongst other benefits such as making actual sales and so on. However, which platform should I use? Which one is better for my business? I have put together some information regarding two of the biggest advertisement tools that there are on the Internet nowadays: Google and Facebook. After all, are there differences between one another? And if so, which one suits my business the most? You’ll see that not only there are many differences, but also that each one has different benefits.

Main Similarities

Even though there are differences, we will start with similarities. This will help you understand that whatever your decision is, both platforms are worth investing in, and you will get a very good result from both.

• Both are huge networks with massive reach:

Facebook has approximately (as of May/2018) 1.6 billion active users;

Google has approximately 77% of global search volume (which is around 63k searches per second in any given day).

• Both networks allow geographic targeting to match the right person with an ad;

This means you'll be directing your ad to someone that has the ideal profile to consume your product, thus increasing your chances of selling.

• Both platforms only make money when the advertising they're putting out there is being engaged with;

This pricing system is also known as "Cost-Per-Click" or CPC. This structure encourages higher quality ads that resonate with users, which also means a higher competition, increasing the cost of an engagement as more advertisers bid for ad position.

• Both allow retargeting/remarketing;

If someone shows interest in purchasing your product or interacts with your brand somehow, it is possible to "chase" this person with ads inside these platforms. This person will see your product or brand for up to 60 days, and believe it or not, many people don't buy something straight away, rather than sitting on it and making a decision, and when this happens, your ad will be there steady to perform a sale.

With this in mind, know that both are good platforms and you can benefit a lot from both of them. However, if you take a closer look at the differences and analyze them, you’ll be able to have the most out of your ad campaign.

Main Differences

1. Google Adwords' targets users who demonstrate intent when they type into the Google search box or YouTube search box. Facebook has no such intent: It matches with user's interests when browsing.

The difference in intent means that the two networks differ in what kinds of business goals they’re best for. Facebook Ads are great for building brand awareness. Google AdWords is great for putting the product or service you offer in front of the user when he or she is looking for it. Google users are driven. Facebook users are browsing.

Google Adwords - Query Intent

Google AdWords users type their searches with purpose. Ads on AdWords use the person’s search term to create relevant advertisements that the person will likely click on. Where Facebook Ads test the waters for potential interest, Google AdWords ads are highly specific to an interest evident in the user’s search term.

Your query on Google has one of three types: Transaction, Informational, Navigational; Transaction queries have the highest conversion rates. Informational queries will always convert a bit less, and navigational is just there to open a specific website.

Google is much better than Facebook when it comes to the query intent. They can provide a solution to their users in the moment of searching.

Facebook Ads - Brand Awareness

Facebook Ads equip themselves with the incredible amounts of demographic data that Facebook compiles. This data bank means that Facebook Ads can find users that match your ideal user to a tee. Facebook’s demographic targeting options exceed Google’s.

Which means that: Facebook Ads can then serve advertisements to people who might not be searching for your product or service, but that you think might match your customer or client profile. These ads will let these people know that you exist and potentially open up future business opportunities.

You can target endless demographics such as age, gender, income, interests (likes and behaviour), relationship status, etc. For example, you can also hone in on specific interests by targeting all married females between 25 and 35 years who are frequent travelers. Or people who like specific pages like targeting “Best Stoves in the World” for a kitchenware store.

The extensive options mean that you can decide the reach of your ads.

2. Cost-Per-Click

Google AdWords is 11x more expensive than Facebook when you want to reach 1000 people, says Moz. The source suggests that Google will charge you $2.75 to reach 1000 users, and Facebook only $0.25.

Because Google AdWords capitalizes on obvious intent and Facebook Ads sort of guesses it, AdWords costs per click are generally higher. Lower CPCs doesn’t mean everything, and it’s important to keep track of the sales that Facebook is actually generating to determine whether it’s cheaper or more expensive than AdWords.

That being said, Facebook Ads are best used to generate awareness, increasing your audience sizes so that more people may search for you and your Google AdWords ad will be there.

So if you compare your AdWords conversion results, where people are actively looking for your offerings, to Facebook conversion results, where people might not even know you exist, expectations for Facebook Ads might be skewed.

Remember that Facebook Ads are good for getting people onto your site, signing up for your stuff, and learning about your business. A person instantly buying from his Facebook feed is rare indeed.

Conclusion

As you can see, both platforms should be used for your business, unless your ad campaign is willing to go in a different direction: Say you only want people to find your business when they’re looking for it (or Googling it), but you’re not willing to raise brand awareness on it, which would be the ideal case for a small and local business. However, I recommend you to always look for doing both, this way you can reach out to as much customers as you can, and keep a close and reliable relationship with them in order to keep them coming back.