Google Ads OR Meta Ads OR LinkedIn Ads – Which One Should Be Your Choice for Successful Business?

We call it fate for meeting the right people at the right time. But in the digital marketing world, it is called paid advertising — connecting businesses with the right audience at the right moment.

While platforms for paid ads are diverse ranging from social media networks, websites to search engines and apps, each offers something specific. Top platforms — Google, LinkedIn and Facebook, are extremely popular when it comes to paid advertisements.

But which among the three is your ideal choice? Let’s dig in deeper into them and learn which one steals the spot for your business to grow.

Google Ads

Some consider it to be the king of advertising. Google being the dominating search engine platform, businesses can tap in the massive reach that it has to offer and drive the desired growth.

It offers to run PPC (pay per click) advertisements and with that you can display them at the top of Google's search results. But that is not all, its extensive network also includes Google properties like YouTube and Gmail and the Google Display Network (GDN). GDN comprises millions of apps, websites and videos, where ads can appear.

With its PPC ad model, users just have to pay only when someone clicks on the ad. This makes it a flexible platform no matter the size of the business. Businesses have freedom over setting their budgets and bids in order to increase their ROI.

The following ad types are supported in this platform —

• Search Ads
• Display Ads
• Video Ads
• Shopping Ads
• App Ads

It really is a good deal to go with Google Ads if you don’t know how to get started with paid advertising as it is user-friendly.

Facebook Ads (Meta)

Social media platforms are great for reaching a wide audience and Facebook with its staggering 2.1 billion daily users, businesses can really drive the results. Facebook ads are targeted social advertisements that are displayed across Meta properties such as Facebook and Instagram.

The ads appear in the feeds of social media users when they browse the Meta apps. The ad display is pretty much like regular posts, however the word “Sponsored” appears below the profile name when the ads appear in the feed.

Facebook ads are known for its detailed targeting options that includes —

1. Demographics
2. Behavioural
3. Interest-based
4. Connection-based

To make things more powerful, Instagram integration serves the advertisers in more incredible ways. These are —

• Cross-platform targeting: No matter the users’ preferred platform, businesses can reach a wider audience across both Facebook and Instagram. As a result, achieve efficiency in your ad campaign.
• Unified AD management: One place from where you can create, track and manage your ads on Facebook and Instagram.
• Cohesive branding across platforms: Maintains cohesive messaging through your ads and leads to develop stronger brand recognition.

Facebook ads are a great choice for any business.

LinkedIn Ads

Over 1 billion members from around the world can be found on LinkedIn. A platform dedicated for professionals, it has proven to be a great option especially for B2B marketing.

As a matter of fact, 93% content marketers for the B2B sector opt for LinkedIn for organic social marketing. It greatly favours advertising informational content that is specific to your industry.

Whether it is getting more visibility or finding more leads, LinkedIn ads are a great way to reach your desired business goals. Like the other two paid advertisement platforms like Google and Facebook, LinkedIn doesn’t fall behind in supporting different types of ads.

• Sponsored content: Ads that appear with a “Sponsored” tag and appear like normal posts in the users’ feeds.
• Text ads: These are the ads that appear on the side of the LinkedIn’s page.
• Message ads: This is for sending direct advertising to the sender’s inbox. It takes the form of conversational ads that come with the CTA.
• Dynamic ads: Meant for making more personalised where you can add your photo, job title and work.
• Lead generation forms: These are forms that will automatically fill with your LinkedIn information, intended for making sign ups easy.

To get started on LinkedIn ads, you need a minimum $10 budget for any ad format you choose.

Google vs Meta vs LinkedIn

While all three platforms have their own set of unique perks of running paid advertisements, we have compared them based on three key parameters. These are —

1. Targeting

If you want to run ads for specific products or services, Google ads gives you the best features. So, to say that running an intent-driven campaign can be great with this platform. With Google Display Network, businesses can expand the reach with interest-based and remarketing campaigns.

Facebook ads have detailed targeting, as the platform excels in granular audience segmentation. It gives the advertisers the freedom to target users depending on options such as demographics, interests, behaviours, etc. making it a great platform for B2C campaigns.

LinkedIn is more preferred for B2B marketing. With its detailed filters for professionals such as industry, job title, company size, etc. advertisers have the ease to target the decision-makers and industry-specific professionals.

2. Ad Formats

Compared to Facebook and LinkedIn, Google Ads offer the most diverse range of ad formats. These include text ads, video ads and many more. With versatile options available, advertisers get the perk of achieving direct conversions and brand awareness.

For those who want to do something creative, Facebook Ads work the best as it is a visual-centric ad platform that has the format options of image ads, carousel ads, interactive formats like polls and Q/A. Advertisers gain increased engagement with this ad platform especially across Instagram.

LinkedIn ads are focused on professional engagement formats with options like sponsored content, text ads and more. With these formats, businesses are able to develop stronger connections and achieve lead generation in professional networks.

3. Cost

In comparison to other two platforms, LinkedIn Ads has the highest cost-per-click (CPC) model. While the cost is higher, the results deriving from it in terms of leads can be worth the investment.

Both Google and Facebook provide lower CPC. But compared to three, Facebook ads are the cheapest, however, it requires thorough targeting efforts to drive results.

Nevertheless, it can be concluded by saying that all three platforms have something good to offer. It all comes down to the matter of your advertising goals and budget you have to invest.

So, which ad platform is your preferred choice? Let us know in the comments.