There’s been a lot of talk lately about whether companies should advertise using Facebook ads or Google ads. I think that, as with any marketing or advertising decision, it depends. It depends on who you’re trying to reach with what message and what marketing objective.
Lots of Eyeballs
Facebook has a lot of people spending a great deal of time on their site (I think the average is 10-12 minutes, which is unheard of in the web world). All those eyeballs are really enticing to companies who want to reach people where they’re spending a lot of time (which used to be tv or radio or print). Google has a lot of visitors too, but most people move on pretty quickly to whatever sites they’re searching for.
In the Hunt
People who are using Google to search for something are clearly looking for something right that moment. The reason Google’s ads work well is because they’re targeted right at those people with ads that help that process.
Personal Recommendations
We’re social beings who trust those who we know. We’re much more likely to purchase something that someone we know recommends. This is the onus behind having ads on Facebook, but they’re still not quite to the point of recommendations. Sure you can vote ads up and down, but most people don’t bother. To harness the power of personal recommendations, Facebook needs to figure out how to get people involved in making the advertising and recommendation decisions.
Targeting
There’s some debate as to whether Facebook or Google offers better targeting. Both offer the ability to target ads based on geographic location and keywords, but Facebook knows who people are and so can do a bit more demographic targeting. Whether this increased targeting pays off in the long run has yet to be seen.
Ads Ignored
Ads on Facebook always appear in the same place on the page, similar to other websites, which means they are pretty easily ignored. Visitors to Facebook are there to network and communicate with their family and friends, not to look for new products or services.
Marketing Objective
Based on the above differences, I think where to advertise really depends on your marketing objective. Facebook seems like it would have better branding opportunities since the audience is on the site for much longer. Google is reaching people when they’re further down the sales funnel and are actively looking for something, making sales and conversion objectives much more attractive. Several PR people I’ve spoken to here in Detroit have reported similar findings: while its easier to target on Facebook and you may get higher click-throughs, the conversions are much lower because of where those people are in terms of actually looking for something.
What’s your experience with Google vs. Facebook ads?
(photo by mborowick @ Flickr CC)
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