Many businesses are moving their budgets from Google Adwords to Facebook Ads. This migration is happening because Facebook Ads are delivering a much higher return on investment (ROI) for these businesses.
Google Ads is a great platform and will continue to be strong, but is is very expensive and smaller companies are struggling to find a return on their investment.
Enter Facebook Ads. The Facebook platform is much cheaper than Google for many industries. Businesses can often find it quicker and less expensive to generate a higher quantity of leads on Facebook. Because of this companies are seeing a high ROI for their Facebook Ads spend.
Should you move your budget from Google Ads to Facebook Ads like many of these firms?
Before you make a decision let me explain the fundamental differences between the two platforms which may influence your decision.
Google Uses Intent Based Marketing
When someone goes to Google.com and enters a search term for say
“Dentist in Sydney” there is a high chance they’re looking to make an appointment with a dentist in Sydney.
If you’re a dentist in Sydney, you can show your ad on the Google platform to anyone who types in those keywords. Google can perfectly match businesses and consumers at the point users need services and products.
This matching is the power of the Google AdWords platform, and it’s what turned Google into a billion dollar company many years ago.
This approach is known as intent based marketing. The prospects intend to use a service, so they go out looking for it. Google matches the right business with the prospects at the point of intent.
Facebook Uses Interruption Based Marketing
Facebook, on the other hand, takes an interruption based approach. People use the Facebook platform not to search for products or services but to connect with friends, be entertained, maybe get educated and generally to have a little fun.
When you show an ad to a person on Facebook, you’re interrupting what they are doing. They don’t intend to see your ad. This may seem like a bad approach, but it works well, because of the targeting that Facebook provides.
Facebook know 100s of pieces of information about every user on its platform. As a marketer, you can target your perfect prospect by information such as location, gender, age, income, number of children and their ages, if they are likely to be looking to buy a car, if they have a mortgage and many other data point.
Because you can target your ad specifically to people who are very likely to be interested in your product or service, the response from these users can be very positive. In fact, if done well, Facebook ad campaigns can generate 100s if not 1000s of new leads for business which they can convert into new clients right on the platform.
Facebook Is More Complicated Than Google Ads
Being successful using Facebook Ads is not as straight forward as Google Ads. When using Google Ads, you write your ad and then nominate the keywords for which it should show.
On Facebook, you need a strategy. Because you’re interrupting a user, you need to create a well thought out plan to:
- Spark their interest in your product or service
- Educate them on the pros and cons of your product or service
- Convert them into a paying client
I know it looks very complicated, but if done well, you will pay less for leads, and you will make more sales using Facebook Ads.
Will Facebook Ads work for all businesses?
Facebook Ads will work for most businesses. There are a few that don’t suit Facebook Ads as well as others, but generally speaking if you have the right strategy it will work.
An example of a company that will benefit more from Google Ads than Facebook Ads are plumbers who have a 24-hour service.
If a person has a blocked drain, they want the solution instantly. So they go to Google type in some keywords and go with the closest and easiest business to call.
Interrupting them on Facebook about fixing their blocked drain is not going to work in this case for many obvious reasons.
Conclusion
Google Adwords and Facebook Ads both have their place. Facebook Ads are currently getting better results than Google Ads for many businesses at the moment.
My experience is that most companies can generate a higher number of leads and sales at cheaper rates in a shorter amount of time on Facebook than any other platform.
Let me know in the comments below how you balance your Google Adwords and Facebook Ads budgets.
