When it comes to paid advertising online, there are two main options for you to choose from – Google Ads and Facebook Ads. These two have been viewed as rivals for as long as people can remember that it is somewhat impossible for some to view both paid ad options as working in conjunction with one another. It became a difficult decision for some businesses to choose between Google and Facebook for their paid ad needs that it did not occur to them to simply advertise on both.
Now, while I do advocate using both for your online advertising needs, I think it is imperative that I do my due diligence in showing you the pros and cons of both advertising platforms. This is to show you that each one has their upsides and downsides. Let’s start with Google Ads.
Google Ads (formerly known as Google Adwords) is the older paid advertising platform of the two, having been around since 2000. It has a number of tools that you can use to help measure the progress of your campaigns and can immediately show on search engine results pages as soon as you activate it. You have control over how much each click will cost and how much money your ads can use every single day. It also allows you to choose where your ads will show in the world, when it will show, and what keywords it should not show for.
Google Ads can be shown in a few ways as well, with options such as Display Network, Search Network, and Video allowing you to control where your ads will appear. These can help you target specific audiences with the ads that you create, which also allows you to create more targeted ads for audiences that you know will be utilizing these many different platforms used online. This allows you to generate more income from your ads due to targeting.
Of course, as with everything else in this world, this paid advertising platform has its negative side. For instance, before your ad can run, there is a bit of work to be done when it comes to setting up your ads. There are keywords that you need to choose from, ad copy you need to fine tune to fit the keywords that you choose, costs per click for each ad, and so on. You also need to be very careful when setting up your ads because a single mistake in setting things up and even in tweaking your ads can become rather costly.
Other downsides to Google Ads include the limitations you have with the length of your ad, the possibility of high costs per click due to your competition, and the limitations set for each advertising type. You will also need to know how to read the reports that you get from your ads in order to effectively manage and utilize these paid ads.
Now on to Facebook Ads. These were introduced to the public in 2007. It has similar Pros as Google Ads, like targeting options, control over how much each click will cost, and the ability to reach an audience of millions. Those who love Facebook Ads over Google Ads point out that setting ads up in this social networking platform is easier than setting up ads on its competitor. They also point out that targeting options are more defined on Facebook, with options for interests, income bracket, regions, age, and other demographics being available.
Facebook Ads also allow you to utilize images as well as videos to capture the attention of your target market, unlike Google Ads which uses only word ads (although, this is discounting the ads that you can display on YouTube and other portals where videos and images can be used for this advertising platform). It has also been pointed out that your adspend on Facebook is lower than your adspend on Google simply because you don’t have to go chasing after really high bids for your ads, depending of course on what industry your business is in.
Facebook Ads is far from perfect however, since it does have a few flaws. For instance, it only shows on one platform, which is Facebook. You also cannot choose what time and when your ads will show, except if you decide to go for a lifetime budget, and it is a paid ad platform that is generally ideal for B2C (business to customer) advertising.
At the end of the day, deciding between the two is something you don’t really need to do. If you are serious about reaching as many people as possible with your ads and getting as much out of online ads as you possibly can, using both is your best bet. So if you ask me which one you should use for your online advertising needs, I would definitely suggest that you use both. As for how you can learn to use these two effectively, you can learn how to do so by attending seminars and classes that PTB Digital Training Hub holds every weekend.
