There’s a lot to like about Facebook PPC advertising. And there’s certainly been plenty written about it recently (including on this blog) and how it’s a great paid advertising option for marketers.
It’s easy to get caught up in all the excitement (and hype) around Facebook PPC. But with headlines out there touting that Facebook PPC is better than Google AdWords, a reality check is in order.
While Facebook PPC is definitely a great option, if you forced me to choose just one PPC platform to use, I’d select Google AdWords over Facebook in a heartbeat.
Here are the 3 main reasons why:
1. Mindset of your prospects.
People are on Facebook to socialize – not because they’re looking for something to buy.
People are on Google actively searching for information because of a need, desire or itch they need to scratch. When they see your ad and it speaks to the need, desire or itch they’re looking to address, you’ve got a very motivated prospect headed your way. (Especially when their keyword is a specific model/part number or has the word “buy” in it.)
While you can take people on Facebook out of their socializing mindset and get them to buy from you, I’d much rather have someone coming to me who is actively looking for what I have to offer.
2. Reach
There was a lot of buzz recently when numbers were released showing that Facebook got more pageviews than Google for the week ending March 19, 2010. That’s definitely a noteworthy event.
However, it’s important to understand that you still have a much bigger reach with Google AdWords. Why? Because your ads can appear not just on Google, but on Google’s search partners like AOL Search, Ask.com and others. Also you can tap into Google’s Content Network through AdWords which is made up of hundreds of thousands of websites that reach 80% of global internet users.
Throw in the fact that Google owns YouTube (which would be the #3 search engine in and of itself) and Facebook still has a long way to go before its advertisers can reach as many internet users as is possible with Google AdWords.
3. Flexibility and Features
Facebook PPC’s platform and feature set is still pretty basic (which, on the plus side, makes it much easier to understand and use than AdWords).
However, the feature set of the AdWords system is unparalleled and provides advertisers with more power and flexibility in their marketing campaigns. Here are a few of the features you can find in AdWords that you can’t replicate in Facebook PPC…
- You can choose from text, image or video ads.
- The reporting functions of AdWords lets you track, slice and dice the performance of your ads in more ways than you’ll know what to do with.
- AdWords lets you target prospects by keyword, demographics and/or website. (And add to that Google’s remarketing, just rolled out this week, that lets you serve ads to people anywhere on the content network based upon their browsing history or past visits to your website.)
- Google provides AdWords advertisers extremely powerful free tools like the Keyword Tool and Website Optimizer to help improve the performance of your campaigns.
- The ability to target specific devices like smartphones vs. laptop/desktops. In fact, you can even target smartphones by mobile carrier or device OS (ie. iPhone vs. Android vs. Palm).
- Heck, you can even create and manage an advertising campaign for TV on AdWords!
Whether Facebook PPC or Google AdWords is right for your business really comes down to your business and your advertising goals. There are certainly cases where Facebook is the better option, though it really shouldn’t be a one or the other proposition.
But with the advantages Google provides advertisers when it comes to prospect’s mindset, reach and the flexibility/features of AdWords, for most advertisers Google still reigns supreme in the land of PPC advertising.
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