Google Ads Vs. Facebook Ads

There are two digital ad giants in this world.

One is Google and the other one is Facebook.

Many people see this as two places where online advertising can be done.

And many people put them into the same bucket of “paid ads”.

But both these platforms have a very big difference.

And that’s what we are going to understand today.

Google is a search engine.

People search for things.

They are looking for a solution to their problem.

They are either looking for information, news, entertainment, product or a service.

Here when we place an ad, we are meeting our potential customers half way.

It is like someone walking into a store and asking for something specific.

Since they are looking for us, and we are looking for them, the conversions are usually good.

Sometimes as much as 10% of the leads coming from Google Ads can convert into customers.

Google doesn’t know who these people are as much as Facebook.

But since they search for specific keywords, they can be anyone and it doesn’t matter.

The search term and the ad will match – because the keywords are showing purchase intent.

Whether a 25 year old guy is searching or a 65 year old grandma is searching, it wouldn’t matter.

If we advertise what they are searching for, they will convert.

However, Facebook ads is very different.

People do not login into Facebook to buy something.

They are there to check out what their friends and family or upto.

So here we can advertise – but we cannot sell something directly.

If a person is walking into a store and asking for something, selling is not a problem. They want to hear a sales pitch and they want to buy.

However, if the same person is hanging out in a restaurant with their friends and if you go and sell them something, then they will not be happy.

That’s why many people who try to sell something on Facebook directly fail miserably.

They complain that Facebook doesn’t convert.

Of course it will not convert, if you sell directly.

Facebook is a great place to get people interested in your brand.

You can build a relationship with them, and then you can sell later.

I advertise my free digital marketing course on Facebook.

It is an offer that attracts attention.

People subscribe to my course, see the value from the free videos and eventually some of them become my paying customers.

However, I can get paying customers immediately using Google Ads.

If someone is looking for a digital marketing course and if I am listing my landing page on the ads, then there is a high chance for conversion.

However, the cost will also be higher. Because more people are competing to reach people with immediate buying intention.

Reaching people on Facebook is cheap… because not many advertisers are interested in reaching people who don’t have a buying intent.

That’s why the conversions are low from Facebook.

However, it is a great place to build a brand and get known to people.

It just takes longer to convert people into customers.

I am ok with that.

In the past 2 years, I have spent $54,918.34 on Facebook Ads.

I wouldn’t have spent that much if I had not made the money back.

But I always have.

I still spent around $5000 – $6000 on FB ads every month.

I have the confidence that in the long run, I will get a good return from this spend.

Because I generate leads, build a relationship with them using free content, and then I introduce them to my products.

Google ads has become too costly for most businesses because of heavy competition.

Everyone wants customers immediately.

They do not have the patience to build a brand and a relationship with customers.

That’s why they advertise on Google.

If you advertise on Facebook, you won’t get customers immediately.

Sometimes you have to wait for several weeks before you start seeing the conversions.

But it is ok.

If you have patience, you will get leads at low cost.

You will also build a brand that is well known.

So Google Ads vs. Facebook Ads…

I prefer Facebook Ads for branding.

I prefer Google ads for getting customers fast.

I hope this post helped you understand the difference between ads from the two big internet giants.

One is inbound (Google Ads)

One is outbound. (Facebook or any display ad).

If you have any questions, comment below.

Cheers,
Deepak Kanakaraju