GSD 201: Google Ads vs. Facebook Ads. Which One Is Better?

Welcome to today’s GSD Daily. We’re going to talk about Facebook Ads, more specifically Facebook Ads versus Google Ads, and where they work, where they don’t work, what is different about them, and all of that fun stuff.

In talking with a lot of clients and folks all over the world, generally, agencies have one preferred method, Google or Facebook, and they tend not to be the same. To us, advertising is advertising, and if you understand the differences between them, then it makes a lot of sense. And there’s sometimes you use Google and sometimes you use Facebook, and sometimes you use both.

Let’s start by first talking about Facebook versus Google. So Facebook is an interruption medium. You are on Facebook, you’re on your phone, scrolling through your phone, looking at cat videos and all kinds of other weird shit, or your kids’ pictures, your grandkid, whatever. You’re on Facebook because you’re there for family, you’re there for social, and you’re there for all of the things that social media is. You’re not necessarily on there to be advertised to, yet Facebook makes its money advertising to you. And it does that by knowing what you like and what you dislike.

So Facebook Ads at the core of what they do, it’s an interruption-based ad platform. They know who you are, they know what you like, and they know that if they interrupt you with a video or an image, then you’re going to do something. You’re going to take action, and that’s how it makes its money. So being in this Christmas time right now, I’ve been interrupted by lots of gifts for my wife and my son that are showing up at the doorstep yesterday and today because Facebook knows what I like, Facebook knows what I talk about, Facebook knows what I watch, what I click on. It knows all that about me. So it’s interrupting me into Christmas gifts for my family.

Now Google, on the other hand, knows me, yes, but what they know better is what I’m typing into Google. They are search based, the primary ads that you run on Google or PPC, or search-based ads, contextual ads. So it knows what I’m typing into Google, which triggers the ads to pop up. So if I type sell my house fast for cash, then it knows that I’m looking to sell my house, and then the ads that pop up are going to be the specific ads that the advertisers have the keyword triggered for. So that’s the difference. It’s search-based, not interruption-based.

Google being search-based means that when it shows a solution, that solution will likely be a solution for the searcher’s problem, or else the advertiser wouldn’t be paying for that particular keyword phrase. So that’s the intrinsic promise of Google, which is that the person who is typing into Google has a problem and you are going to be solving it. You’re just showing your ad above the organic listings on that same page so that you can solve it for them so that you can appear higher than the organic listings. That’s it, search-based versus interruption based.

Now, ideally, advertisers tackle both. They have both Google campaigns and Facebook campaigns. The type of person in terms of demographics, all of demographic, psychographics, all that stuff. The type of person is largely the same on Google and Facebook. Their intent is different. Search based on Google and interruption based on Facebook.

You have to ask yourself a question, is my product or service or offer, is it the kind of thing that can be interrupted by somebody purchasing it or does somebody have to be searching for it? And the answer a lot of times is that, no, this is something that has to be searched for. Or you need a clever hook, a clever angle to be interrupted into it. Either way, every campaign, and every company are a little bit different. If it’s a B2B audience, then we tend to go Google with Facebook retargeting. It’ll be like Google and LinkedIn is primary.

LinkedIn is also interruption-based, but it gives you a lot more professional demographic, and professional interest in things that you can target. So that makes a little bit more sense professionally. But if it’s a B2B audience, usually LinkedIn and Google for cold traffic, Facebook and Instagram for retargeted traffic. If it’s a consumer, then it will be a lot of times Google, Facebook, and Instagram for cold traffic. And then retargeting on those platforms too. Then we leave LinkedIn out of it. It just depends on your offer, it depends on your business.

So if you have any questions about Facebook Ads versus Google Ads, leave your questions in the comments below. If you would like to set up a call to walk through your inbound marketing funnel, your inbound marketing strategy, your sales funnel, and your paid traffic strategy, just go to doneforyou.com/start. And if you just like this kind of stuff and you would like to get tools, tips, and techniques, all into your email inbox, go to doneforyou.com/gsd and we’ll get you taken care of. And that’s it. So if you like this video, make sure to subscribe and like it. If you have questions, comment below and I’ll talk to you soon. All right. Thanks. Bye.