As a marketer, you must have come across this question.

Facebook Ads or Google Ads?

This question comes from people who don’t have much knowledge about both Ad platforms and probably new to digital marketing. (Yeah…clients most of the times)

So, what’s the answer?

Google ads vs Facebook ads

Nothing. Rather than asking which is the best you should ask…

Which is the best option for my business? 

Why the change of question?

Cause, there is no similarity between the two platforms other than you can run Ads and reach to more people.

First, you need to understand what is the difference between the two to get the proper answer.

So, let’s explore the major differences between Google Ads and Facebook Ads.

Google Ads is the most popular Ad platform. Which is largely known for Search Ads.  

Facebook is the most popular social network in the world which offers Social Ads.  Facebook reported almost 1.79 billion daily active users in 2020 second quarter.

When we say Facebook we can not ignore Instagram at all. Both of them goes hand in hand. 

If you are running Ads on Facebook It’s a rare case if you are not also running the same ads on Instagram.

Google Ads has more advanced features compared to Facebook Ads. It’s a little complicated due to those features. 

Facebook is relatively very simple. Yes, there are some loopholes too. But, it’s okay.

Google offers way more advanced targeting options which give advertisers full control over their customer journey.

Facebook has very easy interest-based targeting. Although they are improving it very fast. Options like Custom Audience, Lookalike Audience and more other features are available for advertisers to utilise. They are very popular actually.

The main difference is the types of Ads they offer and how they work.

Both platforms have different Ad types. Although somewhat similar the difference is huge when you run Ads. 

Google is the best PPC advertising platform in the world. It’s a pay per click module also known as Search Ads. Where you are charged only for when someone clicks on your ads. 

Google PPC is keyword-based Ads. Where you target people based on what they are searching for.

Facebook is known for its lead generation Facebook Form Ads. Facebook has huge audiences of interested people who engage with content based on their interests. 

Facebook Ads are Interest focused ads. You target people based on interests.

If you are still with me then you must know now that there is no comparison between Facebook Ads and Google Ads cause both of them provides totally different things

So, the next question comes…

How Can I know which is best for my business?

Now, this is the main thing and the most important part you should know. 

I have created 5 factors which you should look at to choose the best platform for your business.

If you know these 5 factors and properly understand them then you can decide the best platform for your own business. Or you can easily answer your clients evergreen question Facebook Ads or Google Ads where should I use my marketing budget?

Without further ado let’s look into those 5 factors.

Note: All 5 of them are interrelated. They are connected with each other you can’t make the decision based on only one of them.

1) Initial cost (Marketing Budget)

How much can you spend on the Ads to sell your product or service? 

You must know how much you are going to spend on Ads whether Search or social. Let’s check the cost difference between Facebook Ads and Google Ads.

Suppose you want to run Ads what thing you will need?

If you want to run Google Ads then you will need a website or a landing page for sure. A landing page is recommended to get the most out of the Ads (more ROI). 

If you are just starting then you might not a website. So, the first thing you need to invest in is a website. 

Suppose you just want to run ads and you decide to create a landing page only. Still, you won’t get it for FREE.

As for the Facebook Ads, all you need is an Image Ad or Video Ad and a Facebook page which Free to setup. You can run lead generation Ads which uses Facebook forms.

So, the initial cost to run Ads on Facebook or Google is different. If you are low on the budget then Facebook is a better option. But, that does not mean you should go with Facebook just because of your low budget. 

There are other important factors which will discuss next.

If you need help regarding website or lading page let me know.

2) Product/Service Type

The type of product/service you are selling is also a deciding factor. The first thing you need to know is…

Are people searching for your product? If yes how many?

If your product is well known and lots of people search for it you should consider Google Ads cause people searching for those products are most likely to buy.

Is your product new??

If your product is new and no one knows about it. Then no ones gonna search for it. The better way is to show your product to those who are interested in a similar product. 

Suppose you are doing a webinar on something. Do you think people know about your webinar and going to search for it in Google? No obviously not. It that case it’s good to go with Facebook.

Google youtube ads are also an option. But, it depends on the budget(1st point). Do you have a website? Do you have a landing page? 

Are you ready to invest in those two? 

Depending on your answer you will know which is the best for you.

3) Customer journey stage

If you want more sales and leads then you are most likely to target people who are in the decision phase.

In short, people who are searching for your product/service.

In that case, you should invest more on Google Ads. More specifically Search Ads. 

But, if they are in the Awernase stage or Consideration stage then Facebook Ads is a better option for you.

You can also consider Google Display ads or Youtube Ads. But, same it depends on your budget. Facebook is a cheaper option.

4) Goals

Yup, you need to consider your advertising goals too. This is also a very important factor which directly affects your ROI.

Suppose your goal is more sales and people are constantly searching for products you provide or similar products then Google Search Ads is the best option.

But, If your goal is brand recognition or brand awareness then the Facebook Ads is the better choice.

This also depends on your budget. If you want to go crazy with brand awareness I would suggest both. Run, Facebook Ads as well as Google Ads.

No matter what your goals are both the platforms have their unique Ad types for you. It’s just the matter of the other factors which we discussed.

5) ROI

Now the most important factor. ROI (Return on Investment)

Which gives the best ROI??

You can’t say this for sure until you do the testing on both the platform. Facebook is known for its cheap Ad cost and relatively high ROI.

But, that doesn’t mean Google is bad. Getting more ROI from Facebook depends on many other factors which we discussed above. 

The questions you should ask yourself for this are…

• How much are you willing to pay?
• What should be the Lead quality? 
• How fast people are converting?

Suppose you are running ads on both platforms. 

On Facebook, you are getting one lead per 50 INR. On Google, you are getting one lead per 150 INR. But, the lead quality is way better than Facebook. 

The Leads you are getting from Facebook are interested but not ready to pay for it. Meanwhile, leads from Google are those who are ready to pay and converting faster compared to the leads from Facebook.

So, you know that paying a higher amount for a lead is totally justified.

My Case Study:

As I have said in the starting I will show you one case study. Here’s it. I can’t share all the details as it’s not mine but one of my clients. I will try to show as much as I can.

Business: Car Customization and Interior Design.

Platform: Facebook, Youtube

Ad Types: Facebook Lead generation, Youtube Skippable (trueview)

Ad: Video Ad (51 Seconds)

Setup: 

Facebook: Basic Lead generation campaign with Facebook form.

Google: Custom Video Campaign with skippable video ads on youtube and linked with the main website. (No landing page) 

You can see both of the screenshots of Facebook and Google. This is only after two days so spending is quite low. We have spent almost the same amount on both of them.

Let’s talk about clicks. You can see that we got 370+ clicks on Facebook and only around 85 in Google from Youtubes.

Now, as for the leads if you do the calculation of Total Amount spent divide by Cost per lead you will get the number in our case it’s 17 so we got 17 leads from Facebook. 

On Google, we got 15 responses out of 86 clicks. As for the lead quality, it was similar. They were interested and some of them made small purchases that’s all. 

This is very early to make any decisions but I just wanted you to show the main difference in clicks and lead cost.

Conclusion

I hope this post cleared all the questions you might have about Facebook Ads vs Google Ads. It depends on the 5 factors we have discussed above. I still recommend you to use both of them in your marketing. The ultimate answer to this question is to do the testing. You need to test both of the platforms for your business to know which is the best for you.

What do you think? Which one is best? let me know your views in the comments.

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