Google and Facebook are obviously the top contenders for your internet marketing ad budget. As the top search engine, Google sees 3.5 billion searches every day. Facebook, on the other hand, has 1.5 billion active users around the world. However you cut it, that’s just a lot of people out there who may be looking for what you have to offer.
What’s the Difference?
For many years, businesses thought they had to choose between Facebook and Google. In reality, each of these channels is different and plays a unique role in an advertising plan. In a nutshell, Google’s AdWords helps businesses find new customers and Facebook ads help potential clients find your business.
Google allows you to advertise on either its search channel or its display channel. The first requires companies to create quality ads and bid on keywords that are relevant and optimized to a particular person’s internet search. The latter is really about building brand awareness through a blanketed banner display ad campaign.
Facebook, on the other hand, allows advertisers to create ideal customer profiles called lookalike audiences. The platform can then match traits of this ideal audience to Facebook users’ stated and shared traits to help you reach those targeted, ideal customers.
Cost and Returns
As you weigh what to do with your Las Vegas internet marketing ad dollars, you may want to understand the cost per click and the return that both Google and Facebook offer.
Google AdWords has an average CPC of $2.69, but can vary between $1.16 per click to $6.75 per click depending on your industry. Facebook advertisers, on the other hand, pay about 45 cents per click on the low end to $3.77 per click on the high end.
In order to evaluate your return on investment, you have to look at the cost per action, which measures the conversion to sales. Facebook advertisements on average cost about $18.50 per action while Google has an average CPA of nearly $49 for search channels and about $75.50 for display channels.
How Do You Choose?
If your business wants to increase sales quickly, Google may be the best choice. Think of Google sitting at the bottom of your sales funnel. However, if you’re working on establishing brand marketing and recognition, Facebook may be better. This platform is the one sitting at the top of your sales funnel.
Although both platforms can serve both business-to-business and business-to-consumer, Google may be a better fit for the former and Facebook for the latter. Facebook is the hands-down winner if you’ve got a very specific target audience; the platform can find a lookalike audience that closely matches your perfect prospect
