Google Vs Facebook Ads – Which One Gives The Best ROI?

Two strong contenders, both with powerful ad platforms, Google and Facebook are the top choices for advertisers across the globe. But what if you have one platform to choose, a limited budget to spend and a client who needs answers? How do you justify your choice of platform as to whether Google or Facebook is better for a business? We’re going to tell you in this blog.

Before we start with what’s the difference between the two, let’s understand both of them and see what their advantages are.

Google

Founded in 1998 as a search engine, Google has now grown to an internet giant that receives over 3.5 billion searches every day, with hundreds of billions of websites crawled and part of its search algorithm.

Being one of the top internet platforms, it’s justified that Google also has one of the most powerful advertising platforms as well. Google Ads, formerly Google AdWords, is one of the world’s largest advertising platform that leads pay per click ads for marketers across the globe. With six ad types in its belt including search, banner and video ads, Google has taken over the world’s PPC advertising mediums and remains one of the best in business.

One of the most popular ad mediums on Google is its search ads. With a 91% click-through rate (CTR), it’s a popular platform among advertisers and users alike. 63% of people say they would click on a Google search ad, while 55% of them prefer the network’s text ads over banners. These stats naturally make Google a popular choice among advertisers. But Facebook isn’t far behind.

Facebook

Being one of the world’s top social media platforms with over 2.45 billion monthly active users, Facebook has an advertising solution for everyone. From brand awareness to consideration and conversion, Facebook’s ads are a good option for advertisers to reach people if they also want to engage and communicate with them.

Facebook ads have been known to change consumer behaviour patterns with their smart ad techniques and targeting options. While Google surely has a much vaster targeting platform, Facebook wins the game with its Instagram and other popular placement options.

Both the platforms have their own unique advantages, but one of the biggest is the fact that each uses consumer search and behaviour patterns to aide advertisers in their efforts.

Data on Facebook

Facebook is a social media platform that has always advertised itself as the community building app where you can stay connected to your loved ones. So naturally, once a user starts using the app, they also start sharing snippets of their daily lives with their friends. Be it photographs, locations, memories, anything.

This data is then collected by Facebook to understand the user and their behaviour so that they can be served with ads that can provide them with the best value. Invasive? Yes, but all social and digital platforms are known for that. Even if you leave Facebook, you will still be in their radar due to the audience network websites they partner with. Thus, if you type a search query on Google and visit a Facebook partner website or app, your data will still be recorded to customize your experience on both Facebook and Instagram.

Google’s Data Source

Google’s data source comes from your search queries. Whether you’re searching for a restaurant nearby, a movie you want to watch, information on particular history, or simply music or interest-based searches on YouTube, your data is being collected as you type.

Your search queries define your personality to Google and remember how we mentioned the network having billions of sites as part of its partner network? Whatever pages you visit in those sites or the content you consume, your behaviour is recorded to give advertisers access to the information that can help them reach customers through a more unique, personalized approach.

What’s the difference?

So considering how Google and Facebook both have their ways to collect data and customize an advertiser and user’s experience, how are they different and what type of ads should you run on both?

The answer depends, but to be concise, Google is known for its lead conversion capabilities, while Facebook is known to increase brand outreach and awareness among markets.

Google ads provide you with the opportunity to target people based on the keywords they’re searching, giving you the ability to create pinpoint targeting and reach the user exactly when they are looking for a solution to their problem.

For example, if you’re searching for dress shoes to buy at a low price, you’ll type a query on Google and all relevant search ads and queries will pop up. Because you are searching intending to purchase the product, you will automatically click the advertiser’s ad rather than an organic search query, and if you like the product – the deal is done!

Then there are video and Google Display Network ads that let you create audio-visual and visual experiences for your customers to convert them into buyers. Convenient, right?

But the catch here is that Google doesn’t give you much room to engage with your customers as Facebook does. The platform sells connectivity among communities and thus, its ads are also known for their engaging qualities and options. You can like, comment, share or message a business easily, building a community with your favourite brands or with your most loyal buyers.

And with a few integration setups, Facebook can create a 360-degree brand strategy where you can stay on top of your buyer’s recall through Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, and FB’s Audience Network apps and sites.

So to sum this discussion up, we’d say that Google is more beneficial for conversions, while Facebook can help you build a community for your brand through awareness and engagement.

Both platforms also offer automated tracking tools and audience retargeting options to make sure you know the step by step way your buyers make their purchase decisions.

But which one will increase my ROI?

Determining your ROI through marketing channels may be tricky, but not as much as it was when print and OTH marketing strategies were a thing. Now, you can easily determine which platform’s bringing you the best results by creating a 360-degree campaign that covers multiple platforms. But if you have a limited budget, its best to take a look at your objectives before determining which platform will impact ROI.

As discussed, Facebook is a great platform to engage with your audience, and thus, if you want to build a community and spread awareness through word of mouth or viral reach, chose Facebook. However, if your focus is to convert customers as fast as possible without getting stuck in conversations that lead to nowhere, Google is your tool.

As a business owner or client servicing executive, one needs to make hard choices to go for the platforms that offer the best results. In my experience, both Facebook and Google have worked very well in generating leads and awareness for my clients. But which one to choose?

Let’s say you have a B2C food brand which needs customer engagement and a human approach in marketing. You’ll choose Facebook. With your colourful creative and videos, you can easily grab attention through this medium and create results for your brand.

But say, you want to show your ad to people who are looking for classes online and want to learn something new – again, a B2C brand, but with a different objective. For this option, you’ll choose Google. With search ads and customized YouTube and GDN placements, you can easily reach an in-market segment actively searching for such offers.

The third case is a B2B brand looking for active conversions throughout the month with little or no budget for engagement. The option is clear – Google Search. You can use the platform to create actionable headlines to grab the user’s attention and take them to your website for research. In most cases, for B2B products, Google is the best option as the audience of such brands is hardly looking for engagement. Thus, your ad should be targeted toward intent-based customers.

Is that it?

Not by far, no. Our verdict may seem clear above but that certainly doesn’t mean that you should discount Facebook as a powerful platform for your business because while Google is a great tool, Facebook has claimed its status as being one of the most favoured platforms for paid marketing strategies. The insights on Facebook along with audience engagement and creativity options are immense.

Not only that, but Facebook has its advantages over Google. The platform is ideal for small businesses and has an integrated app family that can bring you the best results in no time.

And not to forget the viral reach factor that I mentioned above. Facebook offers you community-building opportunities that can be great to increase word-of-mouth marketing for your brand. No other tool gives a brand the kind of leverage WoM does, which is why Facebook wins this part of the debate fair and square.

So what should my decision be?

While choosing an ad platform, it is no doubt that you have to careful in selecting a platform that is both cost-effective and result oriented, for which you’ll need to assess your business first. Every business is different and has different goals to achieve. If yours is to build a community – choose Facebook. If you want hard and fast conversions – choose Google. But make sure that whichever platform you’re choosing, you have tried and tested them to see which works best for your brand.