With Google's AdWords charging on average
between $1-2.50 per click, and providing limited targeting functionality, is
advertising on Social Networking sites a better bet?
Facebook Ads are the second favourite PPC
advertising method after Google. They allow impressions to be targeted by such
demographics as age, gender, and location, as well as targeting personal
information such as favourite books, films and tv shows. On average Facebook
Ads are also cheaper, around $0.11-0.50 per click, or they can be billed per
1000 impressions.
This sounds like Facebook should be the
preferred way to advertise then, but it's not. While Facebook Ads may be more
targeted to individuals' demographic information and tastes, it can't target
one key field – willingness to buy. Facebook Ads rely on the ability of the ad
to attract viewers to click-through, despite their presence on the site for
social, and not commercial, purposes.
Google AdWords, on the other hand, are
targeted by keyword. This then means that your advert will be viewed only by
those searching out your product or service, which are the target group really
worth hitting.
This is comparable to the difference
between cold-calling and warm-calling.
If an estate agent is looking for new
properties to sell he may pay someone minimum wage to call all the properties
in the area that have risen in value in the last year. This is a very targeted
and cheap search, but will likely return few useful leads.
On the other hand, the estate agent could
spend some money identifying potential sellers and then call them. If they are
in the market to sell they are much more likely to convert into useful leads.
By using a little cunning and a bit more
cash, Google AdWords can be extremely highly targeted to show only to those
looking to buy what you have to sell, which is what online advertising should
be all about. Facebook Ads impressions are inconsistent, do not sell to actual
buyers, and are not accompanied by the whole host of analytical tools AdWords
are.
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