Facebook Ads vs Google Ads: Combine Them To Boost Sales
Chukwuemeka Ali
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Every successful business has a winning formula.
A great product + traffic = sales. Where traffic equals eyeballs on your product.
You can get traffic to your product from organic sources, such as a huge following on social media or years of building traffic on your blog. But, the fastest way to get traffic is through ads, and there are two major ad platforms, Facebook and Google.
Most businesses run ads on either platform and get great results. So the question is this. ‘Should you run Facebook and Google ads at the same time?’
The answer to that question is yes, and this article will give you simple steps to use to run ads on the two platforms to boost sales.
What are Facebook ads?
Facebook ads are video and text ads displayed across all of Meta’s platforms. This includes Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, Messenger, and Facebook Marketplace. Every ad on Facebook has the word ‘Sponsored’ under the title.
Facebook has about 2.9 billion monthly active users. This means about 37% of the global population visits the site at least once a month to see updates from friends, colleagues, and family. This data provides the Facebook ad platform with vast insights into human behavior and how to influence it through ads.
Screen showing ad activity and chart
What are Google ads?
Google ads are advertisements shown on Google search and other Google products, including Gmail, YouTube, and Google Display Network—a network of over 2 million websites with considerable traffic. Every ad on Google search and the partner sites has the word ‘Ad’ or ‘Sponsored’ beneath the title.
Google is the primary search engine, accounting for about 8.5 billion searches daily. And this puts it in a prime position to know what people want to buy and serve it to them at the correct time.
Google Ads logo on light blue background
Facebook vs Google ads similarities
Facebook and Google are both ad platforms; below, we list some of the similarities between the two platforms.
Large user base
Facebook has over 3 billion people on the platform, but you can only target about 1.93 billion people with ads, which is still a large number. Google gets about 8.5 billion daily searches, and this large number means you can niche down well enough to find your ideal customer.
Ad formats
You can run different ad formats on the two platforms. Here are some general ad formats
– Text-based ads
– Picture-based ads
– Video-based ads
But, Facebook’s most popular ad formats are video and picture ads, while the most popular one for Google is text ads.
Person working on ads strategy
Facebook vs Google ads differences
Here are some differences between Facebook and Google ads.
Stage of the funnel
Businesses can use Facebook ads for every stage of the funnel but more for top-of-the-funnel conversions. Because of the social nature of the platform, users are not actively looking for solutions to their problems. But people doing a Google search to solve their problem are in active search of the solution. So Google ads are mainly for middle-of-the-funnel or bottom-of-the-funnel conversions.
Intent
While you can build your whole marketing funnel off the back of Facebook ads, the major intent of Facebook ads is brand awareness and marketing, which means you get charged for impressions and reach.
But, for Google ads, the intent is to learn more about the service or to make a purchase based on the problem your customer has. So you are charged only when someone clicks on your ad.
Costs
The average CPM (cost for a thousand impressions) of a Facebook ad is $2.48, while the cost per click (CPC) for a Google ad is $2.96. And it makes sense, as Facebook’s ads convert better when used for reach and impressions. While on the other hand, Google ads are optimized for clicks that lead the customer closer to the sale.
Targeting option
Due to the amount of data Facebook has on its over 3 billion users, it has a massive understanding of human behavior.
The ad platform settings allow you to send targeted ads beyond the normal demographic information. You can target users based on life events, including new jobs, marital status, and travel history.
For Google, you can target mainly based on the keywords the person is searching with and the standard demographic information.
How to combine Facebook ads and Google ads
Some businesses will benefit from Facebook ads more than Google ads. For example, if you run a lifestyle brand, you are better off running ads for every stage of the funnel on Facebook than on Google. You can better influence them with well-timed psychological levers in a social platform than a transactional one.
Besides, most people won’t go to Google to search for lifestyle choices.
Some other businesses will benefit more from Google ads than Facebook ads. Such businesses include SaaS or health and financial companies. And most people search for software or health and financial issues directly on Google.
But you can use Facebook and Google ads to produce better results, as shown below.
To move customers down the sales funnel
There are 4 stages of the sales funnel—awareness, interest, desire, and action. The awareness and consideration stages are firmly in Facebook ad territory. You can use Facebook ads to fill the top of the funnel. Then, you can use Google ads to get your prospective customers to desire and take action to purchase your goods.
When you have spent time to become top of mind via Facebook ads, customers will consider your brand in a better light. This will make customers click your ads instead of a competitor’s on the Google search results page.
Retargeting customers that land on your website
The retargeting option Facebook offers means you can show up wherever your ideal customer is. And the more your customers see your ads, the more likely they will convert. Data states that retargeting improves the likelihood of converting by 70%.
To run retargeting ads, it makes sense that the customer already has a touchpoint with your brand on your online store. So with the Facebook pixel (now Meta pixel) installed on your website, you can retarget that customer. This will help you continue serving relevant ads to that potential customer on Facebook and Meta platforms.
Offering discounts
Discounts can be useful if someone is unsure about making their first purchase. Offering the discount at the right time is easier when you use the two platforms. For example, you can run ads to your online store via Google ads. If customers find your store and add items to their cart but do not complete the sale, you can retarget that potential customer on Facebook and offer a discount.
Driving customers to your brick-and-mortar shop
You can run ads on Facebook and Google ads platforms to drive foot traffic to your brick-and-mortar store. By running the ads on the two platforms, you increase the touch points for prospective customers. This improves the chances of them visiting your store.
What next?
At this stage, you know about Facebook and Google ads and how you can combine the two to boost your sales. You can now open ad accounts on Facebook and Google and dive into Facebook ad strategies, and you should also do the same for Google ads.
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