Google Ads vs. Social Media | Crucial Aspects to Keep in Mind

Advertising runs across multiple platforms on the Internet. The most popular ones and those that bring the best results regarding click-through and conversion rates are Google Ads and Social Media Ads. Still, each of these approaches has its characteristics, pros, and cons, and you can use it to reach different objectives for your business.

Still, in a Google Ads vs. Social Media Ads clash, which one is the best for your purposes? You’ll discover the answer by checking all the pros and cons of each strategy and how they can boost your business’s objectives.

What Is Google Ads?

Source: Thesocialsheperd.

Google Ads, formerly Google Adwords, is the primary advertising service of Google that allows you to deploy advertisements and ad content across multiple platforms inside and outside Google. There are different types of Google Ads – mainly search and display ads. The first ones appear at the top of SERPs, while display ads are shown on thousands of specialized sites across the entire Google Display Network.

Google Ads Advantages

Since Google is the major search engine used worldwide, it’s the best place for advertising to reach millions of people in a short time. This is because Google boasts 100k searches per second, which ensures you will get more eyes to your ads. Other important benefits are the following:

• High intent. Most people who look for a specific term, solution, or product on Google are, precisely, looking for “that” in particular. It means your ads will reach people with a high intent for acquiring a product or service like yours. 
• Targeted advertising. In marketing, aiming at the right audience is a pillar that cannot be ignored. Through the use of relevant keywords from your industry, your    Google Ads strategy will address an audience that has a high possibility of interacting with the ads. 
• Wide reach. As we mentioned in the introduction of this section, Google boasts millions of users, which means an almost endless number of potential customers to reach. In this sense, Google search ads will appear for thousands of prospects according to their demographics and other settings you established previously.                                                                                                                     
• Measurable results. Through Google Analytics, all the interactions you get are measurable in the form of metrics. For example, you can check the click-through rate of a particular ad or the conversion rate of people who arrive at your landing pages through the advertisement.

To check the advantages of Google Ads, read these articles:

• Google Ads vs Facebook Ads,
• Google Ads vs LinkedIn Ads,
• Google Ads vs Instagram Ads,
• Google Ads vs Twitter Ads
• Google Ads vs TikTok Ads

Disadvantages

Google Ads, like any other advertising platform, has its disadvantages in comparison to social media advertising strategies, particularly Facebook ads. 

• High Competition. Since Google Ads has a wide reach, it is also counterproductive since most marketers tend to target the same goals as you. This situation sometimes makes reaching a good position with your search ads difficult. This is why you need a great knowledge of how Google ads work and the most beneficial search terms for your campaign to create the best ads and bid on proper keywords.
• Technical expertise. This con is strictly related to the previous one since Google ads require technical expertise to create the best ad campaign and stand out over direct competitors.
• Limited Ad Formats. Search ads have a similar aspect to organic results appearing in SERPs. This way, you can create search ads in a limited format containing a headline, a description, and a URL. Still, other types of ads, like display or shopping ads, use visual and other engaging elements that add wealth to your Google Ads campaign.

What Are Google Ads Good for?

Source: Nexoya.

Since we know that marketing efforts can be limited due to budget constraints or the size of your business, you need to know when it is good to implement a Google Ads marketing campaign.

Reaching More Potential Customers

When applying a digital marketing strategy, Google advertisements are the best alternative to reach an increasing number of potential customers. Google Ads helps all types of businesses to present their products to the widest possible audience and get new customers all the time.

Increasing Leads

As the most used search engine on the Internet, Google Ads will help your business create a portfolio of possible clients and prospects with a high intent to complete a purchase. In this sense, this online advertising platform will help you to turn a target audience into a source of potential customers.

Understanding the Audience Better

Due to the data you can get through Google Analytics, you can understand how people looking for a product like yours act and interact with your advertisements. Crucial metrics like CTR, CPR, or ROAS will help you to create better ad campaigns by adjusting and modifying relevant aspects regarding a particular Google ad. 

Increasing Sales

Google Ads is one of the best online advertising platforms to increase the conversion rate of your advertisements since people trust them even more in SERPs, even though they are inorganic results. Besides, people looking for a specific result or solution tend to click search ads to check whether the promoted business can satisfy their needs. 

What Should I Do to Leverage the Google Ads Benefits?

As you can read above, there are several advantages when implementing a Google Ads marketing strategy. Still, it is not as easy as it sounds. The most recommended is to work with a professional marketing agency that helps you to put in perspective your brand’s capacities, defining the strengths and weaknesses of your product.

A professional marketing agency like GamerSEO will create your Google Ads strategy on your behalf, considering your objectives in the short and long term. Our team will tailor the best approach to your advertisements, considering the best keywords of your industry and building the proper ads to impact your prospects. Consequently, your brand will increase its click-through rates, the number of leads, and, in the long term, the conversion rate. 

What Is Social Media Advertising?

Source: Blog.Hootsuite.

Social media advertising corresponds to deploying advertisements through social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram. These ads can be image ads on feeds of main social media or video ads on platforms like YouTube or TikTok. 

What Are Its Advantages? 

Both Google Ads and social media marketing boast millions of users, especially Facebook and Instagram. This way, as in search engines, social media show ads to millions of people according to their preferences, demographics, and more. Other benefits are the following:

• Targeted advertising. Like in the most popular search engine, popular social media lets you create ads and target specific audiences. For example, you can set a particular location and entice prospective customers in the zone.
• Creative freedom. Since social media advertisements are not limited to a particular format, you can be as creative as you want, at least in terms of the image, the music, or the message you communicate.
• Lower cost. If you check the average cost-per-click or the average cost-per-conversion, you can notice that it can rise from $15 to $200 per day to $450 to $6,000 per month to manage an account in some industries, according to Nutshell.
• Wider brand awareness. Social media are great places to increase brand awareness. Besides, since you can display products to followers and interested people, you can be sure that you’ll create a loyal customer base.  

Disadvantages

Like all other strategies or marketing campaigns your brand can implement, social media ads also bring some disadvantages that can work against your marketing objectives. Let’s see two crucial ones. 

• Low intent. Social media advertising aims at a more general audience, although it can generate a particular audience according to specifications. Still, people you address with social media advertising could have different interests and may include people with a low purchasing intent. 
• Limited reach. Social media ads, in comparison with search results and ads appearing in the SERP, have a tighter field of action since only people related to social media and with similar interests will see the ad. No matter how many followers or people with similar interests in your zone, the search network is always wider. 

What Social Media Ads Are Good for?

Source: Sproutsocial.

Paid ads on social media are also a great way to promote your products and services and reach the highest number of people possible. Aiming for the right target market, you can obtain the following benefits.

Increasing Engagement

People often engage with brands on social media due to the platforms’ encouragement for user interaction. These platforms provide easy ways to engage, such as commenting on posts, sharing content, participating in surveys, and more.

Besides, since your brand can offer rewards by participating in publications or subscribing, let’s say, to a newsletter or completing another action, users are more likely to engage with your brand.

Improving Brand Recognition and Building Awareness

When businesses publish a particular comment, information, thought, or even an advertisement, they are communicating directly with their potential customers through familiar ground. This situation is even deeper with followers or people already interested in the brand.

Prospective customers feel your brand is communicating directly with them, giving a sense of willingness and trustworthiness that nurture the expectations and make customers want to know more about the brand.

Increasing Inbound Traffic

Facebook and Instagram ads are great for enticing users from the upper funnel, which means people who are starting to know your product. These people are not ready to buy your product but are willing to click your ads, read information about your brand, and even arrive at your landing page. Social media ads depict a great opportunity to generate leads if you do a good job taking the prospects throughout the purchase funnel.

Improving Brand Loyalty and Fidelity

Whether you have a big or a small business, social media ads are excellent for strengthening the brand loyalty of your customers and prospects. This is because these ads represent an indirect way of nurturing your relationships with customers via images, messages, and proof that your product and brand are good and what they need. Most marketing strategies on social media advertising should aim to feed the interaction between brands and potential and existing customers.

The Bottom Line

Google Ads advertising and social media advertising are always in tension. Both strategies can work incredibly well if you know what exactly needs to be done. No matter if it comes to a Google Ads vs. LinkedIn Ads scenario or a Google Ads vs. TikTok ads stage, Google and social media advertisements bring advantages and disadvantages that we’ve mentioned in the previous sections.

However, we believe that a significant online marketing agency should implement Google Ads and social media marketing advertising campaigns, both working together to reach the largest number of customers and achieve different goals. Remember that GamerSEO is here to help you carry out these approaches and more!