25 Nov Is Online Advertising a Waste of Time?
Traditional marketing methods aren’t as effective as they once were. Today, everything is digital, and your marketing strategy is not complete unless you are marketing online. Both large and small businesses can enjoy the benefits of online advertising.
But is online advertising worth your time, especially as a small business? Let’s take a further look at the benefits of advertising online, the differences between search engine ads and social media ads, and how to effectively target your audience through online ads.
Why Would You Advertise Online at All?
When it comes to marketing, small businesses are likely to have much tighter budgets compared to larger businesses — which means no bit of it can be wasted. The good news is that online advertising, especially on social media, allows for flexible and affordable marketing options for the needs of your individual business. Social media marketing can help you better reach your target audience and increase sales.
If you think your customers aren’t using social media, you may want to think again. The majority of your customers are likely on social media, and they likely check their social media accounts at least once a day, if not more often. This leaves a great opportunity to connect with your customers on a daily basis — and your competitors are likely already on social media. You connect to your customers with ads on social media by providing information that is engaging and relevant to their interests. This can lead to an increase in brand awareness and brand authority, as your current followers share your content with other users. The more people who are aware of your brand online through social media, the more people will visit your website, which will also boost your SEO efforts and search engine rankings.
Save money and time on your marketing strategies with the ability to target your audience more directly on social media by adjusting your ads for the primary demographics of your audience. This makes collecting successful leads on new customers much easier and more effective. You will also be able to better understand how your customers interact best with your marketing content with the help of analytics tools.
Facebook Ads? Google Ads? What’s the Difference?
With so many social media platforms and search engines available for online marketing, businesses need to know where they should advertise in order to optimize their ROI. Two of the most popular pay-per-click (or PPC) advertising methods are through Facebook Ads and Google Ads.
So, what is the difference between Facebook Ads and Google Ads? They both offer many great marketing opportunities, but each works a little different from the other.
Facebook Ads appear to users on their social media feeds while they scroll through the content from friends and pages they follow, while Google Ads will appear at or near the top of results pages when users search on Google. Facebook Ads are targeted using demographic and online behavioral information, whereas Google Ads mainly target specific keywords (although a user’s browsing history and location can also influence results).
It’s important to remember that if your online ad campaign isn’t properly targeted or effectively made, then you likely won’t see positive results. This is why it’s important to know how to uniquely optimize your ad campaigns for each platform.
For Facebook, highly engaging ads are required in order to be effective, as users will come across your ads when passively browsing through content. Providing interesting ad content directed target to your audience is the only way to get users to click on your ad and learn more. This is why Facebook Ads are better for increasing brand awareness. On Google, however, users are already actively looking for content. This means that your ad will need to be as clear and descriptive as possible in order to convince users that your product or services is what they need in order to boost your sales.
Because of the established need to provide a more engaging experience, Facebook Ads allow a variety of formats such as images, video, slideshows, carousel collection, and instant experience. Google Ads, on the other hand, are limited to text, call-only, and shoppings ads.
For more information, you can visit the official Google Ads and Facebook Ads pages.
Targeting Your Audience
In order to truly find success with online advertising, you need to know how to target your audience with Google Ads and Facebook Ads.
As Google Ads are primarily text-based and focus on specific keywords used to search for your content, it’s important to invest some time into keyword research in order to optimize the chances of your ads being seen by the target audience for your business. Google Ads allows businesses to create campaigns that only appear when users search a keyword that matches or is close to your keyword. To reach your target audience, Google allows you to target individuals searching for your keywords in a specific geographic location. This diminishes the chance of users outside of your target audience seeing your content.
Facebook Ads allow businesses to target users based on the behaviors and demographics that can be selected as a targeting profile on its platform. Facebook Ads are not based on a user’s search query. Facebook Ads offer a wide variety of demographic targeting options, along with the ability to target people based on their likes, dislikes, interests, and behaviours. That is why it is important to know your customers first before you kick off your ad campaign on Facebook.
Both Facebook Ads and Google Ads can produce effective marketing results. One platform isn’t better than the other, and you will likely find the most success by advertising with a combination of the two. It all depends on your overall business goals and what you want to achieve from your campaign. If your intention is to sell quickly, then you can opt for Google Ads. But if you want to improve your visibility, increase your brand awareness, and acquire new customers, then you should think of Facebook Ads.
Do More with an Online Advertising Specialist
Get the most out of your marketing budget with the help of an online marketing specialist with Virtual Stacks Systems UK! From creating your ad and running your campaign, to market research, and to performance monitoring, our PPC advertising services ensure that your brand will be seen by users in your target audience online — leading to an increase in web traffic and sales. Contact us today to discuss your online marketing needs!