Google Adwords has dominated the online advertising space for the last three or four years but Facebook I believe is positioned to really challenge Google for some of those advertising dollars.
We recently ran a series of campaigns for local events on Facebook and I was really impressed with the ROI that we got. It was much higher than anything that we have gotten using Adwords. So how did we do it?
Demographic Targeting
Unlike Adwords, Facebook users are not actively searching for your product or service. But by using Facebook’s demographics and location data we were able to really focus on our target audience.
Since our campaign was specific to a location we were able to target just the people who liked the brand we were promoting and who lived within 50 miles of the event.
This ended up being a really small group, but that was ok because the conversion event and CPC was really good.
Use Pictures
We tested ads with pictures and ads without. The ads with pictures all performed substantially better than those without.
Test Multiple Ads
When we run a paid campaign we always use multiple ad text, but it really is useful on Facebook. We tested new ad content every day until we were sure we had the most optimized copy. Then we let that as run until the end of the campaign.
It’s true, Facebook Ads are killer, whereas Adwords are just alright.
I ran a similar test comparing Adwords and Facebook Ads, what I found was that I could not only spend considerably less on Facebook Ads, but I also learned that people clicking through my ads on Facebook were MUCH more likely to purchase my product!
How likely were people coming from Facebook to purchase? Facebook Ads had a 100% conversion rate, whereas Adwords was stuck around 16%.
this is very trues, I myself had comparing between two campaign, Adwords and Facebook. FB has more higher CTR then AdWords because of specific targeting and the conversion also higher.
Great info! I wonder how the results would differ for something less local though.
This came as a bit of a surprise to me as I would expect that purchase intent is much higher on Google than on Facebook. Perhaps a little data, context, and other specifics would be useful. I would be really interested to find out what product/type of ad campaign this is and which demographic was being targeted.
Yes, that’s true
I launched many campaigns in Google Adword and Facebook and i found that Facebook ROI is very high compered to Adwords campaign
I used both, I prefer much more Google adwords. I had far better results in Google Adwords.
People on FB are there for social and than they see than ads.. while Searching through Google and arriving to ads comes because someone wants something and search for something.
Hmmm thanks this is pretty interesting. I’m trying to convince my boss that social media is the way to go… this will add to the argument!
Facebook advertising has to be vey area specific to work then. It must suit an event that requires promotion and nothing else. Adwords are word specific in comparison. Type wellington boots in google and you’ll get wellington boots to buy, would you go to facebook for this.
All my experience has shown facebook to be cheap, but you get what you pay for. Facebook can offer big numbers but it takes more than vying for lots of eyeballs. Google gives a relevant service and serves a more specific purpose. Facebook is not really on the same platform, great for virtual farming.
I pay a lot using both, but I still prefer and get better results when using google adwords. Google is more open… you see an ad and you know it is roads to take you to a websites (www.). Facebook has a philosophy to be selfish all inside it… generally you click and be back to it is pages… so better advertising websites through Google and pages through FB.
I actually want to know which is more expensive: Facebook ads or Adwords?
Facebook advertising is much cheaper then adwords. You do get what you pay for, I’ve heard experiences of people saying facebook ads are a con, no results and no return.
just ask yourself, why would anyone use facebook to find a service?
@Matt you don’t watch TV to find a service. but advertisers use it cos they know you’re watching. same thing Facebook