Facebook Ads versus Google AdWords
- 24 Comments
- By Zac Johnson on May 24th, 2009
This guest post was written by Harrison Gevirtz, whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting with at various events, such as Affiliate Summit and EliteRetreat. You can read more on Harrison and what he’s currently working on at his blog.
We run campaigns on both systems, often copying from one to the other. There’s no simple import utility that will copy campaigns between systems, like you can from Google to Yahoo. There likely never will be– since the traffic is so different. Some key differences:
- Google has keywords– millions of them. Facebook has profile variables– perhaps a few thousand, if you look at DK’s list of top Facebook keywords. PPC keywords provide intent– what the user is looking for now, while profile variables tell you what the user likes– typically music and TV shows– but not what they want right now. The timing of when they want something is what makes AdWords convert well, while the demographic capabilities of social ads lets you target WHO they are.
- Use the indirect method on Facebook. While you’d perhaps buy “weight loss” on AdWords or YSM, on Facebook you would instead buy the TV shows that middle aged females would most likely watch– The Biggest Loser, even. Speaking of weight loss, the user might be a Denver liposuction doctor, but you wouldn’t know that on Google when they’re searching. If you’re buying a professional service term to target funeral directors, you can’t even do that on Google– you can’t tell who is looking for a funeral director versus who actually is one.
- Facebook ads are WAY cheaper. It’s a new system, they don’t have a public API, the user base is still mostly kids. But if you hit the right niches, you can get traffic for a fraction of PPC pricing. For example, SpyFu says garage sales costs 26 to 55 cents a click, but you know that you can get 5-10 cent clicks on Facebook for folks who have garage sales as one of their interests.
- But volume varies: If you are targeting by interest, you won’t get many clicks. If you are an affiliate marketing network running acai berry– and you can get the ad approved– at 10 cents a click and a $40 payout, you can’t lose. You’d need one click in 400 to convert, but your volume would be low. The bid strategy we use on Facebook is somewhat similar to Google– bid high and then gradually lower bids by a couple pennies at a time. If you drop it too fast, your traffic will dry up.
- Make LOTS of ads: Facebook doesn’t take into account the number of ads in a campaign when testing the eCPM of new ads. In other words, as new ads come into the system, they have to allocate a certain number of impressions to determine whether that ad will earn them money– based on the CTR and average CPC (which is eCPM). So set up dozens of ads– both to get more impressions, plus to test combinations of image, headline, targeting variable, and landing page. If you have 2 of each, that’s 2 to the 4th power, which is 16 variations. The great news here is that once you find a combination that works, your earnings can be sustainable. Other affiliates can copy your ads, but what’s the chance they have the same combination of variables?
- Make lots of money: There’s plenty of money out there for folks who work hard and systematically test. Questions? Read my affiliate marketing blog.
- Posted in Affiliate Marketing, Blogging, Facebook, Pay Per Click
"With great power comes great responsibility".... my Uncle Ben told me that. Haha, just kidding! I'm Zac Johnson and I've been making money online for over 10 years now. In short, I started making money online while I was in high school... but my passion for marketing and making money goes back way earlier than that. I created ZacJohnson.com to help motivate you to start making money online, and live the life the you always dreamed of.
After all Google is still the best in marketing product out online, though FaceBook is cheaper, but I believe there are still people who do not use FaceBook since they might not know there is such a social site, while Google is a search engine, I believe young or old folks will know when they got an Internet connection,which is to mean, you get larger audience to market product to then FaceBook alone…
The Bad Blogger’s last blog post..Copywriting Isn’t A Job, It’s A Contact Sport !
ReplyExcellent post. I’m not surprised AT ALL that it wasn’t Zac that wrote it!
Ad Hustler’s last blog post..Douchebag Affiliate Manager Friday
ReplyI haven’t tried Facebook before but I am thinking of trying them this year. thanks for the insights!
Paul Ubiadas’s last blog post..Miscellaneos Ramblings
ReplyI think Facebook is mostly used by the young generation and many are still not familiar with this site. Google has already stand the test of time when it comes to online marketing, so Google definitely rules!!!
Internet Marketing Tips’s last blog post..SaleHoo – A Wholesale Directory Review
ReplyI’ve recently experimented with advertising on Facebook, and my main issue with it was that the interests I was targeting would cost me about 50 cents a click…but then as the CTR got higher (after about a day), throughout the day I would be able to drop the CTR until it got into the 10-15 cent range. A BIG difference from 50 cents!
This is all fine and dandy, but my problem was the fact that Facebook doesn’t let you revise a creative…you have to make a new one. This starts the cycle all over again. My problem is that if all I wanted to do was see how big of a difference changing maybe a capital letter, or a slightly different headline on the same ad….I’d be stuck paying the high click through and monitoring the rate throughout the day to bring it back down. It gets expensive paying 5 times as much as I should be until I can get it back down.
Have you found any ways to get around this or deal with it?
Dave’s last blog post..Clad Cases Carbon Fiber iPhone 3G Case: Good Enough For Ferrari, Good Enough For Your Phone
ReplyAs an online retailer with a low priced new product that we have developed, patented and manufactured we refuse to pay the sort of money the you need to on Google.
With Facebook I get lots more hits for far less money (and some sales). The ability to include a pic of my new product is great!
But even on Facebook the cost per click is too high when you take into account the number of clicks you need to get a SALE ie a ROI.
I am finding that a lot of BIG companies are bidding high and spoiling it for the rest of us.
If we have to pay much higher than 20 cents a click we will spend OUR MONEY on phone calls and web ads rather than Facebook or Google.
As for Google their system is far too complex and takes far too much work to bother with as their are millions of keywords out there.
Regards
ReplyDigby
Not better to use Facebook to make an popular app, then you could even advertise this app on facebook, filled in with users and then monetize with CPA offers.
Many of us know that this is a great way of making a huge amount of money, I described it on my blog..
Michael Gann’s last blog post..How To Avoid The 3 Most Common Affiliate Mistakes
ReplyI think still google is more popular in the market eventhogh facebook is becoming so famous around the world. I do agree with the bad blogger that many people are still not using FaceBook as they don’t have the proper idea behind it.
ReplyFacebook was great for me a few months back when there were less ads on their platform. I had a free $100 credit that I used to direct people to a landing page that made me 100% profit. Google adwords is expensive and a little harder for me to convert from but its getting there.
Crazy Oldie’s last blog post..Cops Stoned on Brownies
ReplyHow would this work (Facebook) if one were trying to sell a book of fiction, let’s say, rather than a ringtone. Does anyone have some advice?
Matty Byloos’s last blog post..Monday Reading List: May 25, 2009
ReplyI think that Adwords is always better than Facebook because you can get targeted traffic more.
Palabuzz’s last blog post..Tyson daughter died because of treadmill
ReplyI just signed up for google adwords, does anyone know a website or forum that personaly helped them improve their keywords and tricks ect…my business is online laptop repairs and servicing where we collect laptops in the uk and return all for £59 it’s for those who don’t have time and who want to save money,
ReplyThis is very helpful. As a sidenote, it will be nice when Facebook allows ads to be placed based on what a person writes in their “Status.” That way, if someone writes “Sara Smith is excited to buy a new iPod,” you could have “iPod” ads show-up on her profile.
Minnesota Attorney’s last blog post..Minnesota Personal Injury Law: Uninsured Motorist Coverage
ReplyThe facebook advertising platform is still very new to be compared to Google AdWords. In time they will improve things to offer better ad targeting capabilities. I just wish I had a website that converted well enough for PPC to be a viable option. Perhaps I just need to target some less competitive niches.
ReplyI was considering trying facebook ads these days. Thanks for the insights!
ReplyFacebook ads are a waste of time, social media does not buy.
Free Webmaster SEO Tools’s last blog post..18 Comment Tools and Wordpress Plugins for SEO and Bloggers
ReplyWhat are the best free ways to market a website? I have done Facebook ads, Adwords, and Google Base.
ReplyFacebook ads Vs Google AdWords
1. Google AdWords
2. Facebook
Say GA for Google AdWords
ReplySay FB for FaceBook
I never prefer comparison in paragraph manner. If you want to hit these details comfortably than you should do it in table form.
But however I have bad experience for facebook.
ZK @ Web Marketing Blog’s last blog post..How to Become A Blogger – A Roadmap
ReplyWell I have tested both networks and have had different levels of success in each of them.
In my personal point of view, Facebook could be considered as a more specified content network dealing with visitors having various demographics and interests.
While getting traffic from content networks can be so effective, the rate of success in PPC direct from AdWords in keyword-targeted campaigns is fantastic. Converting a visitor who has personally started the process of research looking for an answer to his problem is much much easier than a user looking at our unwanted ads.
These different channels have various characteristics. We need to find the powerful points and leverage them. Facebook is still a new network for many advertisers and due to its capacity, the pricing is very affordable for testing, tweaking and analyzing.
I do believe that the Facebook Advertising Network could be a very effective place for running profitable campaign specially CPA offers.
And finally, if you are looking for Branding, Facebook is a great opportunity out there to begin. Just go and give it a try!
Thanks Zac for the article. I found it helpful.
Regrads,
Hooshmand
Hooshmand Moslemi’s last blog post..Niche Review Templates
ReplyWhat are the best free ways to market a website? I have done Facebook ads, Adwords, and Google Base.
ReplyI have tried both several times… I prefer much more Google adwords and I get result much better with Google… and who mentioned here facebook is cheaper, is wrong… it is not at all.. Today Google is also cheaper and not only better. For FB, Internet Surfers are stuck in one social site and activities.. and they see same place of ads static right place… For Google, Surfers are more free across the entire huge networks… the effect of discovering ads in every corner… is better. (Leading Banner ads of Google 728×90, 300×250 and 336×280 pixels are excellent, try them! – better than textual)
Reply[...] Johnson’s blog has a guest post from Harrison Gervitz on Facebook Ads versus Google Adwords with some useful tips on the key differences between the two different PPC methods. With more and [...]
[...] ZachJohnson.com [...]