If you’ve had any experience using Facebook ads, you might be asking yourself lately if they’re really worth it.
For those who’ve never heard of Facebook ads, it’s a service to advertise your business directly on the social media site. What you pay is going to depend strictly on how many clicks you receive based on your budget. But while some people find it very useful considering the myriad visitors on Facebook, you could also find some serious limitations. It all depends on what your business goals are.
How Some Businesses Are Faring With Facebook Ads
According to Mashable, a number of businesses are seeing amazing benefits by advertising in the Facebook universe. One business mentioned in the above Mashable report is using the Install Apps option for mobile usage. As a targeted marketing plan, this seems to be working great, if you know exactly what your targets are. Right now, it seems to be very affordable in the conversion rates.
Others are using Facebook ads to gain information for email lists so the business can know who to target in their marketing. By using specific targeting in advance, a business can focus on certain demographics who have pages on Facebook.
Another clever way to use Facebook ads is to advertise contests that send potential customers to the business’s website. When signing up for the contests, the business can request the visitor opt in to an email list in order to build a customer base. Mashable says the same seems to be working in finding people to sign up for Facebook discussion groups.
Regardless of the above successes, is there any competition out there that could beat the Facebook behemoth? When you place Google Plus into the equation, things could quickly change based on some key advantages.
The Benefits Of Google Plus Ads
Virante.org recently wrote about Google Plus’s foray into advertising and noted the limitations of Facebook Ads. Some businesses may not stop and realize that all Facebook ads are limited strictly on the site and can’t go beyond there. The thought is that those ads could be obtrusive to some Facebook users and ultimately be counterproductive to a business.
The difference with Google Plus is that all their ads are placed into their ad network. This means the ads will show up in more diffuse places around the net and appear for people who’d been searching for something related to your business on Google.
Just imagine – readers browsing through the web, minding their own business, and all of a sudden – while reading an interesting piece on cloud computing – stumble upon your latest Google+ Post Ad on how cloud computing has changed the way we do business today. Intrigued, they click on the post, join the discussion, and before they now it – land on your website and examine your offers.
It seems to set a new argument whether advertising on social media is really beneficial, or if having advertising spread around the net captures a more diverse customer base.
What are your thoughts? Do you think Google Plus will sweep Facebook off their porch, or does that kind of social media advertising still have its benefits?
Will Emergence Of Google Plus Ads Sweep Off Facebook Advertising? http://t.co/FaZWrYgj8T via @Sun_social
— Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) February 2, 2014
- Image License: Royalty Free or iStock source: Image credit: timanx / 123RF Stock Photo
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Thanks for the excellent and timely article, Ivana!
Thank you Ann for publishing it!
At this moment the power that Facebook has is still very strong. I’m not sure that people actually use Google + the same way and for the same reasons they use facebook. It is a matter of habit as well. There are all sorts of people on facebook, and it seams that Google + is still somehow a privilege of people working in the digital world.
Will google + adds run over Facebook advertising? Maybe just because these adds have much more places to show up on, the advertising space is larger, there for the targeted audience is bigger. Maybe they will work better then facebook just because numbers are bigger, but will they produce as much sales and conversions – not sure yet.
Great post by the way, looking forward to the next one.
Hi Biljana, thanks for your comment.
I agree, no one can dispute the power of Facebook. But the increasing growth of Google+ and the importance of Google authorship, together with Google+ Ads will, in my opinion, form a revolution in online marketing. Only time will tell if I’m right :).
Sorry but Virante’s “recent” post was published back in December 18th 2012. Im not sure Google+ will be ready for ads for quite a while, and they did state that ads would never be shown on G+ if we can believe that statement….
The fact they’ve been testing it for a while might mean the ads are coming soon! 😉