What has this got to do with PPC campaigns? Read the text. Pictures get attention.
Both Google and Facebook allow you to create a pay per click (PPC) campaign. The idea is that you only pay when somebody clicks on your advertisement.
On Google these adverts are placed to the right of their search results and sometimes on top of them too. On Facebook the ads all have pictures and show up on the right hand side of the page. The question is, which gives better results?
The answer should be straight forward and simple. Google has waaaaayyyyy more traffic, and your advertisement will be seen by far more users….. or will it? What about ad blindness? We are all very used to seeing PPC advertising on Google. I ignore them. So do a lot of people. In fact only about 16% of users actually click on the ads. This is still a huge number and there is no doubt whatsoever that a Google adwords campaign is very effective.
Facebook on the other hand has some unique advantages over Google. The biggest one being demographics. Only want to target females over 20 in Ireland? No problem. Marketing departments love that.
What about that picture? How many magazines do you see on the shelves with no picture on the cover? Pictures get attention! It is as simple as that.
Facebook has another ace up its sleeve. It is a social network. People are connecting with friends and family – people they trust. Subconsciously this passes on to Facebook itself. Sure there have been privacy issues, but overall people trust Facebook. If they didn’t it would not be the largest social networking site in Ireland. That trust passes on to advertisers to some extent. If an advertisement shows up while I look at a friends profile, then I am going to associate. I won’t even know I’m doing it.
It was for that reason that I was so horrified when I saw the SEO tips advertisement on Facebook.
Facebooks advertising revenue has been shooting up lately. Everybody is going to be doing it. Now is the time to get the jump on your competitors. Will it be better than Google? Jury is out. It will certainly compliment an adwords campaign though and complement an overall online marketing mix.
