Online Advertising: Facebook Ads vs. Google AdWords vs. LinkedIn
Social Media Today several years ago compared these three types of online advertising, namely: Facebook Ads vs. Google AdWords vs. LinkedIn. To find out who the top dog was, read on.
Google’s ads got more expensive at the end, and their success often seemed to be hit or miss. Wide geographic ranges could give dramatic numbers but few results – narrowing things down geographically seemed to accompany a commensurate rise in click quality.
According to the article, Google advertising, “… works if you have a unique and popular product or service. The interface feels professional, with excellent reporting tools, great usability and many various options.”
So, the Facebook advertising experience seemed to be the most satisfying to the writer of the article. With a demographic and geographic focus (and fast service by Facebook support), you can credit ads with near-pinpoint accuracy.
But when speaking of Facebook, which is much more of a leisure time site than LinkedIn or Google is, the article stated, “(t)he secret is not to become too serious in your ads and keep them simple.”
LinkedIn was seen as being great for ads intended to reach strictly professional audiences. However, the LinkedIn admin team took significantly longer to approve advertisements than their counterparts at Facebook and Google took. Also, the reporting also had some serious restrictions. And it only offers a CSV file for download.
Facebook Ads vs. Google, Etc.
I agree with the conclusions drawn in the article – Facebook was overall the best, Google would be helpful for targeted ads for specific, unique or well-known products. And LinkedIn lagged, big time.
To my mind, this also dovetails well with these sites’ overall purposes. Facebook is where people go for socializing. And so it seems to work with ads in the same way that we view television commercials. Google and LinkedIn have other purposes. And so we are less likely to expect such a marriage of content and online advertising.