Is social media advertising a part of your advertising strategy? Then you probably wonder whether to invest time and efforts into Google Adwords or Facebook Ads. Both the mediums have a reach of hundreds to thousands. None can be taken lightly. Allow us to help you choose the right advertising platform for your business.

A short introduction

So what is the difference between Google Adwords and Facebook Ads? Google works on the principle of pay per click. Meaning, it charges the consumer for advertisements and content that is shown to the other users. Facebook uses its data to advertise products and services to the users based on their likes, dislikes, and other demographics. Advertisers have to pay for their own content shown via Facebook to the audience.

Let us delve deeper and discuss the merits and demerits of each platform based on three major avenues:

The reach

Facebook and Google both function differently. One is a social media platform while other is a search engine. Therefore, the number of people they reach is also massively different. With Google Adwords, you can reach as many as 2.6 billion users per month who use Google search. With Facebook, you reach up to about 1.28 billion active users monthly. With Facebook, you can also reach people who visit brand pages, which amount to about 1 trillion page views in a month. Coming down to the nitty-gritty, Google has the potential to reach up to 90% of all internet users while Facebook ranks at 44% of all internet users.

Targeting the audience

Both platforms use different metrics to target their user base.

Facebook uses information such as location, demographics, user behavior, and user interests (based on their likes and dislikes on Facebook). It also targets potential consumers who are very similar to your existing user base and those that come from your website onto your Facebook page.

Google uses a set of slightly different metrics. It targets users by location, just like Facebook, and by demographic information. However, that is where the similarities end. Google uses keywords to target customers and has an algorithm that eliminates certain keywords from its search to better target your potential customers. Google can also target users based on the device they use to browse the internet.

Mobile advertising

We are in an age where mobile advertising cannot be ignored anymore. Websites are continually optimized for mobile users because it is an integral part of the customer’s experience with a brand. While using Facebook Ads, users can optimize the ad for mobile viewing while designing the campaign. About 22% of the Facebook’s ad revenue is spent on mobile advertising.

Google Adwords also allows users to optimize ads for smartphones. However, it also allows users to target WAP-enabled phones, thereby increasing the reach of the ad. Google’s mobile ad revenue contributes to 47% of the total revenue.

Every brand or company has a different set of advertising goals and requirements. Now it is up to you to decide which one of these best suits your brand.