Facebook vs Google Display Network
James: James Schramko here with Ilana Wechsler from TeachTraffic.com. Hey Ilana!
Ilana: Hey James, how are you?
James: Good. Got a question for you of the traffic type. And I know you love those ones. I’m getting questions about the differences between whether you should use Facebook or GDN. And we probably should start out by explaining what GDN actually is.
Ilana: Sure. So the GDN is an acronym for the Google Display Network. Which is a way of, I guess, form of advertising. You put banners on other people’s websites, so publisher websites, so for us people listening to this, the New York Times LA Times as possible publishers that allow Google ads on their site and for Australian people, you know, Sydney, Morning Herald, etc.
So, publishers which allow Google ad banners on their websites.
James: I guess some people might think, okay, they’ve kind of a similar category.
It’s different than the intent by search that we’re used to with Google Ads where people are talking into Google a particular word and then being presented ads on the GDN.
So a little more like Facebook, I suppose, where it’s a little more, you know, native within the content. People aren’t necessarily searching for it. You could call it more interruption marketing, perhaps or native advertising.
Ilana: Yeah. And so that’s it’s quite a common question I get asked people come to me, sort of people wanting to learn, they say, you know, which one should I do?
Should I do Facebook or the Google Display Network? Most of the time, I would say I’m a believer in doing both, but possibly, it’s not feasible. And, you know, maybe you don’t start doing both.
So I thought we’d cover some of the pros and cons with both platform because obviously each come with they’re both pros and cons.
Facebook Pros – Easier Platform to Advertise on
So, on the Facebook side of things, the Facebook ad platform is I will admit a little bit of an easy a platform to advertise on.
I mean, it’s that Facebook, you know been very good in making it so easy for you to… you know, literally hit that boost button from within the post when you create a post on your page and suddenly your advertising you know, so it is an easier platform.
It doesn’t mean that easier is better, obviously. But it is…So it is easier to get started.
James: Could mean more competition.
Ilana: Well exactly. Absolutely.
Facebook Pros – Social Aspect
The other I think real advantage that Facebook does have over the Google Ad platform is the social aspect.
I think it’s still amazing that you can somebody can share your ad and people do share ads. I mean, you want to give these people a hug right? People are sharing your ad to their social network, right.
So the fact that it is, Social is an incredibly powerful ad platform, platform and comment and tag their friends and endorse your business and your product. So the fact that the social aspect is also really good.
James: Of it that drives Google crazy, since I tried so many times to do social with buzz, wave, Google Plus they never quite cracked it. So—
Ilana: That’s right and I think—
James: They’d be Furious.
Ilana: Yeah, exactly. Because it is incredibly powerful. I mean, you and I both know, the ultimate endorsement of one’s business is a referral. Right?
So that’s a form of a referral. These days, no one’s going to forward an email to their entire contact list. Like who’s going to do that, right, but they’ll share a Facebook ad or something that’s relevant.
Facebook Pros – Long Form Ads
As you probably know, and I think the third aspect of why Facebook is a viable option is that you can do really long form content, you know, long form ads.
You know, we’ve run ads of like 500 words, which is like a mini landing page.
James: Story based, like really extra native because they don’t look like ads a lot of the time apart from that little sponsored thing.
You can be hooked right in thinking it’s just part of your regular feed, right?
Ilana: That’s exactly right. And we see the best results with story based ads. Because as you say, they’re native and they don’t feel like and ad. It doesn’t feel a bit icky, trying to make a sale trying to make a sale.
It’s just telling a story. And you know, through the powers of that story, persuasion.
Facebook Cons – Doesn’t Suit Every Type of Business
But there are some downsides with Facebook, which are worth mentioning is you know, it doesn’t suit every type of business. So it can be a little bit hard for businesses who are in let’s say, B2B.
You know, maybe they’re an insurance broker or something. I don’t know I’m making it up. You know, for sort of not very classic Facebook type businesses, it might be a hard platform to use and apply.
Facebook Cons – Fickle Ad Platform
And I don’t know if you’ve seen this but it is definitely getting hotter and more expensive and it a very fickle ad platform. You…I mean, you know, your listeners might find…I found…you know…
James: I know people that educators actually who, behind the scenes, all of their accounts have been slapped like 5,6,7. all of the clients accounts have slapped.
And there’s very little to not no recourse. So the sometimes there’s not even a clear reason why. So that can be tricky. But the other thing that’s obvious is there’s a lot of people out there teaching Facebook.
Like every man and their dog is teaching Facebook, and just Facebook. So as it’s an easy platform, as it’s a great place to start, if you’ve got a budget of $5 a day. You’re in there with the masses. And I think one great separator of Facebook to Google. Is Google sort of like a little more pro level. You stepping up mine and that’s what I love the most about what you do. TeachTraffic.com teaches Facebook, and Google and now YouTube as well.
And that’s where the super pros are going. Yeah, where they’ve maxed out Facebook. The ad costs are too much of their accounts are having trouble, like they’re going into the much bigger, deeper networks where there’s less competition.
Ilana: That’s right. And I find with Facebook, you could have an ad that does really well… Let’s say for a week, and then for our no unexpected, no reason and completely unexplained and just suddenly dies. You know, which is—
James: It fades.
Ilana: It fades, you know. And so it’s very up and down ad platform in terms of results.
GDN Pros – Stable Platform
So contrast that to Google, as you say, it’s more pro level, it’s a much more stable ad platform. Once you get Google working for your business. It’s incredibly stable.
It’s like a cruise ship that’s got the stabilizers out, you know, it just sort of cuts through those waves, which is really so I guess that’s the flip side of what we’re talking about today is why would you consider Google and specifically the Google Display Network.
GDN Pros – Significantly Cheaper
So one reason it’s like significantly cheaper… than you know Facebook is, and you only pay for a click like contrast to Facebook where you pay for an impression.
Yes, you can set up your ads on Facebook to pay for a click, but the performance wise it doesn’t work as well. So with Google, it is strictly a pay per click platform.
So you get, obviously a ton of free branding through the impressions that you get.
GDN Pros – It Captures 90% of All US Web Users
And one of the other reasons why the GDN is also really good is Google sort of boasts quite loudly that you can capture up over 90% of all US web users, which is a pretty amazing statistic.
So for the B2B people, you know, the concept of are my business or my target customers, you know, on Google. You know, they’re using Gmail. They’re using YouTube they they’re reading articles in the business section of the New York Times—
James: It’s quite further dominant search it…
Ilana: Totally..So yeah. There my thoughts on that.
James: Great. So basically, do both is the short answer and if you want some tips on how to do it as I’ve done I’m very lucky to get some counsel from you Ilana on how to do this right.
Because you know, when I used to run AdWords 12 years ago and then I sort of had people help me do it because I got out of it and when I went back in there it’s like wow, it really changed a lot in over a decade.
And and you’re a genius at this stuff, your data background especially you can you just look at this stuff and it’s like I do this, do that and you stay on top of it. So I appreciate that. More details at TeachTraffic.com. Thanks Ilana!
Ilana: Thanks so much, James. Talk to you soon!
