This year spending in online advertising is due to surpass print advertising spending for the first time ever and is projected to double by 2016, according to eMarketer. If you are a company that has participated in traditional advertising avenues in the past and you now want to get into online advertising, how do you choose which online marketplace is best for your business? There is Google Adwords, Facebook advertising, and many more. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
Facebook Advertising
Between Google and Facebook, Facebook is the newest player in the online advertising world. Advertisers spent over $3 billion last year through Facebook and Facebook’s ad revenue has been growing by more than $1 billion every year since 2009. Three of the biggest advantages of Facebook advertising are that it is affordable, easily targeted, and it’s easy to use:
– Targeting – Facebook users themselves post what they like to eat, what TV’s shows they like, what activities they participate in, and what associations they belong to. Facebook users also have to provide their name, age, and date of birth to join the social network. This is valuable information for businesses. For example, if you are a small bakery in Portland, Oregon you can run an ad that is only seen by women age 18 to 35 that are fans of the television show Cake Boss and live in Oregon.
– Affordability – Does your business only have $25 to put toward your online advertising efforts? That’s OK. Run the most targeted Facebook ad that you can and only spend $25. The more money that you spend, the more frequently your ad will be seen and the longer your Facebook ad will be able to run. Businesses can choose from a cost per click (CPC) or cost per thousand impressions (CPM) option. The CPC choice focuses more on getting a potential customer to click through the ad to your website or landing page. CPM advertisers look to get as many people as possible to see their ad on Facebook.
– Ease of Use – Facebook’s advertising platform is very user friendly. Scroll down to the bottom of your Facebook wall and click on ads. Just follow the directions from there to set up your ad. If you need assistance in setting up a Facebook Ad campaign, contact us here at Eric Wagner.
Google Advertising
Google’s advertising platform is called Google Adwords. This online advertising program has been around since 2004 and in 2010 advertisers spent $28 billion with the online advertising provider. Some of the key points that you need to know for your business to go with Google Adwords are:
– The Google Adwords tool– This keyword tool is invaluable in the search engine optimization (SEO) and to your online advertising campaign. What you think your customers are using as keyword terms for your product may not actually be what they are searching for. For instance, maybe you think people are searching for “Oregon cake decorators” when they are actually searching for “Oregon cake décor”. The Google Adwords tool will guide you to use keywords that will get your listing the most targeted views.
– Building Brand Awareness – Advertising on Google is a great way to build brand awareness. Especially if you are a niche business with very few large brand name competitors, you might show up a lot for (as in the above example), a specialty shop in Oregon. Online Marketing can do that for you.
– The Power of Google – Google is still the number one search engine, and some of this power can be harnessed by businesses through Google Adwords. When someone searches for the keywords that match your business, Google Adwords allows your business the opportunity to be “featured” on the right hand side of the page.
– High Competition– A frequent complaint from Google Adwords users is that the pay per click (CPC) and/or cost-per-thousand (CPM) price rises too high with higher competition for those words. A client recently said that they were ranking well for their key terms and staying within their online advertising budget. Then a competitor came along that drove up their CPC so much that they couldn’t afford to advertise any longer on Google Adwords.
No matter which online advertising avenue you choose, be sure to choose one. The sooner your business gets into the online ad world, the more it will pay off.
