Looking for information on the internet, which medium is more suitable for you in order to carry out an advertising campaign – Facebook or Google AdWords – you will not find a definite answer to this question. Both platforms have their strengths and weaknesses, but the main difference between them is mainly the mechanism of advertisement.
By advertising your training services or training courses on Facebook, you choose an active advertisement, that is, you present your offer to people who usually do not necessarily look for information about it, but may be interested in it after taking a glance at your advertisement. It’s best to compare it to a visit to a shopping mall – by moving along communication routes, you are looking casually at shop windows. Perhaps you’re only going to shop at a pet store and you’re not looking for anything more, but suddenly you see an interesting thing, an offer or an advertisement that prompts you to consider buying.
This is how it works on Facebook – your client doesn’t necessarily look for training offers in a given field, but an interesting advertisement can convince him to take part in your training. This is the active advertisement – you make the effort to find a potential customer and attract his attention. Take a look here for more tips how to promote events on Facebook.
Advertising on Google search works on a completely different principle. Simply put – in Google AdWords, you indicate keywords that apply to your offer. If a potential customer types in a search engine a specific phrase or words similar to your keywords, then your ad will appear to him in the search results. In this model, the customer initiates the sales process, because he first needs to be interested in the issue himself and then perform the search action. This is a passive advertisement because you are only responding to the specific needs of the client. You do not arouse interest, you only provide potential solutions.
In our shopping center example, the passive advertisement model looks like this: a person enters the mall, approaches the information board and searches for the word “key” (when he is going to make a key) or “laundry” (if he wants to wash his shirts).
It depends on you how you will reach your clients, but it is definitely important to understand the mechanisms of advertising in both described media. Knowing how the ad works will allow you to plan and carry out an effective campaign.
Is there a golden solution? No. Try different approaches. The success of one campaign does not guarantee the success of the next. Various factors can determine its success: date of campaign, content, target group, etc. Below you will find the strengths and weaknesses of both platforms.
Comparison
Google AdWords
Strengths:
- Very powerful analytical tools for measuring website traffic
- A huge database of potential customers
- Quite extensive criteria for selecting the target group, e.g. geographical areas, time of day, days of the week
- Reaching recipients already interested in the matter, and therefore more willing to act on the offer
Weaknesses:
- Limited space for advertising (only three lines of text in search results)
- A fairly complicated process of launching advertising campaigns
Strengths:
- Ease of tracking campaign effects
- Very extensive criteria for selecting the target group: cities, geographical areas, age, interests, occupation, activity, etc.
- The ability to reach potential customers at a very early stage of the sales process, even before they realize their needs
- The ability to attract attention through the use of interesting graphics or film
Weaknesses:
- It is not possible to choose the time of the day and days of the week of advertising
- Simple analytical tools
- Range of potential customers is smaller than at Google’s
Remember that in any case, an advertising campaign can be very expensive if it is incorrectly configured. We will not tell you how to advertise your business, but we can reveal that at Konfeo we are supporters of active sales.
We just like taking over the initiative.