Adwords and Facebook advertising both offer targeting options. Facebook advertisers can target by location, age, birthdate, sex, relationship status, likes and interests, education and many other profile indicators (“Facebook Tutorials,” 2010). AdWords primarily uses keyword search, contextual search (added in 2011) and demographics, as tools for locating the target audience (“Inside Adwords,” 2011), (“Getting Started with Google,” 2009). With the multitude of targeting options offered by Facebook, it would seem to be the clear winner, but many advertisers lack faith in the purchasing power of Facebook.
Facebook: A year in review
The year 2012 has been rough on Facebook. On May 16, 2012, GM announced it would no longer advertise on Facebook, pulling $10 million in ad dollars from the site (Vera, 2012). Two days later, Facebook went public, and stocks immediately
took a nosedive. Many investors were stunned and outraged, as their expectations were high. Others, like Goldman Sachs and Microsoft, sold off their shares before the IPO and made nice profits (Tavakoli, 2012).
Despite the disappointing news in 2012 for most shareholders, Facebook still reached the 1 billionth user mark this year.
So, with such a large audience on Facebook, why did GM leave? Why not advertise on Facebook? GM said they left because they were not getting their return on investment (ROI). Some blamed poor marketing strategies while others said Facebook is simply a bad place to advertise for cars (Vera, 2012).
A survey by Ad Age this year took into account the experiences of 658 self-described social media decision makers made up of 34% marketers, 34% agency execs, and 13% media execs. Among the respondents, “19% said they "don't know" if Facebook is useful” in driving purchase intent. Another 13% said it is “not useful,” while 55% said it was “somewhat useful.”
The findings show “a high level of ambivalence on a key branding metric.” Several respondents from the Ad Age survey complained that Facebook does a poor job of explaining data, while advertising is “time consuming and requires a lot of manual entry.” One respondent called for “better analytics and better customer support, like Google's AdWords (Learmonth, 2012).”
Facebook’s audience vs Google’s audience
This brings up one of the key differences between advertising on AdWords versus Facebook. Facebook reaches a different audience, often with different intentions. The intent of a Google searcher is to find what they are searching for. If that search happens to translate into a purchasing need, Google has provided a service in helping the advertiser find its consumer. While Facebook may know a great deal of personal information about us, the intent of a user on a social media channel is harder to determine. In search, and using keywords, searchers often tell the search engine exactly what they need. In a social media environment, the advertisements based user-intent more on past experiences, rather than immediate needs. Of course, with all of the PR disasters over privacy, it is pretty obvious that Facebook is good at collecting personal data, and they know a lot about consumers. Still, does that translate into sales?
To Facebook’s credit, the company is taking aim at advertisers concerns. In September, social media giant partnered with Datalogix, a company that gathers information from loyalty and rewards cards that consumers use in stores. Datalogix is able to provide Facebook with data that supposedly connects ads seen online to purchases made in stores—a way “to reassure worried advertisers that Facebook advertising is worthwhile (Hill, 2012).”
References
Tavakoli, J. (2012, October 16). Facebook's Plummeting Stock Price (Update)." Huffington Post.
Retrieved November 12, 2012 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/janet-tavakoli/facebooks-
plummeting-stoc_b_1969020.html
Vera, J. (2012, August 16). "Facebook vs. AdWords in Audience Targeting." FBPPC. Retrieved
November 12, 2012 from http://fbppc.com/advertising/facebook-vs-adwords-in-audience-targeting/
Learmonth, M. (2012, June 27). "Ad Age Survey: Marketers Love Facebook, But Many Have No Idea If
Their Ads Work." Ad Age. Retrieved November 12, 2012 from http://adage.com/article/digital/ad-
age-survey-marketers-love-facebook-idea-ads-work/235642/
Hill, K. (2012, September 26). "Facebook Is Tracking What Users Buy In Stores To See Whether Its Ads
Work." Forbes. Retrieved November 12, 2012 from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/09/26/facebook-is-tracking-what-users-buy-in-stores-
to-see-whether-its-ads-work/
Facebooktutorial. (2010, April 5). “Facebook Tutorials—How to Advertise on Facebook.” Retrieved
November 12, 2012 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jOBDIql4yc
GoogleBusiness. (2009, June 15). “Getting Started with Google AdWords” Retrieved
November 12, 2012 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx2L6EGa9DY
(2011, March 29). "Google: Inside AdWords." Retrieved November 12, 2012 from
http://adwords.blogspot.com/2011/03/new-way-to-contextually-target-your-ads.html
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