Many businesses wonder which advertising platforms match their business model best. Each advertising platform has unique features and a variety of advantages that business can draw on. Putting together the right mix of platforms and finding a balance that works for your business is a challenge. This post will provide some insights about what type of businesses benefit from Facebook more than Search Engine Marketing and vice versa.
Businesses that Benefit from Social Media Marketing on Facebook
– E-commerce business: If you are an e-commerce business you definitely know how important it is to have people talking about your brand. Social media is a great way to make that happen – in fact, 80% of purchases are supported by information that is found on Facebook.
Important Recommendation: Did you know that you can create a remarketing campaign on Facebook? You only need to create an AdRoll account, create a list of 1,000 visitors and create your ads! This remarketing campaign is a fantastic way to build your e-commerce business.
– Small Physical Stores: Attracting your local audience is fundamental to getting in-store traffic. Facebook can be helpful to target precise geographic locations together with your ideal target group. Make sure to set up a strong campaign and engage your audience on a daily basis for lasting results.
Important Recommendation: If you want to promote special offers your best strategy is to first generate a good-sized audience via a “Like Ad” campaign. Once that’s done, you will be able to promote posts on your page or boosting your existing posts to reach out to an even bigger audience.
– Companies needing targeted mass coverage: You know your audience, you have a clear idea of your target location, and you have an awesome product or service. All you are missing is good mass targeted coverage. Facebook is the perfect way to go. It is cheaper than AdWords on a per click basis and delivers your message right to the people you want!
Important Recommendation: If your goal is to generate brand awareness use “Like Ad” campaigns or promote your posts. If your goal is to get people to your website, create a standard ad and pay Facebook each time a user lands on your website.
Businesses that Benefit the Most from Search Engine Marketing
– Your audience is not well-defined: Are you a business with a target group of different ages, interests, and gender? Not sure where you customers are located? Search Engine Marketing is the best choice for you because the customers come to you. You won’t waste money testing several audiences and you will be able to find out who your most profitable customers are by having them look for you.
Important Recommendation: Make sure to install the proper analytics tools on your website so you can analyze the behavior of customers on your website. You might be able to learn a lot about them and then complement your search engine marketing campaign with Facebook advertisement.
– You are looking to target intent driven marketing: Search Engine Marketing lets you target customers that have the intention of performing an action. This intention is something that distinguishes SEM from Facebook marketing. If you want to “play safe” and target only “serious” customers, search engine marketing is your way to go.
Important Recommendation: If you really want to target the intent of a customers you need to use exact and phrase match keywords because they are the ones that best match the needs of the users. Broad match keywords will not be a fair representation of a targeted strategy.
– E-commerce business: E-commerce stores need AdWords to establish the first connection with a client who has intent and is looking for a product. Once this first connection is established, SEM allows you to set up strategies to actually convert the user into a client. Also, this will speed up the process of collecting 1,000 people in your AdRoll remarketing list to use on Facebook.
Important Recommendation: Set up a product listing campaign on AdWords. They convert really well! Did you know that having both a search and a product listing ad statistically improves your chances of converting? Also, look into remarketing for the search network on Google AdWords. It could be a powerful tool for your business!
In Summary
SEM and Facebook Marketing can be a good marketing solution for a number of businesses, and they often work well together. If you must make an either or decision, small business with a limited budget tend to have better results with Facebook. If you have enough marketing budget and would like to use an intent driven marketing tool, SEM is the way to go.
