If you’re looking to grow your business, advertising can be the key. Both Google and Meta (Facebook) provide fantastic advertising platforms that can help you reach your target audience.  But how do you know when to use Google Ads and when to use Meta Ads? Both platforms have some key differences that mean one might serve you better depending on what kind of business you run and what you have to offer. Here’s some helpful advice to get you started.

Keep in mind that we’re not suggesting that you ONLY use one ad platform over the other for each of the below scenarios, simply that the chosen platform should certainly be part of your overall marketing strategy.

When To Use Google Ads

1. When a Product Has A Specific Season

If a product is in season, Google ads should definitely be used as in that product's peaks, people will be searching on Google. Swimwear, BBQ supplies, Christmas decorations, waterproof jackets, halloween costumes are all examples of products that are more popular at specific times of the year.

Use Google Trends to assess where the seasonal peaks and troughs are and consider aligning your ads with these times. Keep in mind that other advertisers will be running ads for these products at these times, so competition and therefore CPC's might be quite high. 

2. When Products Are Popular All Year Round

While some products are seasonal, running clothing, fitness equipment, pet supplies, home goods and online courses are popular all year round.

If it’s the kind of product anyone can use at any time, there will always be search demand for it. Your only challenge is then to stand out from the competition and to create engaging ad copy.

3. When Search Volume Is Generally High

The chances are your products will either fit into one of the above categories. However, it’s also important to spend time assessing what areas of your products have a generally high search volume. This could be because the brand or particular model is popular, is the product going viral on social media somewhere?

It's important to keep in mind any strong organic positions that you might have. If you are ranking in position 1 for any products or services, then running Google ads might not be the best use of budget. But if you’re ranking on page 2 or lower, then Google ads might not only give your products some visibility, but it might help your organic rankings. If users convert through your ads, it gives strong signals to Google that users who searched that term had their needs satisfied through your website.

4. If You Run A Service

People are always Googling for services such as builders, removal companies, garage door repairs and lots more. People generally know that the chances of them stumbling across these services on Facebook at the exact time they need it are low, so they will actively search for these services as and when they require.

For your Google ads, think of the search terms that people are using when looking for your service. Yes you might be a ‘home removal’ company, but for your search themes, consider keywords like ‘moving house company’, ‘help moving house’ and more.

5. If You Are Competitive On Price

One benefit of using Google Ads if you have a sale running or are competitive on price for a given product, is that if you have a Performance Max (PMax) or Shopping campaign, your product will show up in Google’s Shopping ads section at the top of the page. Yes your product will be included beside your competitor’s products, but if you have a better price, users will see this and may click on your ad seeing they can save some money.

Everyone is looking for a bargain, and Shopping ads can highlight to users that they will get one from your company. This is also applicable the opposite way, if you’re price is higher than your competitors, it could be the cause of low click-through-rates on your PMax or Shopping campaigns.

When To Use Meta Ads

1. If Impulse Buying Is Likely

If your product is the kind that people are likely to impulse buy then Meta ads could be a lucrative advertising platform. The very nature of Meta means that users stumble onto your ad as they scroll through their feed. If your product is enticing enough, then stumbling across it, coupled with the right imagery and copy, could be enough to convince them to purchase.

2. To Build Brand Awareness

If you are a start up or a fairly new brand, people likely won't know your company exists, therefore, they won’t be searching for you on Google. Using Meta Ads to show customers your brand, products and core values could help get your brand in front of the right people who could really love your product.

With Meta being such a visual platform, you have the chance to showcase what your brand is really like in a user’s Facebook feed.

3. For Remarketing Purposes

Remarketing continues to be one of the most powerful tools in a marketers toolkit. With Meta ads you can specifically target people who have simply been on your website before, added to cart or completed a purchase without having to rely on users searching for your product or service again. You can certainly also use Google Ada for remarketing.

This gives you the opportunity to either: (1) Showcase similar products to those who bought something from your website before, (2) Convince users who added a product to cart to complete purchase, or (3) Put your products back in front of people who viewed them but did not add one to their cart.

4. If You Have Leftover Stock Of Out of Season Products

This one might sound strange but if you have leftover stock you are potentially better off trying to advertise it (as long as you don’t start eating into your profit margins). It’s better to try and sell the product if you can than to have it sit in a warehouse. 

This works even better if the product is on sale. People are always looking for deals and offers on products that are out of season so putting your high-stock products on Meta with some enticing copy and visuals could help shift those remaining units. 

5. If You Have Strong Visuals

As we said above, Meta is a very visual platform, with ads showing on Instagram stories, reels and in Facebook feeds. Having strong visuals is a key component of your Meta ads. Not just because it looks good, but because lots of other Meta advertisers are using strong visuals, the last thing you want is for yours to pale in comparison.

Make sure to upload different dimensions, such as tall, landscape and square so it fits with all of Meta’s placements.

6. If You Want Your Budget To Be Spent

While Google spend relies on search demand, Meta does not. That means that if you give meta £20 per day, it is more likely to spend the full £20 each day to put your ads in front of the right people across it’s various placements.

If you give Google £20 per day, that might not matter if not enough people are searching for it. Google can increase CPC’s and when competition is high, a higher budget is needed, but if you want a higher certainty that your budget will be spent in a certain time frame, Meta might be a better option.

What Can We Do For You?

Advertising on both Google and Meta can be a powerful tool to propel your business. But there are times where one platform might be better than the other depending on the stage of business growth you are in, products, search volume and more. As your digital marketing agency, once we analyse your business, we’ll be fully transparent as to what platform is best suited for your business. If you are ready to put your money in the right place, get in touch with us today.