Facebook just passed the 500 million mark, of course this does not take into account all the users that may have multiple accounts. Still it is the largest social network and most heavily visited website. Although Facebook is not a search engine like Google, I believe Google has a real problem from competition it is going to face from Facebook in it’s pay per click model. Here is why I believe people are going to eventually put most of their advertising budgets towards Facebook’s pay per click.
The personal factor With Facebook you can really target a specific audience and narrow down who see’s your ads. With the advent of the like button you can get to know who your client’s are, what their likes are, who they are friends with, where they live. You have so much information at your fingertips to help access who your audience is and the ability to track and analyze what is working and what is not working.
Sharing Sure with Google you can target and narrow down your audience and it is very targeted marketing but Google lacks the social aspect that Facebook provides. People tend to trust people they know and like so if they see a friend that recommends (likes) a certain fan page; what better ringing endorsement is that? When someone lands on your Facebook landing page and clicks that like button it doesn’t end with that user, everyone of their friends now can see that you liked your fan page, providing you with more potential traffic.
Communication As I mention with Facebook you can really get to know who you audience is, you can instantly communicate, send new information, run contests, interact, and so much more.
Average time on site The biggest factor I believe where Facebook has an advantage over Google is the amount of time people spend on Facebook. Someone who may visit Facebook a hundred times and never click an ad will eventually click on ads that catch their eye. With 500 million users and still growing I think businesses will eventually figure out Facebook may be a better alternative to Google’s pay per click.
So what are your thoughts? Do you think Facebook is the way to go or do you prefer Google’s Adwords when it comes to pay per click advertising?












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facebook will compete and win this competition as a lot of ppl are continuously “browsing” facebook
Facebook will definitely rule the PPC world and I expect Facebook to overtake google soon in this regard because facebook offers real-time information from individuals personally instead of information from webpages.
I never thought about advertising in Facebook, i never try Google Adwords neither but after seeing your comparaison, i think FB is the best by knowing our customers and communicating with them.
I agree, I think Google has got too greedy and priced themselves out of the market for many people. Like you said the social aspect can be crucial and a recommendation from a friend is the absolute easiest way to get something sold.. and when we buy something and like it don’t we just LOVE to tell our friends all about it ! Google will pay the price for it’s inflexibility and self imposed “ruler status.”
I don’t know… I don’t think people on Facebook are really clicking on ads that much. I’ve talked to people that say they don’t even pay attention to the ads. I really would like to see some statistics on how well the Facebook ads are doing because I thought about using it.
Honestly, for me, Facebook advertising doesn’t work as well as Google Adwords.
When you are actively looking for something, ie when you are on Google, I think you are more open to clicking commercial links.However, when you are on Facebook, you are browsing photos, interacting with friends or just perusing. I don’t think that the Facebook users are necessarily going to convert as well,even if they do click, largely because they are not actively looking for something right at that moment.
Well, face book is one of the very effective and emergent media and more and more people are trying to utilize this efficient media and even you can start a complete marketing campaign in it so that more and more people can even start their marketing on the internet through face book and the fan page on the face book is very helpful in this important marketing campaign…
With the amount of traffic facebook has, i’m honestly surprised this has not happened sooner.
facebook is notably on the top of the food chain in terms of PPC ads, knowing that they have 500 million active users worldwide and still growing. I’ve also read last week that facebook and other social networks have 22% of the overall share in users’ time spent over the internet, compared to search engines that only have 3% of the pie. Social media is definitely the new world of online marketing, it’s just hard to tell how Google will react to this, knowing that the effect is very much visible not only to them but to marketers as well.
Regards,
Jason
Facebook may be able to get targeted clicks, however they lack the consumer edge that Google has. When I look for new products or services to spend up on, I don’t look for information on Facebook, I look for it on Google. Maybe this will change as more and more businesses have a social media presence, but I’m not sure I would put money on that. The more spam that hits my Facebook news feed, the less I click. I think that Google will win in the end.
Well, Facebook is growing rapidly. Even though ‘rapidly’ is a huge understatement, I believe Facebook is the new king of PPC. But it doesn’t really last that long at all, Yesterday’s MySpace is today’s Facebook. Who knows who will come out as the winner?
This is now the result for trusting facebook as the No. 1 social media site. Based on traffic statistics, Facebook has grown dramatically over the past couple of years and is now a viable option in PPC marketing. But this could be longer than using Google? Let’s see!
FaceBook is now the most popular social media site on the web today, the 500 million is a great breakthrough for them. Facebook is a giant network of people and businesses can advertise their business, product and service to specific groups of people that we be interested in the service or product.
I just add one more point that- Facebook recently announced that Bing is now the default search engine for its more than 400 million users worldwide, which puts the site in a position to enhance its advertising model even more. By offering search on the site, Facebook is now able to gather data that it can leverage immeasurably in the world of advertising: the way people think, what they care about and how this leads them to buying decisions.
Facebook is no match for twitter and other social networking sites so this mark has to be reached sooner r later
While Facebook Marketing does have potential, most of the traffic I’ve gotten from it was trash. I even used a couple coupons for an extra $100 worth of clicks and it wasn’t worthwhile. Tons & tons of impressions, lots of clicks, no sales.
Do you know why that is? Because people on Facebook are there to interact with their friends, play stupid games, and stalk acquaintances. The ads they see on the side are typically ignored, and if you do catch their eye, you are only going to get the impulse shoppers if any. Bottom line, people are not going on FB to shop. They go to the engines, to see who has what at the best price. Until FB integrates a shopping engine like the actual search engines have, its marketing opportunities will be slim to none for most. I will stick to the real search engines that give me traffic that is in research & buy mode, not “haha my friends status is so cool, ooh let me click this”
I’m not FB bashing too bad am I? Dont get me wrong, its great to waste time and keep up with people, and has a huge following, but it is NOT a contender to the crown. Just my $.02
Let’s face it.. Facebook is the new social networking monster today. The more fans you have the more money you get from your promo ads. Its an enormous squid with millions of tentacles to get yourself tangled into.
With Facebook, you can get very specific with your keywords and filter by location, interest, age level and group or cause involvement. With Google, you have the ability to present an ad based on what someone is searching for right now, ready to buy. So, may be that’s the reason which can give us a conclusion that FB rules.
If we consider the Ad Placement-
Facebook: Direct to users right on their profile page
Google: Ads are often placed on obscure, undisclosed websites
So, I guess that’s the reason FB reaches to most of the users.
As far as Market Saturation is considered, Facebook is a newer platform, so fewer advertisers are there but, Google though is crowded, it is still one of the top-producing online advertising networks.
If your budget allows, compare and test both platforms. As little as $100 each placed in PPC or CPM (cost-per-thousand) advertising on Facebook and Google is usually enough to reveal the difference in impact between specific and general targeting for your audience.
I think Many Google adword advertizers move to Face Book. They don’t ads on Google again. Google closes 30000 adwords advertizers account .It insult Advertizers.
I thought Facebook already was ruling the ppc world..
Just a few minutes ago I read the latest Fortune mag feature story on how Google is struggling to keep up with sites like Facebook, Twitter, and hello. Ppl are actually using social mediums for their searching more than Big G!
Facebook is one of the most popular social media websites today. With Facebook you can easily target a specific and huge audience then narrow down those who see’s your ads.
Facebook and google have their own distinctiveness and purposes. However, since facebook is a networking site, it is obviously highly visited. Almost users have their purpose of using facebook just like keeping in touch with their relatives and loved ones, become updated, and finding more friends worldwide. While, google has its own roles especially to internet marketers for their social search campaign. They’re both important. The only advantage of facebook is the number of users.
It’s simple. It is the fastest growing social networking on the planet and it’s still growing! Spammers and advertising are growing as well and could be very annoying sometimes.
Yes, didn’t fb just overtake google with the most hits daily? I know that i read that somewhere. I have thought about ppc before but just still believe it is better to rank for the organic results, in the long run. However, i think you are right on with facebook.
If you want to buy a laptop, do you go to facebook to find it? What about that new TV you have been itching to buy? Do you go compare prices on Facebook? What about the nearest pizza place? No, no, and no. Hmmm. We are striking out here, and these are all things just about any search engine can do. FB has alot of work ahead of it if it wants to try and compete, but the bottom line is its an entirely different type of operation. Yes, it sees huge traffic. Yes, you can put ads up. Any site that gets huge traffic will have that. Even Walmart.com uses Google adsense (not as obscure as some would have you believe). Many of you people are just fantasizing that FB will take over the world when they dont have a chance. Long live the King! jk.
The reason is social sites offer better targeting with keywords and demographic-specific ads. Think about the manner and type of information Facebook gathers. While Google knows you’re in the market for a new home, Facebook knows what causes are important to you, which videos you like to share and how often you make recommendations to your friends. Social media
advertising opportunities are yielding better-qualified, higher-ROI results compared to the Google ad network.
Facebook does have the potential to rule the pay per click advertising world.
I think facebook is going to have a leg up on adwords. Google has been alienating a lot of their advertisers with “google slaps” and such. I think facebook is more user-friendly and allows the advertiser to target better.
great post, social sites offer good marketing trics, and one thing more they also do have people they are really looking for our brands and services.
thnks for sharing
Facebook actually offers both pay per click and pay per thousand impressions pricing. Facebook ads are not delivered based on a persons own search action, the click through rates tend to be lower and thus pay per impression is often not the best option for advertisers unless they are looking for a wider level of publicity. Great information delivered.
Yes I like the pay per click option myself. You really need to optimize your ads in order to get the lowest possible pay per click. I don’t like paying unless someone actually hits on my ad.
If you wanna say so, facebook already has become a platform for third party apps and ads more then anything else. It’s amazing.
I have to agree that FB will bag this one. Half of the world’s population is always on facebook. No one can blame them actually. Pretty great stuff that fb can offer to millions of users.
Facebook is crazy. I’ve known a lot of people who “give up” facebook… they always come back!
Google’s model is still effective, but this newer platform
includes psychographic information–attributes relating to personality, values, attitudes, interests and lifestyles (also known as IAO variables). This is putting the pressure on Google to provide a similar service. The bottom line is, if you can display your ads to a (more precisely) targeted demographic, your click-through ratios will improve.
I think there will end up being a place for both. While Facebook does have many advantages, over time the prices will still go up and Facebook is much more strict on what type of advertisements can be used and what can be linked to – which Google can exploit to stay in the market. In the end it will come down to conversion % for money spent, and until someone can compare those numbers, we just won’t know.
This really is one of the most insightful articles I read online, doing a head to head comparison between Google and Facebook. I also agree that Facebook is becoming a real threat to Google. And this I think is good news for us end users of the internet, as this competition is driving them to develop better and better technologies.
I am on Facebook quite a bit and I have several friends who are on it all day. It is gigantic! It is a great place to get free advertising for your business. They are definitely going to hit Google pretty hard when it comes to ppc but Google will come up with new ways to keep us coming back to them as well.
In today’s industry, giving value is a must most especially when you are using social media..so make sure that whatever you are sending people to your ads are giving value. Also, always remember that for every user that clicks your ads, they will have a chance to vote your ads. So if they did not like what they saw, they will vote it negatively.
Facebook have really came a long way… It is amazing in a way that it easily catches some hearts. I love facebook and I know you too…
Kop @ Poker´s last [type] ..Home Page
No wonder why facebook has recently dominated all search engines. All my friends and even myself are addicted to it. It’s a perfect social site since you can stay connected with your contacts! Facebook has also the potential in promoting websites, affiliates, and any other type of sponsorships. Moreover, facebook Fan Pages can be very beneficial to any website or company.
Anthony@Charlotte DUI Attorney´s last [type] ..Hello world!
With today’s advent of technology, lots of social networking were evidently rule the life of every people. Face book is absolutely one of it. In fact, I have my own. through fb, I tends to communicate with my friends and other relatives abroad. Undeniably, even young children at school age have their own. They are influence by the rapid information technology invasion. But we need also to choose those people who would like us to be friends. We still need first to protect our personal security.
With the modern technology that we have and the internet as one of the precious invention one can consider, social networking will absolutely catches the taste of many. And one of this is face book which dominated the whole of search engines. And I can say that I am one of the many who have this social networking site. With this I gain lots of friends, easily communicate with them and even with my relatives abroad. It is definitely influential for face book dominated the global village. But we should always remember that though we have this social networking site, we should also protect our personal security, and our privacy as well.
Tanya-Los Angeles DUI Lawyer´s last [type] ..ROR Sitemap for http-wwwcaliforniaduihelpcom-
For me, facebook will rule the pay per click world because most of the internet users as of today’s generation uses fecebook, so no wonder why it will rule the pay per click world. There is a higher probability that most internet users visited facebook before doing their tasks.
I don’t think, facebook will EVER rule pay-per-click world. They have huge, interest based userbase, its true but they have quite low conversions. Don’t suit for all niches. Advertisers happily paying upto $40-45 cpc at Google because they’re still getting their ROI. Same is not true for facebook. Facebook was and is still in early beta of Google adwords :p
Success of facebook sounds overwhelming. Actually, some savvy companies recognize this and are jumping in. It is slowly devouring the web. And while the social network has plenty of critics and it runs into the occasional privacy concerns, it will dominate. . Although some of the core features will do on its own, we shouldn’t be overconfident about facebook. I believe also that it will rule the pay per click world. However, the question is, until when?
Jeez@NC DUI Lawyer´s last [type] ..Hello world!
Facebook is great! I love the games that can be played in this site, it’s so enjoyable even for adults. Especially teens and kids are so game in every game they offer.
I think as social media’s no.1 today, I bet Facebook will rule the pay per click world. Although Google is the no.1 search engine today, my hands are laid on Facebook because of how it initiated the essence of connecting people across the globe. Compared to Google, Facebook is more user-friendly–it includes features which can be used by both ages and by different walks of life. Also, many people, especially the younger generation, spend hours upon hours of surfing, playing online games or even just chat with their friends. The time-being used by Facebook users can evidently rule out Google.
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