Due to Facebook and Instagram’s increased popularity amongst mobile platforms, running ads on social media has become the norm. Yet, we must not forget that, even though users rely blindly on these platforms, Google has also been integrated into our lives, minds, and, naturally, our search behaviour, consequently being the epicentre of online searches. What does this mean? By running cross-platform campaigns, you’ll get an insane number of advantages. Let’s go through some of them.
First, a bit of background
Before we begin, it’s important to be aware that Facebook, Instagram, and Google Ads offer different types of paid content.
As you might know, both Facebook and Instagram will enhance your presence on social media; users won’t be actively looking for your ad, so you’ll look for them. That’s why we refer to these two as Paid Social. You, as a marketer, pay to increase your presence on these social media platforms.
On the contrary, when users search for specific search queries on Google, they’ll actively look for your business. Placing ads on Google is, therefore, known as Paid Search or SEA (Search Engine Advertising). You, as a marketer, pay to increase your presence on Search Engines; specifically, on Google.
Now that the difference between these two groups of platforms is clear, we’ll move on to the next step. Not only will we dig into the advantages that online advertising brings but also into three of the benefits of running Facebook, Instagram, and Google simultaneously.
Enjoy the perks of running Facebook, Instagram, and Google Ads
Many advertisers tend to focus on the famous versus argument: which one is better? Where should I advertise? Which is more convenient? Yes, it’s indeed essential to know your onions, to be sure about which placement will drive more results, but, having these three platforms at our reach, why not get the upper hand and make use of them simultaneously? You’ll get the best of both worlds in a single marketing strategy.
The main reason to run placement-optimised campaigns is obvious: they are proven to drive more results. Because Facebook, Instagram, and Google offer different approaches to online marketing, cross-platform targeting allows you to explore your options.
How will you get the most out of paid social and paid search? Well, several approaches are available, of course.
1. Explore and target different audience types/personas
Your audience will probably be comprised of different age groups, and, naturally, so are social media platforms. Instagram is primarily accessed by teenagers and young adults. Facebook is next on the list, whose users are mainly composed of adults. Finally, people of all ages search on Google, but the ones who are actually intending to purchase are principally young adults, adults, and elderly people.
So, what if you sell clothing for all ages? By advertising on Instagram and Facebook, you can target younger people, interact with them, increase your brand awareness, and finally earn their trust. On the other hand, young adults and older people who are already settled and earn their living will start searching online. Target them by using Google Ads, set the appropriate keywords, and help your business drive more sales. In the blink of an eye, your reach will have increased dramatically!
Of course, you can still do this only on Facebook and Instagram. But the problem with excluding Google as a channel is that you’ll be missing one of the perks of Search Engine Advertising, which will be addressed in the next section.
2. The funnel: drive traffic with paid social, drive sales with paid search
Generating traffic always comes before driving sales, and we usually carry this out by running different campaigns on Facebook Ads; one for traffic and another one for conversions.
But there’s another option available, which is dividing these two steps of the funnel: use Facebook and Instagram for traffic and Google for conversions. In this way, you’ll create engaging ads on social media so that your customers get to know your business, and then you’ll focus on those who actually search for your products on Google. Let’s set an example.
Emma is a twenty-one-year-old young adult who’s interested in fashion, makeup, and design. One day, while she’s on her phone browsing on Facebook, she sees a video of a clothing store that really applies to her. Because Emma is so compelled by the ad, she finishes watching the video. Then, due to retargeting, she sees another advertisement from the same business on Instagram stories. Now she’s even more engaged!
Emma’s fancied this business so much that she finally decides to buy a skirt online. That’s why she goes to Google and searches for Female clothing online store London, hoping to find the shop whose name she doesn’t remember. Thanks to Google Ads, the business appears first on the list. Emma accesses the website, looks for the skirt, and makes a purchase.
This is how cross-platform targeting can substantially benefit your business. Facebook and Instagram will help users get to know you, but Google will finalise the process by assisting customers in finding you. The icing on the cake!
3. Target different customer needs: what they want and what they may want
Facebook and Instagram Ads find their basis on demographic and interest targeting: they’ll find you so that you’ll later find them. So, when running ads on these two platforms, you, as a marketer, will ‘guess’ what the user wants by choosing an Open Targeting audience. This, of course, applies to you if you aim to drive traffic to your website. In this case, you’ll advertise products your audience may want, because they’re not actively looking for them. This will expand your audience and will increase the chances of your target group making a purchase.
But Google functions differently. Since the customer will be actively looking for products (either yours or similar), you’ll target specifically what the customer wants. The keywords are exact, and the users who actually look for those keywords are genuinely interested, there’s no denial.
By running ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Google simultaneously, you’ll enjoy the perks of targeting what your audience wants and what they may want.
That's it, mainly!
These three advantages are only some examples. Advertising on Facebook, Instagram, and Google is an experience packed with pros that will enhance your marketing performance: you’ll enjoy cross-device targeting (mobile and desktop), you’ll make use of both visual (Instagram) and text-based (Google) platforms, and so on. What are the next steps, then? If you were already advertising on only one of these platforms, adding the others is a good choice.
So now it’s up to you. Create a campaign that suits your needs while fulfilling the needs of your audience too.
Are you interested in more tips regarding your marketing strategy and looking for the best results? You can get in touch with our certified team of experts to know more!
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