Paid social and paid search ads are popular forms of paid online advertising. They can attract more consumers and increase sales for your business. Billions of people use search engines and social media to browse, research, and purchase products and services. This is an important online marketing tool for your online business.
Paid search ads are usually text-based because they look similar to other search results. On the other hand, paid social media ads come from the user’s social media channels, and you can often have more freedom to choose what you want your ad to look like.
Those two strategies look similar, but what are their advantages and disadvantages, and how do you know which will generate the most revenue? Please read on to find out which form of paid online advertising is best for your online business!
What is “Paid Search”?
Paid search” marketing involves the placement of advertisements on search engine results pages (SERPs). Users see these ads as a result of the search they just performed. In contrast, a business usually uses organic search to rank higher on SERPs when it doesn’t pay for placements.
Pay-per-click (PPC) is another term for paid search, which is an ad where the business only pays for the ad when someone clicks on it. Many businesses use PPC ads in their paid search campaigns. These ads are also known as SEM (search engine marketing). Plutus Media is a PPC marketing agency in New York City.
Advantages Of Paid Search Engine Ads
- Speed. You can often get fast sales from search campaigns.
- High intent. As a result of ranking above your competitors, when people decide to buy something online, they will often see your ad first.
- Audience. Search engine queries are handled by Google 86.6% of the time. As a result, most people use one platform rather than social media.
- Google Ads. As the pioneer of search ads, Google’s ad platform offers self-guided courses and support from on-call specialists.
- Better Website SEO. Advertising on Google can benefit your website’s SEO because spending ad dollars with Google greases the wheel so to say, giving your website a better chance at ranking higher!
Disadvantages
- Ad options. Almost all search ads are text-based. Other ad formats are product listing ads and display ads with images.
- Comparison shoppers. Many options are available for the same product due to the nature of the search. They can compare you with your competitors.
- The marketing funnel. It’s great to reach buyers ready to buy, but you can’t reach them earlier in the process.
- Targeting. In terms of demographics and location, paid search offers some basic options to target audiences but nowhere near the breadth of options available in paid social.
What is Paid Social Advertising?
Paid marketing or public advertising is where companies pay to place advertisements on various social media platforms – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and many more. This contrasts with organic social media, where brands and businesses post their own content for free on social media alongside everyone else’s posts.
Paid search can be called responsive advertising because the ads might be based on the customer’s preferences. For example, if a person belonging to New York City, Brooklyn, or Long Island, when searches something on the search engine like “best online marketing agency near me”, then Google will show him the marketing agencies of New York City, Brooklyn, or Long Island that are near where they are to whereas paid social tends to be more intrusive.
Like paid search, a Plutus Media platform is a marketing agency that is often compared to a live social media platform. Among the online marketing services that Plutus Media offers in Brooklyn, are website development, search engine optimization, paid online ad management, and more!
Advantages of social media advertising
- Ad options. You can choose from images, carousels, videos, and immersive experiences to run social media ads on every social media platform.
- Impulse buying. Social media gives people the opportunity to discover things they did not know existed or did not realize they wanted.
- The marketing funnel. Paid social ads can be linked together to influence people who do not know you to become loyal followers and brand advocates.
- Social media ad targeting. Social media platforms use all the information they know about a person to deliver the most relevant ads to that person.
- Cost. CPC (cost per click) for paid social ads is often pretty low. Impression costs are lower than sale costs very early in the process.
Disadvantages of advertising on social media
- Intrusive. Many people do not like ads in social media feeds.
- Many platforms, many options. Social media platforms are so numerous that it can be hard to determine where your audience is and which ads they are most likely to like.
- Cost. The average cost of paid social is low, but if too many ads are posted, there is no interest in the content, or there are too many irrelevant posts, costs can quickly skyrocket.
- Click-through rate. It is not easy to beat the algorithm for paid social; social media platforms want their users to remain on their platforms, so your ads need to be great.
- Rate of change. Always stay on top of updates on social media since it can change from week to week. Paid online advertising moves fast and is ever changing.
Final words
The ideal advertising strategy for your business is to advertise on search engines and social media. This is an effective way to connect with your audience wherever they are on their purchase journey. At the end of the day, both social media advertising and search engine advertising can be used to target people via location, interests, income, and more! For example, targeting people who lease cars in Brooklyn can be done via Facebook ads and Youtube ads alike. Overall, any form of paid online advertising will give your business a competitive edge online.
Nonetheless, if a budget or resource constraint prevents you from doing that, you must choose to consider your business goals. Plutus Media Agency in Coney Island, Brooklyn, NY, offers a full suite of online marketing services for a range of budgets and industries.
