The ad world is growing, rapidly.
According to mobiThinking,
mobile ad spend worldwide is predicted to reach $20.6 billion by 2015,
primarily driven by search ads and local ads. Google alone is the main
recipient of mobile ad spend, accounting for $2.5 billion in annual mobile ad
revenues ("Mobithinking," 2012).
Lest we forget about the growing beast
that is Facebook. In 2011, Facebook
ad spend grew 1600%, based on brands who utilize Nanigan’s software to
manage their Facebook ad ecosystem (Eler, 2012).
eMarketer predicted that by the end of
2011, social network advertising will account for nearly 11% of all online ad
spending in the U.S. When we think about it, social media advertising is
distinct from other ad platforms in that they are highly targeted based on
information its audience provides (demographic, psychographic, interests,
likes, connections, etc.)
We all know that reach is key to
advertising success. The greater the reach a site has, the greater the
potential for turning an impression into a click. Facebook reaches 51 percent
of all Internet users (one trillion pageviews per month), whereas Google
reaches every Internet user at one point or another. Google’s display
advertising network reaches over two million websites with 180 billion ad
impressions per month (Flosi, 2011).
Given my experience with ad buys in
Google and Facebook, both have their benefits and setbacks. Ultimately, it’s up
to the marketer to make the right decision, based on their goals, to see where
they should invest their ad spend.
Facebook Vs. Google within the Ad Realm
Both platforms offer a strong position
with internet advertising; however, there are some key differences advertisers
should consider before aiming their budgets one way or another.
- Overall Reach: While both companies maintain a strong reach, Google clearly dominates with its ability to reach more unique visitors around the world, whereas Facebook can only reach those 900 million or so users at any given time.
- Ad targeting: Facebook is still developing its mobile advertising platform and is only testing some basic newsfeed ads within its mobile platform. Google, however, offers all of these and more, including keyword-based targeting options for a mix of ad types.
- Ad formats: Facebook recently launched five new ad formats, which include: ads that appear in news feeds; ads that run on the right-hand side of the homepage; ads within the news feed of your mobile device (not available yet); ads that appear when you log out; and offers. The new ad formats are either text and image-based ads or video ads, which can also be larger than the standard size ads. Google, however, maintains a strong dominance with a variety of formats, including: text ads, image ads, flash-based image ads, drop-down ads, mobile ads and in-video ads.
Ultimately, Facebook advertising is
the only form of advertising allowed on the social network giant, whereas
Google’s Display Network allows advertisers to make strategic media buys across
multiple sites.
The following infographic shows a
detailed breakdown of Facebook Ads versus Google Display Network.
References:
Eler, A. (2012, February 1). Report:
Facebook ad spending grew 1600% in 2011. Retrieved from http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/report_facebook_ad_spending_grows_1600.php
Flosi, S. (2011, November 28). comscore
releases october 2011 u.s. online video rankings. Retrieved from
http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/11/comScore-Releases_October_2011_U.S._Online_Video_Rankings
Mobithinking. (2012, June). Retrieved
from http://mobithinking.com/mobile-marketing-tools/latest-mobile-stats
