Advertising On Facebook Or Setting Up a Google Adwords Campaign. Anyone Can Do It, Right?

Absolutely. IF you know what you’re doing. Unfortunately, many marketers lack the required knowledge – despite them THINKING they know what they’re doing.

The sad thing is, they lose heart once they find that the only responses they get are from people looking for jobs and from people trying to sell them something.

When I first heard of Facebook (all those years ago) and was told how it was a potential gold mine waiting to be tapped, I set up ads promoting another business that I was involved in at the time and sat back waiting for the phone to ring. Needless to say, it didn’t.

I then allocated a budget to Google Adwords and set up a series of ads. I ran the campaign for three months or so. The result here too was disappointing. (Although I’m sure Google were happy).

The lesson I learnt was that as much as I THOUGHT I could set up successful Google Adwords and Facebook advertising campaigns, I was pretty clueless – even though I’ve been in the ad industry nearly 30 years.

This said, Google Adwords and Facebook advertising can work amazingly well. IF set up correctly and managed professionally.

There are way too many people out there – website designers and developers in the main – who profess to be experts in online marketing, when they’re nothing but. They may know how to design and build a website, but when it comes to marketing that site online, their knowledge is basic at best.

I’ve learnt over the years that really good online marketers in South Africa are few and far between. (Over the last few years, I’ve handed online advertising projects to a number of “online marketers” only to be disappointed by the results. Invariably, they talk the talk, but fail to walk the walk).

Fortunately, a year or so ago, I was introduced to a really good digital agency so my frustrations are now over. These guys are good and they have an in-depth understanding of how to make facebook advertising and Google Adwords work for their clients.

Setting up a Google Adwords account can be a time-consuming process as it involves setting up multiple accounts – of which a Google Plus account, Google Places account and Google Partners account are some. Detailed keyword research, competitor analysis and marketing research and analysis then need to be conducted.

Once done, and the Google Adwords have been set up and activated, the ads need to be managed. This, to see which ads are working, which are not, and if not, why they’re not. Simple things like changing words here and there could make a world of difference. (The managing of Adwords campaigns is crucially important).

Then there’s the “cost-per-click” aspect. When someone clicks on your ad, it costs you – and often-times, it could cost you more than it should.

By having a professional online marketer manage your Adwords campaign, your cost-per-click can be brought down with the aim of getting you more clicks per your allotted ad budget. (Once your ad budget has been used up, your ads stop appearing).

As a marketer, you’re looking for as many clicks as you can get – but not just any clicks. Clicks from people who have nothing better to do all day than click on ads are a waste of time and your ad budget because they have no interest in your product or service. What you’re looking for are clicks from people who ARE interested. By having your Adword campaigns managed by people who know what they’re doing, your online advertising can be targeted – so that you reach the right people, at the lowest cost.

This pertains to Facebook advertising too. You need to have the right ads on facebook, communicating the right things and aimed at the right target market, for less cost. All this may seem obvious, but online marketing is a science – and should be left to savvy online marketers who know the tricks of the trade.

With approximately 1.28 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the 2nd-most visited website (behind Google) and all these eyeballs means a lot of exposure for your advertising, so long as it’s targeted. Fortunately, targeted advertising is catered for on this platform in that you are able to target a specific group of people based on (for example) their age, geographical whereabouts, personal interests and more. Facebook can even comb through user profiles to place your ads only on pages that mention a specific keyword.

As an advertiser, you can also choose between CPC and CPM pay structures (cost per click and cost per impression) allowing you to tailor your ad campaign any which way. When all’s said and done, advertising on Facebook can be inexpensive (and profitable), if you know what you’re doing.

My advice? Call in a good online marketer, and ask to see the deliverables ie what he or she has achieved for others. It’s important that you separate the wheat from the chaff, and the talkers from the doers.

Facebook advertising and advertising on Google needs to be approached professionally. If they are, advertisers can reap the rewards.