Paid Social vs Search: Which is best?
When it comes down to deciding which platform is best to advertise on, it’s commonly thought that search is more valuable than social advertising. However, these platforms are equally as important as each other and in order to run a successful advertising campaign, they need to work hand in hand.
Search ads have become the most common form of advertising due to the high-quality leads from new customers. These ads are also very simple and easy to set up, consisting of a set amount of text and bidding on certain keywords. The strong results are to be expected from this platform as users already have a high intent to purchase - they were already searching for the related item.
However, these individuals would have developed that intent to purchase somewhere else. They could have either decided that they needed the product or service, or they could have seen adverts on a different platform - this is where social advertising comes in. Social ads are the fastest growing segment of paid advertising and are very different to search ads. They allow for more information, images and videos to showcase the brand and the product or service. The wide range of targeting options on offer, such as interests, professions and demographics, allow brands to get their message across effectively to the right users.
Source - ig.com
HOW TO INTEGRATE SOCIAL AND SEARCH IN YOUR STRATEGY
To grow beyond search, brands need to build awareness; social is the perfect platform for this job. By running ads on social, brands can build up trust and a loyal following so users are more likely to buy from them. If a person does a Google search and the specific brand shows up amongst many competitors, they will be likely to click on that specific brand, as they will have an affinity towards it.
With social, it is also possible to target users who are further up the funnel who search cannot reach - these users may not realise that they need what you are selling. For example, a user may be interested in fitness and exercising and is targeted with an ad selling gym wear. They may not have thought about buying new gym wear until they saw the ad and then they might make a decision to purchase. If they are not in a position to purchase when they see the Facebook ad i.e., they are at work, they might then Google search the brand later and purchase direct through the site. This sale will then be attributed to search even though social was the first touch point in the journey and gave them that purchase intent.
Fabletics’ social ad may prompt a need for an item that could result in a search later on at a more convenient time.
Understanding this important connection will give brands reason to put budget behind paid social, and run activity alongside both social and search in order to achieve the best results from the campaign.
HOW TO ENSURE YOUR STRATEGY IS WORKING
Does search take priority in your marketing budget? Have you thought about how it can work effectively with social ads?
For many of our clients this is the case and social ads are often overlooked and take a back seat. Recently we introduced a 6 week social audit programme which looks at ways your social ads can be optimised to work more effectively with your Search strategy. We take a look at everything from targeting to creative and test our findings. One of our most recent clients, a leading Premiership Football Team recently took advantage of our programme. Our client saw a 57% lower Cost Per Retail Purchase thanks to our expert optimisations. They also saw improved search results as a result of this increased awareness.
Our PPC and Paid Social team would love to hear from you and talk about your paid strategies. We’d be glad to show you more about how increased awareness can equal to higher conversions when social and search work hand in hand.