In the recent weeks, I have noticed a theme running in the internet marketing industry and inbound marketers with the question “will Facebook Ads challenge Google AdWords?”. The quick answer is no; at least not any time soon. However the emergence of such a thought itself is a good sign for the industry. Some sort of credible competition is good ifor the online advertising. Facebook, as a leading social media tool with over 300 million members is growing as a credible advertising platform. As a lead generation business professional, it is essential to take a critical look at the Facebook Advertising platform. Obviously, any new medium should not be ignored for the sake of it.
Facebook Advertising
There are several advantages of advertising in Facebook. Here are some:
- The primary factor is the phenomenal growth of Facebook user base. However whether it will turn out to be a major search platform competing with Google is doubtful. Google’s ads are basically driven by people who search for products or services.
- The prices are cheap when compared with Google. How long it will stay that way is anybody’s guess. The moment it gains critical mass, advertisers will flock to the Facebook Advertising platform and the prices are bound to go go up significantly.
- The targeting with keywords and demographics is much better with Facebooks Ads.
- Even the basic ads support images in the advertisement. The text copy can go up to 135 characters (unlike Google’s 75 characters).
- The overall userbase is much younger. This could serve well for advertising in certain industry segments and verticals such as dating, music and entertainment, consumer electronics, beverages, education, etc.
- Conversion rates are much higher. Again, as the ad volume increases the rates will go down.
While some project that Facebook ads will be as big as Google AdWords, many are not so sure. But did you ever guess two years back that Twitter will be creating such a revolution? Hence keep your options open, evaluate your lead business vertical(s) and start sampling the Facebook advertising.

