With news of Facebook passing Google for number of U.S., visitors, you might assume that Facebook ads would be a lot like Google ads – only better.
They are very different – at least if you are talking about Google Search as opposed to Display Network ads.
Google Search ads show up when someone is searching on Google (or its partner search engines) – on the search results page. So your ad is being displayed to someone who is actually LOOKING for what you are selling.
Facebook ads, as well as Google Display Network ads, are traditional advertising – fundamentally no different than magazine ads. People aren’t reading a magazine for the ads (for the most part), and people aren’t going on Facebook to buy something.
See the difference?
So an ad that gets a 2% click through rate on Google Search, might get a 0.1% click through rate on the display network – and a lot of those might be mistakes or from idle curiosity, not buying interest.
Facebook does have the advantage of better demographics. So you can run your ad only to people of certain ages, for example. It can help build awareness in your target market even if it doesn’t generate clicks (and sales).
But it is still a traditional ad. It can work for you, but don’t expect too much from it.