Remember the “Great Taste, Less Filling” ads from Miller Lite?
Today, people argue about whether Facebook or Google is better.
But the reality is that they work together, like peanut butter and jelly, Laurel and Hardy, an engine and transmission for your car, and so forth.
Use Facebook primarily to drive awareness and engagement. Potential customers find learn more about what you sell, especially amplified through word of mouth.
And when they’re ready to buy, they Google your name, the name of your product, or what you do. But if they don’t know about you, there’s nothing to initiate the search.
Facebook drives the top of the funnel, while Google is there to collect it.
If you run only Google, but not Facebook, then you have a cash register without people coming into your store. If you run only Facebook, you’ve got lots of people coming into your store, but have made it hard for people to buy when they’re ready.
WHO, WHAT, WHEN
On Facebook, you know WHO the user is, all the things in their profile, where they’ve been, who their friends are, what they like, and so forth. But you don’t know WHEN they want to buy.
On Google, you know WHEN they want to buy, but not WHO they are.
So track how your Facebook is driving more people searching for you on Google, more people opening your emails, more people talking about you in any offline channel, and making all your efforts more effective.
Are you setting up your Facebook campaigns properly to take advantage of this, as described here?
Do you have your marketing efforts feeding one another into audience, engagement, and conversion, so they reinforce each other?
Asking whether Google or Facebook is better is like asking if the brake or the gas is the most important feature of a car. You need them working together.