PPC, or pay per click, is an advertising model where ads get displayed to internet users as they browse through different sites, however advertisers only get charged for the clicks.
For example, if a Facebook ad has been seen by 1,000 people, but only 100 click it, then the advertiser will only pay for the 100 clicks. It’s one of the most cost-effective ways of running marketing campaigns on the internet.
Remarketing, also known as retargeting, is a type of PPC advertising where people who visited an advertiser’s website or mobile app get served with ads based on the pages they visited.
While the standard PPC campaigns target a broader audience consisting of people who may or may not be interested, remarketing specifically targets people who have expressed their interest by visiting the advertiser’s platforms.
Remarketing works by using a JavaScript tag to install cookies in a visitor’s browser. The cookies then inform the remarketing platform what pages or products the user viewed on the site, and based on that, it can determine what ads to show them.
For example, if a user abandoned their cart while shopping online, a retargeting ad can recapture their attention by showing them the specific products they had in their cart.
Remarketing campaigns often have a better ROI and conversion rate than standard PPC campaigns because they target people who are most likely to convert. Here are some advantages of remarketing:
You can target buyers at the very moment when they’re actively researching products and visiting different websites for comparison. That’s when they’re most likely to convert.
Remarketing can help transition leads to the next phases of the conversion funnel. For example, if someone adds a product to their cart, however leaves without checking out, the ads can remind them that they have a product in their cart, and even offer incentives such as discount coupons to encourage them to checkout.
Remarketing ads are entirely determined by a user’s behavior on a website or app. That means the ads they ultimately get to see are only the ones that are most relevant to them.
Segmented campaigns target people in different stages of the conversion funnel. For example, you can create an ad for people who visited a product page but left without adding it to their cart, and a different ad for people who added products to their cart but didn’t checkout.
The ad copies for each segment can be tailored with messages that are specific to where they are in their buying journey, which can lead to improved conversion rates.
Retargeting simplifies the ad creation process with the help of dynamic ads (available on both Google and Facebook Ads). Dynamic ads are auto-generated, and combine text, image, and video to design engaging ads that are perfectly responsive on all devices.
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Remarketing on Google Ads vs Facebook Ads
In standard PPC advertising, the difference between Google Ads and Facebook Ads is quite substantial. Although both platforms have a massive online reach, Google users have a more active intent. They know what they want, and are in the process of searching for it. For that reason, Google Ads campaigns often get better conversion rates than Facebook Ads campaigns.
Facebook users have a more passive intent. They’re not necessarily searching for products or services, but are mindlessly browsing through their feeds. Campaigns on Facebook Ads would be more suitable for brand awareness.
In remarketing, the difference between the two platforms is more subtle. Both are equally as effective. Remarketing targets people based on their activity on a third-party website or app, and not necessarily on their behavior on the platform.
That means you can achieve similar results on both Google and Facebook Ads. They should be seen as equals rather than competitors (although this only applies to remarketing). To achieve the best possible results, you can run campaigns simultaneously on both platforms.
Campaigns on Google Ads reach users on over 2 million websites and apps on the Google Display Network, or GDN, with a reach of around 90% of all internet users worldwide.
Campaigns on Facebook Ads target users on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and several other platforms in its audience network. That covers a substantial amount of all internet users globally.
A huge advantage for Facebook Ads over Google Ads is that its ads are integrated directly onto the platform, and are not image banners like on the Google Display Network. Such a seamless integration leads to better ad experiences for users, which can help improve the click-through rates.
More and more people are turning to ad blockers to evade intrusive ads, and it is bad news for advertisers. The size of their potential target audience is gradually shrinking. Since Facebook Ads doesn’t use ad banners, it is largely unaffected by ad blockers.
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