Google Ads is going downhill. Now, why do I say that? Well, I’ve been managing Google Ads accounts for years and a lot of those accounts I manage are for the same clients. So I’ve been watching these campaigns slowly deteriorate in results over time. So, what’s happening? is it’s just getting more and more expensive to advertise on Google and the quality of leads and customers coming in is dropping? I think this has something to do with just the general level of spam that’s happening online.
I don’t know about you, but like cell phone calls, and emails and the level of spam has really picked up in the last year. It’s the same thing happening on Google. I know a lot of people that buy leads from Angie, HomeAdvisor, Thumbtack, and all of those and over the last year, the lead quality has just been plummeting. It’s the same thing with Google. So I think there’s just a ton of spam going on and when you advertise on Google Search and you’re bidding on keywords you’re opening yourself up to the world. Any robot, any computer can do a Google Search and see your Ad and click on it. Every time they click on it you have to pay for that. And sometimes you’re paying $100 or even $200 just for something or someone to click.
Google is trying to get rid of some of those bad clicks but it can’t deal with all of them. And there’s been multiple campaigns that I’ve run where, when I dig deep into the metrics and I look at what’s going on, and it’s clear to me that the majority of “people” or robots clicking on our Ads are not actual people.
So what have I been doing? My clients need leads, they need new customers coming in. What I’ve done is I’ve pivoted and started using Facebook Ads more. I used to hate Facebook Ads I’m still not a huge fan of Facebook as a platform. I don’t spend a lot of time on it personally but business-wise it is really fruitful for a lot of companies. One reason is when you use Facebook Ads, you’re not opening yourself up to the world like you are with Google Search Ads. Like I said with Google Search Ads, you bid on a keyword, and anybody and everybody can search for that keyword and click on your Ad. But the Facebook algorithm specifically selects people to show your Ad to. And so people don’t choose to see your Ad, therefore, you’re not open up to be found by just anybody. So you get a lot higher quality of people or entities looking at your Ads. So when you do get leads through Facebook they’re generally real people. Where with Google we’re getting a lot of crap lately.
Now before you just go bail on Google Ads and switch to Facebook you have to understand that the game is very different. With Google Ads, you’re bidding on keywords which means somebody searched for whatever you’re bidding on and hopefully you’re bidding on something that’s going to lead somebody to buy from you. And so that’s a different kind of marketing and is called search marketing. People are searching for these things, you sell these things so you put yourself in front of them.
With Facebook it’s different, people aren’t searching for you when they see you on Facebook. You’re kind of asserting yourself in their point of view and so your approach has to be a lot different. You have to have a really good offer. The Facebook Ads I run are not complicated. You can do videos and all these crazy things, I literally do a picture and one sentence, and that one sentence is really what matters. I aim to offer them something they want but that is also something that they can’t just get by going to Google and searching for it.
So, an example could be windows installed in your home for half the price. That’s a really great offer for anybody who’s in the market to replace the windows in their house. And if someone’s browsing Facebook and they happen to be in the market for that and they see that offer they would be stupid not to click on it and find out more. So that’s the kind of offer that works well. For construction remodeling, if you have immediate availability that could be a good offer. Because there are a lot of people that are 12 or 24 months in line with a company to get their project done. If someone comes along and says, “Hey, we can start your project next week”, that’s something that they might be willing to detract from whatever they’re doing on Facebook and actually go and become a lead for you.
So, those are the kinds of things that work on Facebook. It can be difficult to come up with offers but really the question you have to answer is, “What is something I can offer that people would feel dumb saying no to?”. If you can find something that works then Facebook Ads can be extremely lucrative for you. And also, the Facebook algorithm these days is so good at knowing what’s going on with people. Facebook knows if somebody’s in the market to buy windows or if someone’s in the market for a remodel. Facebook knows this stuff, they’re watching everything this person does, they’re watching who they contact all that kind of stuff. So, aligning your advertising with Facebook’s algorithm and letting Facebook decide who to show your ad to works really well these days.
