Google AdSense vs Facebook SocialAds: effectiveness and ROI compared
Jason Preston • February 7th, 2008 •Nick O’Neill at AllFacebook just posted a really interesting comparison between Google’s AdSense and Facebook’s SocialAds based on a semi-scientific experiment that you can find here. By the numbers, Google takes the cake:
Visitors coming from Facebook:
* pages per visit: 1.22
* Bounce rate: 82.84%
* average time on site: 13 sec
* 3.92 % clicked to Amazon
* 7.84 % clicked to Audible
* total conversion rate (clicked on product links): 11.76 %Visitors coming from Google:
* pages per visit: 1.61
* Bounce rate: 67.21%
* average time on site: 42 sec
* 12.31 % clicked to Amazon
* 9.94 % clicked to Audible
* total conversion rate (clicked on product links): 22.26 %
I’ll admit, I’m not an advertising junkie. I don’t know everything there is to know about ads, CTRs, conversions, yield, and whatever else is involved.
But I’m pretty sure that there’s more to this than just “by the numbers.”
One of the things I think we’ve really lost track of with CPC (cost per click) ads is the value of the impression. For example: billboards on the highway. Nobody is expecting drivers to flip open their cell phone and order that new car, right now!!.
The idea is exposure. The same goes for most advertising throughout the history of advertising. Advertising is supposed to make it so that when a person goes to the store and looks for pens, she thinks “Bic.” Once you start focusing on action…now you’re talking about something else entirely.
Just to be clear, I’m not saying that Facebook ads are more effective. I’m just saying that I think the CPC metrics are wrong for most advertising contexts. It works for Google and other search engines (and google is clearly the leader in monetization) because people are there to *click* on things.
Almost everywhere else on the web, though, I think we may eventually have to rely on other metrics. I wonder how many people on FB already owned the book? They’re fans after all. The FB ads had images in them, unlike the Google ads. How many people bought the book a week later? How many people thought about the book the next time they were at the book store?
We can’t measure these things, but they are real effects of advertising. I think you have to consider them before you throw SocialAds out the door.
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3 Responses to “Google AdSense vs Facebook SocialAds: effectiveness and ROI compared”
By Dean Browell on Feb 7, 2008 | Reply
That’s a great point. Take my work for Downtown Roanoke, Inc. (DRI) as an example. This is a nonprofit that has not historically had a great niche in the latest online trends. It means a lot for our ads to even have impressions on those in the Roanoke region. We’re counting on Facebook ads to help surprise young adults that DRI is even on Facebook. The brand association is a valuable tool.
Interestingly enough that Facebook recognizes how powerful the association can be, disallowing you to use “Facebook” in your ad text, even if you’re merely pointing to a Facebook fan page with a click.
By Jason Preston on Feb 8, 2008 | Reply
@dean - also a good point. Brand association can do a lot, especially when it’s something like FB that has such a defined set of concepts.
Your company can be savvy just by showing up where nobody expects you to.