PPC vs. Social Media Marketing: Which is more effective?

With so many digital marketing options to choose from it can be difficult to know where to invest your budget for the best returns. Here’s a breakdown of two key advertising models and the pros and cons of each.

What is PPC?

PPC (pay per click) advertising is based on keywords and enables you to create highly targeted campaigns that appear to the people who are most likely to be interested in your product or service. One of the most common types of advert is the paid search ad, which appears onscreen when someone performs a specific search (for example, if you Google ‘women’s dresses’ you will see adverts from companies that have successfully bid on that key phrase). As the name implies, businesses running ads are only charged when a user clicks on their advert.

Advantages of PPC

• Your adverts get a prominent position on Google’s search results.
• You only pay when someone clicks through to your website.
• You can set and control your budget.
• You can monitor the campaign’s performance in real time and get detailed data reporting.
• You can make instant changes to your campaign (for example re-allocating budget to more successful keywords) and turn it on and off as required.

Disadvantages of PPC

• PPC marketing can be expensive if it isn’t managed or optimised correctly.
• You have no guarantee that the clicks you pay for will turn into clients/customers.
• Optimising a PPC campaign is a specialist skill that takes time to fully understand and implement successfully.

What is Social Media Marketing?

Using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest to advertise products and services is a rapidly growing digital marketing strategy. Including both paid social media advertising (which works in a similar way to PPC marketing by creating ads that target by location and demographic) and organic marketing strategies (for example viral content and direct audience engagement), social media marketing can do wonders for brand awareness and engagement.

Advantages of Social Media Marketing

• Adverts can be highly targeted to reach your exact demographic.
• You can interact with clients/customers in real time.
• There are limitless possibilities for creative ways to deliver your message.
• You can engage users on a personal level to build brand perception and recognition.

Disadvantages of Social Media Marketing

• Building a social media presence takes time and effort and requires constant maintenance.
• Social media platforms don’t offer the same level of analysis as the tools available for PPC ad campaigns so their effectiveness can’t be measured as thoroughly.
• Social media is secondary advertising (the audience you are engaging with aren’t necessarily looking for your service or product).

Wondering what the best digital marketing strategy is for your company? Schedule a free 15-minute call with one of our expert team members here at HookedOnMedia and we’ll be happy to discuss your options.