Pay-per-click (PPC) ads can be a double-edged sword. Properly harnessed, they can create an immediate impact with a sizable ROI. But if misused, PPC campaigns can be a costly exercise in futility.
What can you do to avoid that?
For starters, you need to make sure that you’re using the best platform for your PPC Ads. Here’s how to do that.
Know the Top Dogs
There are several different PPC platforms that you could leverage to target customer segments, direct prospects to your website, and convert sales. Depending on your business, budget, goals, and customer-base, you may want to utilize one or several of these marketing avenues. Currently, the most popular platforms are:
- Google Ads (Text, image, responsive, video) – As the number one ad network, “Google Display Network (GDN) is a group of more than 2 million websites, videos, and apps where your Google Ads can appear.” Google ads can help you immediately gain visibility on:
- Search Engine Results
- Web placements on the GDN
- Google shopping
- Mobile apps
- YouTube
- Microsoft Ads (Text, responsive native placements, LinkedIn text ads) – According to the Search Engine Journal, the Microsoft Search Network sees 12.2 billion PC searches monthly. Additionally, Microsoft ads is the only platform that offers LinkedIn profile targeting.
- Facebook (Video, image, carousel, slideshow, canvas) – As the largest social networking site in the world, with roughly 2.89 billion monthly active users, Facebook enables granular user targeting according to:
- Demographics
- Likes
- Interests
- Shopping behavior
- Instagram (Single image, video, carousel ad, collection) – A subsection of Facebook Ads platform, Instagram is one of the most popular paid ad platforms for B2C businesses, especially those that are retail-oriented.
Other platforms include YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Know the Factors That Impact Paid Ads
Because businesses serve different purposes and cater to different client bases, knowing which of the platforms discussed above is best for your business will naturally depend on a few key factors, including:
- Your business – Are you a B2B or a B2C? Some platforms may work well for both types of business, whereas others have features that cater to one specifically. For instance, if you sell a product directly to customers, especially those that can be marketed visually, mediums like Instagram can perform quite well. But for an SaaS product, you may be better off marketing with paid ads on LinkedIn.
- Your audience – Who are you selling to? What are your customer demographics? Where do they spend their time? How do they search for your type of product or service? Your target audience will dictate which platforms you should target. And you can maximize your exposure and ROI by building campaigns where they are. Here, A/B testing can help you identify the proper channels.
- Your campaign goals – What is the underlying goal of the ad campaign? Is it to increase visibility? Drive sales? Encourage signups? Depending on your desired outcomes, some platforms will offer more utility than others.
- Budget – A PPC campaign can be expensive, especially if you’re not optimizing your marketing spend. It’s important that you align the platform with your business, your goals, and your audience, and then allocate your resources accordingly.
Semgeeks—The Ad Agency, NJ
Are you having trouble selecting the best platform for your PPC campaign?
Semgeeks can help. As the top PPC management company in NJ, we can partner with you to build customized ad campaigns for the right platform. And even after the campaign has run, we work to constantly analyze and optimize so that you can maximize ROI.
Are you ready to start driving conversions? Let’s chat.
Sources:
Google Display network. Reach a larger or new audience with Google Display Network targeting. https://ads.google.com/intl/en_id/home/resources/reach-larger-new-audiences/
Search Engine Journal. The 8 Best PPC Ad Networks. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/ppc-guide/best-ppc-ad-networks/#close
Statista. Facebook MAU Worldwide. https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/#:~:text=How%20many%20users%20does%20Facebook,the%20biggest%20social%20network%20worldwide.
