How to use Facebook Ads with Google Ads: 3 key strategies

For many existing digital retailers – as well as those adapting their brick-and-mortar businesses to an ecommerce environment – Facebook Ads and Google Ads are both unparalleled platforms for driving purchase-ready traffic to your website.

Wondering if Facebook Ads are better than Google Ads? Our previous article explores the differences between the platforms, as well as the advantages each channel offers as part of your Shopping strategy.

Worry not – you don’t have to choose one or the other: in fact, Google Ads and Facebook Ads can be used together in your broader ecommerce approach. Let’s look at three different strategies you could apply to your business.

Build brand recognition through paid social; close sales through paid search

Paid social – in this case, using Facebook – is a term referring to the use of social media platforms to display your advertisements. Paid search, on the other hand, relates to ads served within a search engine results page (SERP) such as Google Ads.

Paid social is a fantastic way to build brand awareness, particularly using Facebook’s demographic feature, “Lookalike Audiences”. Using this invaluable asset, along with Facebook’s existing wealth of user data, allows you to target existing and potential customers.

Research shows that paid social campaigns using Facebook generated a 34% increase in branded search queries on Google. It’s not uncommon for users exposed to your Facebook ad to pop over to Google to search for your brand, driving organic traffic and saving money on those paid clicks. What’s more, you can then remarket to the user once they’ve visited and interacted with your website.

Make sure to bid for your brand name as a keyword in your PPC campaigns: this may seem a costly and unnecessary expense, but you can be sure your competitors are advertising on Google with your brand name as a keyword to catch your traffic.

Read more about PPC in digital marketing

This strategy is a great way to warm up your cold audiences with brand exposure, with follow up Google Ads campaigns to move them through the sales funnel.

Not sure which Shopping management option is best for your business? Read our Google Shopping management guide here.

Use Google Ads data to target your Facebook audience

Google Analytics provides insights into the demographics viewing and interacting with your Shopping ads, and completing those sales on your website. These data are not only significant in your Google Shopping management but they can also be repurposed for your audience targeting on Facebook Ads.

The following data brackets can help you fine-tune your paid media strategy:

• Gender
• Household income
• Time of engagement
• Remarketing audiences

Targeting consumers who have already interacted with your website as well as “Lookalike Audiences” enables you to display your ads to the most relevant users, even when they’re not searching for your brand.