Social Media PPC and Search Engine PPC
Examining the emergence and efficiency of the two major forms of PPC advertising

Pay-per-click advertising has become the norm and a necessary obligation in the digital age. When phrases such as: ‘just Google it’ entered the global lexicon, as well as the rapid emergence of social media as a powerful influencer – you know it’s time to look at ALL viable marketing channels.

Companies around the world look to gain any advantage over their competitors, and what better way than these two great online bastions - the search engine and social media. In this article, we’ll give you a rundown of what PPC means and how it's used as an effective tool through search engines and social media.

What is Social Media PPC?

Social media pay-per-click advertising (PPC) is a form of advertising you’ll find exclusively throughout the various social media platforms. Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube… If you’re a regular social media user, then you’re likely to have seen one or more PPC advertisements on any of the major platforms on a daily basis.

The key difference between social media PPC and search engine PPC is how the ads are viewed – we’ll discuss this in detail later. In social media PPC, the advertiser is responsible for who sees the ad. They determine which demographic is best suited to the ad, and will act accordingly. Search engine PPC, however, revolves around the user. The user will eventually find the ad through their search queries.

The goal of social PPC is to generate initial interest based on the targeted advertisement. It’s a good idea to use social PPC as part of a larger-scale marketing campaign. To generate this interest, schedule your ads by looking at standardised online behaviour – when people are more likely to go online and use social media.

The net you cast will be wide AND accurate when these two tactics are used in tandem with one another. The next step will involve SEO optimization. An effective social media marketing strategy will result in an interested user going directly to your site via the provided link, or organically searching for your product or service after seeing the advertisement, and ultimately be led to your website in the relevant search query.

What are the Benefits?

Social media PPC has the ability to produce direct traffic to your website with the simple click of a button (see examples below). The simplicity of the model is its strength. However, when social media is concerned, user engagement is equally as important.

User engagement is a key advantage when using social PPC. It can come in many forms depending on your social media platform, such as: Follow, re-Tweet, Like or share. Ideally, a potential customer will go through to your landing page, but if not; there’s still a chance of further engagement and ultimately becoming a fan of your brand and an increased likelihood of a future conversion.

Brand engagement leads to an increase in brand awareness. Remember, every click that doesn’t lead to a direct sale shouldn’t be counted as a failure. This will lead to an increase in traffic as it also means that there are more people out there who now know about your brand.

With all forms of PPC, you are able to effectively schedule your ads to meet your targeted demographic. Whether you are using various social media platforms or search engine PPC – it’s possible to schedule your ads to reach your targeted audience at the right time. For example, a social media marketing agency in Dubai would purposefully do this as it’s a more cost-effective method compared to 24/7 advertising.

What is Search Engine PPC?

Search engine PPC would be as follows in its most rudimentary form:

We briefly mentioned in the previous section that it is the user who is responsible for how they see the ads in search engine PPC.

To find an answer to their question, a user will enter specific keywords into Google. The first link they see will be an ad that is paid for by a company in the hope that it will bring potential customers to their website.

When searching for cinemas in Dubai on Google, the two top results are ads. They can be distinguished from non-paying links as there will be a visible ‘Ad’ symbol next to the link. PPC advertising companies in Dubai pay a fee every time a user clicks the link.

Google AdWords

It’s important to discuss Google AdWords, as it’s the most popular search engine PPC tool in the world. PPC is the most common and widely used form of paid search, and Google AdWords is the most common and widely used form of search engine PPC. An effective pay-per-click strategy should involve the utilization of Google AdWords – Google’s paid-to-click program that will direct traffic to a paying business's website.

First of all, what is Google AdWords? Google AdWords or Google Ads appear in Google’s SERPs after a relevant search query. It is essentially run like an auction and happens in the following way:

⦁ Advertisers bid on keywords

⦁ Google searches the bidding pool

⦁ CPC ad bid and quality score taken into account

⦁ The winners are selected for the ad space

What are the Benefits?

We’ll start off by stating the most obvious benefit of Google AdWords – it’s the world’s most popular PPC tool, run on the world’s most popular search engine.

With regards to PPC, the popularity of the medium must be taken into account. Curating a meticulous PPC ad campaign can be time-consuming and expensive – even more so if no one is seeing it! From February 2018 to February 2019, Google boasted a massive 92.92% of global search engine market share (statcounter). They really have no equal. Based on traffic alone, using Google AdWords gives you the best chance of gaining potential customers.

Wrap Up

To summarise, pay-per-click advertising is incredibly effective. Deciding whether to invest your marketing efforts through social media or your favourite search engine is entirely preferential. The benefits are vast but are also determined by your targeted demographic.

The efficiency of the advertising model though lies in its unambiguity – it works exactly as described. Advertisers pay a fee each time their ad is clicked. Simple, right?