There’s no denying the power of organic content marketing for building a loyal following online. More ecommerce brands are shrugging off paid advertising channels in favour of creating shareable online content that aims to build genuine engagement with their customer communities.
However, paid advertising channels still have plenty of value to offer — if you know how to use them. Here are the pros and cons of three common paid advertising channels – consider these before investing in your new marketing strategy!
#1. Google Ads
Google Ads is a pay-per-click advertising platform that runs on the Google Search Engine. Advertisers pay to be displayed in sponsored search results when Google users search relevant keywords.
Pros
Getting your brand to appear on the first page of the world’s most popular search engine will likely drive more traffic to your website. There are no minimum budgets and you can turn your Ads campaigns on and off as required. You can test copy, creative and targeting to find the sweet spot for your ad spend too.
Cons
There can be quite a lot of competition for popular keywords, so you may need to outbid your competitors if you really want to appear at the top. You’ll also be paying per click, so you’ll need to invest in your landing page to try to convert as many of those visitors as possible. Otherwise, you’ll end up paying for window shoppers. Google Ads is a complex system, and if you don’t know how to read the data and set up your campaigns properly, you could overspend with minimal results.
#2. Facebook
Facebook has more users than any other social media platform, and many ecommerce brands choose to use sponsored posts to build their following and increase their brand awareness.
Pros
You can target your paid Facebook posts to a very well-defined user base. That allows you to run campaigns targeted to the specific demographics you’re selling to. Budgets are quite flexible so you can start small and build as you begin to see results, and you get access to comprehensive data analytics that will likely help you to develop a deeper understanding of your customer base and their behaviours.
Cons
There’s a lot happening on Facebook, so capturing attention in a busy news feed can be challenging. The click-through rate (the number of users who actually click on your Facebook ad) also tends to be lower than on other social media platforms.
#3. YouTube
YouTube is essentially a one-stop-shop for online video. It’s the second largest search engine behind Google and is an essential platform for getting your brand’s video content seen online.
Pros
With more than 1 billion users, YouTube can connect you to a massive audience. Like Facebook, you can closely target your campaigns for the best effect. And as YouTube doesn’t charge you for the first five seconds of your paid video, there’s plenty of opportunities to get your brand seen at low cost.
Cons
Due to YouTube’s ‘Skip Ad’ feature, you only have five seconds to capture the viewer’s interest. That means you’ll need to invest in creating some pretty eye-catching video content if you want to see a result. Otherwise, you’ll need to pay significantly more for ‘unskippable’ ads.
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