Google & Facebook Ads

Does anyone here have any experience they can share with me regarding ads on Google and Facebook?

I've started a few campaigns on both over the last few weeks. I've also been reading some books to get more knowledge and get the ads performing well. Quite comfortable with Facebook ads, but only just getting into Google AdWords and trying to learn.

So far it seems Google is much more expensive, however I have faith that the clicks I get would pay off as it's people specifically reading the ad and choosing to click on it.

I'm advertising my physical store (ads link through to our Facebook page) as opposed to an online store - so actual conversions to customers I believe will be harder to monitor and ascertain.

Has anyone else on SS with a physical store used either of these ad mediums? I'm especially interested on hearing whether or not you were able to tell if Google search ads ended up getting people through your stores doors?
 
Does anyone here have any experience they can share with me regarding ads on Google and Facebook?
Has anyone else on SS with a physical store used either of these ad mediums? I'm especially interested on hearing whether or not you were able to tell if Google search ads ended up getting people through your stores doors?

Yes, if you haven't already done so create a Google Analytics account and follow the prompts. You will be able to track all traffic to your site then including that generating through Facebook advertising or Google Adwords.

You can set up very detailed tracking and monitor conversions so that you can calculate ROI and other key figures to help guage the effectiveness of your campaigns.
 
Will definitely be looking more into it, especially Google Analytics, however as I understand it - whilst these tools are useful, as I'm not advertising an online store/product - ROI would be impossible to track.

This is why I was hoping perhaps some SS members may have more anecdotal evidence or stories to offer.
 
as I'm not advertising an online store/product - ROI would be impossible to track.

Not true, you can assign dollar values to your conversion goals.

i.e. if the cost per acquisition of each customer equates to $1000 and each customer spends on average $10,000 with you then your ROI will be 9:1

If you know that on average 1 in every 10 emails converts into a sale and your tracking indicates that you need to spend $50 on average per email then you can start doing some nitty gritty calcuations. I am a Google Adwords Certified Individual Professional btw and have also run campaigns on Facebook Advertising.
 
Will definitely be looking more into it, especially Google Analytics, however as I understand it - whilst these tools are useful, as I'm not advertising an online store/product - ROI would be impossible to track.

This is why I was hoping perhaps some SS members may have more anecdotal evidence or stories to offer.

This is a classic marketing problem. In your case t's very difficult to accurately link the hits on your Facebook page directly to sales from your physical store. It's the same story with print advertising in a magazine, unless of course you are advertising a specific deal, competition or perhaps a discount coupon.

One approach that might give you some sanity is to compare sales with advertising against prior historical sales without advertising. Granted this is a broad brush and seasonal cycles can make this even trickier.

You can probably compare your advertising spend against the number of new "Likes" on your Facebook page, say over N weeks or months. After that you could run a deal for Facebook "Likers" only, track the take-up rate, and then work backwards to your Facebook and Google Adwords spend.
 
I know a bathroom guy who asks every customer that calls where they got him from. He records it and each yr works out which ads are working and how much they generate in sales. Turns out the yellow pages hardcopy is his major source, so he upped the ads and it upped his money. He has done this 3 yrs running with great results.
I was amazed as I haven't used a paper yellow pages in over 8 yrs, just do it online. I don't even know anyone with the yellow pages except my parents generation.
Why not do the same. Ask everyone and work it out monthly to see how its going.
 
Here's something you can try for free.

Although we don't like people self promoting, a link in your sig to your web page is allowable. You should get a few free clicks that way.
 
Thanks for the great replies guys!

Not true, you can assign dollar values to your conversion goals.

i.e. if the cost per acquisition of each customer equates to $1000 and each customer spends on average $10,000 with you then your ROI will be 9:1

If you know that on average 1 in every 10 emails converts into a sale and your tracking indicates that you need to spend $50 on average per email then you can start doing some nitty gritty calcuations. I am a Google Adwords Certified Individual Professional btw and have also run campaigns on Facebook Advertising.

It's definitely something I'm looking at when it comes to comparing success results and which ads and where the money is better spent. However, even getting a great CTR on an ad doesn't tell me whether or not those people end up walking through my door.

I guess the problem is I'm running more of an 'awareness' campaign for my business as opposed to direct sales.

I know a bathroom guy who asks every customer that calls where they got him from. He records it and each yr works out which ads are working and how much they generate in sales. Turns out the yellow pages hardcopy is his major source, so he upped the ads and it upped his money. He has done this 3 yrs running with great results.
I was amazed as I haven't used a paper yellow pages in over 8 yrs, just do it online. I don't even know anyone with the yellow pages except my parents generation.
Why not do the same. Ask everyone and work it out monthly to see how its going.

For the first time I've decided to advertise in physical yellow pages as of next month. It's a local edition however, as I'm a local business and that's who I want to target. Fairly decent deal I believe, plus most importantly - any leads that are generated through the ads, I will know exactly as they send me a monthly report of how many people called using the Yellow Pages ads as a reference (each individual ad over two different books has a different phone number which is tracked by Sensis - about 6 seperate ads from memory).

Unfortunately, asking people coming through the door is not feasible when we're talking about hundreds of small retail transactions a week. Although we do have a way of finding out where our regular clients came from which is what you're talking about. Have updated sources to include 'Yellow Pages', 'Google' and 'Facebook'.

Here's something you can try for free.

Although we don't like people self promoting, a link in your sig to your web page is allowable. You should get a few free clicks that way.

Thanks Geoff, but not really interested in traffic just for the sake of it. The same reason I've cancelled all national Facebook Ads and only targeting Adelaide users, as well as restricting Google searches to users based in SA. 10,000 hits from Sydney doesn't do me any good and would end up wasting my money. I realise my site would probably appear higher ranked in search results with more clicks etc, but I'm sticking to my target area for now. If I had an online store it would be different.
 
I must be not of this planet.

I have never bought anything from any of those ads on those sites, and mostly don't even notice them...

Do they really work?

I guess the KFC, Maccas and Nokia ads probably work.....

I get annoyed when there is a pop-up ad over the top of the MSN site when it opens up (it's my homepage), because it delays me by 1.5 seconds before I can access my email - I have to close down the ad screen. :mad::D
 
From my very basic knowledge so far Mark...

They can work, but the success rate is obviously fairly low ie. from 2000 impressions you get 3 clicks. But then that's all you pay for - the 3 clicks. Unless you're a big co. like KFC as you mentioned, where you just want brand awareness and recognition and are happy to just have your name in peoples heads and don't need to be clicked on.

I'm trying similar sort of thing with my ads. I've only got a few ads with my business logo, the majority are the logos of the well recognised brands I stock. The footwork as far as people recognising and wanting the product are already done by the company and their marketing - I just want people to buy it from my store instead of Fred's down the road.

Google search ads on the other hand - the person is specifically looking for or interested in your product as they typed it in the search engine. How much of that turns into sales on the other hand is the question I'm looking to answer....

Off hand, an example I could think of for you and your reception centre: using Facebook ads, target specifically females, in your city/area, between the ages of 18-30, who are engaged (ie. changed their status from single to engaged). So they will perhaps be looking for a venue to hold their engagement party soon. You've narrowed your target market down considerably and have a higher chance of your venue being seen by the right person. Any click through - whilst the amount may be small, could be quite relevant and successful for you.

Apparently a similar scenario happens to girls who have just changed their status to engaged - they are all of a sudden targeted with ads for weight loss techniques, diets, fads etc.
 
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