Facebook Ads vs. Google Ads: Which Are You More Likely to Click?

The other day I was telling a friend about a video hosting site that I’m planning to sign up with, and one of the first things she asked was, “How did you hear about it?”

I’ll be honest. I had to stop and think about that question for a few minutes, and trace back in my mind to the first time I heard about the service. I knew that I had been receiving a weekly newsletter-type email from the company for a while so I must have given it my address at some point. I thought a little more and remembered that I had entered my email address in order to gain access to an instructional video that I wanted to watch. But what had led me to that web page with the instructional video? Oh yeah! It was a Facebook ad.

To be fair, I fully recognize that it was the company’s awesome content marketing strategy that kept the brand active in my mind and finally converted me. But, it’s hard to say how long it would have taken me to find the hosting service – or if I ever would have found it at all – if I had not seen the original Facebook ad.

This made me start thinking more about Facebook ads in general, and how I’m far more likely to click on them than Google ads. In fact, I can’t even remember the last time I clicked on a Google ad. Despite the amazing amount of data that Google must have about me, Google ads rarely seem relevant or interesting. On the other hand, many of the ads I see on my Facebook page are very relevant to my current interests and, of course, that makes me quite likely to click them.

So, at least in my particular case, it seems like Facebook does a far better job at matching advertisements to my true interests than Google does, but I’m very curious about what type of experience other people are having. What about you? Do you think you’re more likely to click on a Facebook ad or a Google ad?

Image Credit: PhotoSpin/graja