One of the most asked questions is definitely “Should I Do Facebook or Google Ads?”
Facebook Pros
- Easy to set up
- Easy to track exactly which images, texts and headlines are performing
- Easy to track leads and costs
- Easy to see response-set-show-close directly from paid leads
Facebook Cons
- Very high attrition (50% drop off from lead to response)
- Algorithm changes can impact performance. A good campaign can stop producing if you forget about it.
Google Pros
- Exceptionally good at matching leads search to your headline and text. For example if a user searches for “personal training near me” Google will show them the headline “personal training near me” if you’ve included it in your list of options. It won’t show them “areas best gym” or any other options.
- Leads from Google are warmer, as they’ve done a lot of leg work to search for a solution, find your site, and submit details.
Google Cons
- Conversion tracking is notoriously unreliable. Google has a tendency to count all your website leads as a direct result of their ads (and not organic search or people clicking on your site from Facebook or Instagram for example.) Workarounds for this tend to be more trouble than they’re worth.
- You need to rank high on Google to begin with. You can’t just pay your way to the top. As a CrossFit gym, you won’t rank high in search for ‘hot yoga’ for example.
On both platforms, you will do better if you’re regularly posting good, applicable content to warm up your audience. Both platforms want to provide relevant content to keep users on so they can sell advertising space. On Facebook, this means regularly posting.
For Google, there’s a bit more to it. You can find your Google Profile Manager by clicking on the 9 dots next to your profile pic if you’re logged on to Google, or searching for your gym (also while signed in.)
- Your site needs to be optimised for SEO, and regularly blogging with relevant. Our friends at KILO can help, and here’s a helpful blog by their CEO on rank math for your blog post.
- Make sure your profile strength is a full green circle.
- Send any intro your google maps link. The more people search for you on Maps or use Maps for directions, the better.
- Update photos at least once a month, add 3-5 photos.
- At least once a week, add an update. The easiest way to do this is to copy and paste your Instagram posts over here.
- Regularly ask for and reply to 5 star reviews.
It’s tempting to give a specific amount you should spend on Meta and Google. An easy starting point is to split your marketing budget into 50/50 for both and check each month (bearing in mind it’s harder to track Google Ads leads). If you’d prefer to have someone manage this for you, just reach out!