If you want customers these days, you will likely find them on either Facebook or Google. While Google properties like YouTube have outperformed Facebook in terms of daily traffic, both sites still dominate the online activity. The average user spends 38 minutes per day on Facebook.
It’s a huge audience that you can’t afford to reach. You can increase your success rates by monitoring the buying behavior and purchasing habits of Facebook users. It is important to understand what you are looking at and how to put it to work.
Search Based on Facebook Ads
Before you can start collecting Facebook data, it’s important to understand the interaction between Facebook and Google. You may think that all traffic to your site comes from customers who click over and scroll through their feeds. In reality, the brand mentioned might stick with the customer for future research. The customer will probably view your ad on Facebook, and then go to Google to search for it.
One study found that an advertisement on Facebook will increase Google’s number of branded searches by 34 percent. Although you may have an ad for a dog toy, the customer might want more information than what your ad provides. A search will give consumers a better understanding of a product/service than being redirected directly to one.
This simply means that your pay-per-click ads must be able to gather as much information as possible about your customers. This means that you should think of all your advertising and marketing efforts as one, instead of separating them by platform. You’ll see a greater ROI when you collect data from all channels and apply it to all your campaigns. You could also consider Facebook tools like Audience Insights or Facebook Analytics.
Understanding the journey from Facebook to Google
Understanding the customer journey is key to a successful marketing strategy. This is especially important now that customers are increasingly searching for products via mobile devices. Studies have shown search engines are the main resource for customers who want to do product research. Search engines saw a six percent increase in traffic between 2016 and 2017.
Facebook has yet to be a popular shopping destination, despite being many things to its approximately 185 million U.S. and Canada-based users. While you can create a Facebook shop to sell products, most of your work on the social media platform will be driving customers to other sites to purchase. Facebook is great at introducing products to customers. According to a survey, 62% of respondents said they are at least somewhat likely to buy from brands they follow online. Facebook will be most effective if you have a strong presence and customers who are willing to recommend you.
The Customer Journey Map
It’s one thing just to be able to see statistics. It is quite another to understand the meaning of those numbers. A new mom is searching for baby products. The mom will likely spend some time on Facebook and Instagram. More than 90% of U.S. mothers have a social media account. Facebook is the most popular. While she won’t shop on Facebook, some elements can influence her purchasing decisions.
As the new mom scrolls through her Instagram feed, she might notice that she has uploaded a video advertisement for your soothing sleep blanket. After a long night of sleepless nights, she realizes that this is exactly what she needs, and she stops to look at a small portion of the video. According to studies, many customers will use Google search boxes to find out more information about your product. If she is ready to buy, she might even type keywords that combine your product name with her city. You’ll be more likely to win the click and eventually the sale if you have invested in shopping ads or paid searches.
What if you don’t have paid Google advertising? If she enters your product name, and you have properly optimized your SEO, she should be able to see your website. There’s no guarantee that she will input your product name. She might instead type “soothing blankets to babies”, at which point she will serve up advertisements for those who have paid to appear. You could lose the sale if you’re not among those who pay.
To better understand how customers might interact with your business, you will need to create a variety of buyer paths. Even if your customer touchpoints aren’t documented, a journey can help you to see how customers might interact with your brand. It will also show how they move through the buying process.
Combining search and social
However, this process can be used in both directions. It is easy to see if a customer searches Google for an item and then clicks on your page in the search results. You can get the best results by coordinating your Google and Facebook advertising efforts. You should ensure that paid Google ads help Facebook customers locate your product. However, it is also important to consider what happens if someone visits your Facebook page via a Google search or shopping ad. This is a great opportunity to show them comparable products or upsell them on a more expensive item. You might find that you win the sale and make more money than you thought possible.
Understanding the paid social process starting from creating awareness at the top is a good place to start. (Test and refine your audience targeting via social ads).
Find middle-of-the-funnel shoppers who are searching for more information and then show them ads that address their pain points using retargeting ads via Google. To find the best messaging for your audience, test different content types in social ads. Then use that information to create highly effective PPC ads. For products that they have viewed, follow up with Google and the paid social retargeting and dynamic ads.
The key to all this success is to use the analytics built into each platform. This will allow you to track your customer journeys and identify what needs to be adjusted to make it more efficient in moving customers seamlessly from one platform to the next.
