New research suggests that brands can hit a search marketing “sweet spot” by investing in ad services on Facebook as well as buying space on the likes of Google and Yahoo.
Data from Kenshoo, a provider of cloud-based marketing optimisation software, supplies evidence that increasing budgets for promotional activity on Facebook can have a noticeable impact on the effectiveness of paid search ads.
The logic behind the impressive results is that advertisers can use Facebook’s one billion-strong population to create awareness about their brand before the user interacts with their search listings. When combined, the pair are thought to deliver a synergetic effect.
Global insights
Kenshoo went about examining the relationship between Facebook and paid search by leveraging campaign data from Experian. The study was based in the US, but Experian’s standing as a global information services firm allowed its results to provide insights for marketers around the world.
Those same ad professionals may take heed from a number of its findings, as Kenshoo discovered that when users were exposed to Facebook advertising, the total number of conversions via paid search increased by 19%.
To counterbalance the increased spend on social advertising, this was also said to be having an effect on to the cost per acquisition from paid search, which dropped by 10% after Facebook ads were introduced.
Paid search effectiveness received a boost with every increase in Facebook ad spend, and Kenshoo gives plenty of reasons why this is the case.
Joining forces
Aaron Goldman, the company’s chief marketing officer, said consumers are no longer seeing a distinction between channels, devices and promotions. Thus, when two popular ad platforms combine, the returns could be huge.
He called on brands to scrap their traditional siloed approaches and to reap the benefits that cross-channel provides.
Meanwhile Blake Chandlee, vice president of global partnerships at Facebook, said the study serves as further evidence that social makes search work harder.