You have a monthly advertising budget and need to decide where it goes. Google, Facebook and Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn all work, but for different jobs. Picking the wrong one for your goal is the most common way budgets get wasted.
Returns vary hugely by industry, offer and how well a campaign is run, and no platform can promise a result. What follows is how each one works, when it fits, and how to set a campaign up so you can tell whether it is working.
The main difference: intent versus interruption
On Google, people tell you what they want by typing it in. Your ad appears because they are already looking. On Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn, people are doing something else, and your ad interrupts them. That does not make social ads worse. It means they do a different job: creating demand, reaching people who are not yet searching, and bringing back people who have already visited you.
Google Ads (search)
How it works. Someone searches “web design Johannesburg” or “emergency plumber Sandton” and your ad appears at the top. They are already looking for what you sell.
When it fits. When people actively search for your service and you want enquiries soon. This is usually the first place a service business should look.
Watch out for. Competitive keywords cost more per click, and without careful setup a budget disappears on the wrong searches. Tracking calls and form submissions is essential.
We run Google Ads for monthly ad budgets from R8,000. Our fee is a percentage of the ad budget, quoted to suit your situation, and ad spend is paid directly to Google. See Google Ads management.
Facebook and Instagram ads
How it works. You show ads to people based on interests, location and behaviour. They were not searching for you.
When it fits. Visual products, online stores, events, awareness, and retargeting people who already visited your site.
Watch out for. Services people only buy when they have a specific need often do better on Google. Creative testing takes time, and ads wear out as people see them repeatedly.
TikTok ads
How it works. Short video ads shown in the feed, targeted by interest, location and behaviour.
When it fits. Brands that can make genuine, native-feeling video, and products that appeal to younger audiences.
Watch out for. It rewards content that feels like TikTok, not polished adverts. You need a steady supply of fresh video.
LinkedIn ads
How it works. You target professionals by job title, industry and company.
When it fits. High value business to business services, recruitment and reaching specific decision makers.
Watch out for. Clicks are expensive compared with other platforms, so small budgets rarely collect enough data to learn from.
What a budget can buy: an example
This is an illustration of the arithmetic, not a forecast. Say your budget is R8,000 a month and a click on a search ad costs about R12.
- R8,000 divided by R12 gives roughly 667 clicks.
- If 2 percent of those visitors enquire, that is about 13 enquiries, or roughly R600 per enquiry.
- If 5 percent enquire, that is about 33 enquiries, or roughly R240 per enquiry.
Same budget, same clicks, but the quality of the landing page and the offer more than doubled the number of enquiries. Your real click costs and enquiry rates will differ. The lesson is that where the visitor lands matters as much as the ad that brought them.
A simple way to choose
- Service business that people search for: start with Google search ads, and add Facebook retargeting later.
- Online store: Google Shopping and Meta ads usually work together, with Meta finding new customers and Google catching people ready to buy.
- High value business to business offer: Google first, then consider LinkedIn once you know what a lead is worth.
- Building awareness: Facebook, Instagram or TikTok, together with good content and search optimisation.
Before you launch, check these
- Conversion tracking is set up for calls, forms, WhatsApp clicks and sales.
- Each campaign sends people to a page built for that ad, not the homepage.
- The offer is specific, such as a free quote or a free website review.
- Your website loads fast on a phone.
- Someone replies to enquiries quickly. Fast replies turn more clicks into customers.
The first 30 days
Expect to learn, not to optimise perfectly. In the first month you are collecting data: which searches or audiences bring enquiries, which ads get clicked and which pages convert. Review search terms weekly and add negative keywords, which stop your ads showing for searches that waste money. Resist the urge to change everything every few days, because that resets what the platform has learned.
Common mistakes
- Splitting the budget evenly across platforms instead of putting it where the data shows results.
- Running ads without tracking calls, forms and sales.
- Judging a campaign after one week.
- Sending all traffic to the homepage.
- Setting the campaign and never touching it again.
The platform matters less than the strategy. Pick the one that matches how your customers buy, set up tracking first, and review the numbers every month.
If you want help choosing, our diagnostic looks at what you spend and what it brings back.
Related services: Google Ads management · Social media management
