Whether you’re a client or a do-it-yourselfer, taking the time to set yourself up properly on the right platforms yields huge benefits; increasing the value of ad spend by improving the quality, follow-through, and retentiveness of ad traffic.
To that end, it helps to know how all the different platforms work together. This article provides a quick overview of the most important ones.
A proper ad funnel runs like a well-oiled machine. Different parts work in unison to identify potential customers, inform them of your offer, prime them for conversion, and move them along the consumer journey.
Many of our clients often want to start running ads right away. It feels like doing something, and seeing their ad impressions, click-throughs and page views go up can be an exhilarating and addictive feeling. But running ads without doing the proper groundwork is like throwing raw spaghetti at a brick wall. It just doesn’t stick.
1. Google Platforms
Google is the most widely used search engine in the world, making it an indispensable platform to set yourself up for any business trying to capture a broad audience segment.
Google Business Profile
Set-up Instructions
The first thing to set up is your Google Business Profile, which lets you manage the way your business appears across Google products like Maps and Search. Setting it up and claiming your business is dead easy, and lets you maintain accurate business info, host and respond to reviews, post pictures and product info, and attract new customers by improving your online visibility.
Businesses verified by Google are twice as likely to be considered reputable, and filling out your business profile makes it easier for customers to find you by improving search engine results.
Where it fits: If you don’t show up on Google Maps and Search, your business might as well not exist. Setting up your profile makes it easier for customers to find you again after seeing your ad, makes your business look legitimate, and ensures that your customers are getting the right information.
Google Search Console
Set-up instructions
Google Search Console is a free dashboard that helps you monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your website’s presence in Google Search results.
While inclusion in search results doesn’t require Search Console, the platform offers so many tools and benefits for making informed decisions about website modifications that it’s a wasted opportunity not to do so.
As a quick example, Search Console lets you confirm your website’s accessibility, fix indexing issues, monitor search traffic, optimize rankings, analyze backlinks, and view all sorts of other data about your website - all for free.
Where it fits: For the same reasons as listed above, this one’s another must have for any business with a website, letting you improve your online presence and control the way you show up online.
Google Analytics
Set-up instructions
Google Analytics is a free web analytics platform that lets you track website data and events (page clicks, form submissions, video engagements, etc.) and use it to generate insightful reports about how visitors are using your website.
It works by installing code snippets called “tags” to each page of your website or app, which then record data on visitor behaviour.
Analytics can then tell you almost anything you’d like to know about how people are using your website - which are your most popular pages, blog posts and landing pages, which are your traffic sources, how your marketing campaigns are going, and even how much time people spend in a particular section of your website.
Where it fits: It’s not enough for prospects to click on your ad. For your ad to work effectively, you need to know what’s going on at the traffic endpoint. What do users do after landing on your website? Do they leave immediately, or do they look for more information? What steps do they take before going to checkout?
Analytics tells you what’s working and what isn’t, letting you make targeted improvements to your ad funnel - and discover visitor engagement patterns that can make your ads more effective. After all, you can’t improve what you don’t measure.
Google Tag Manager
Set-up instructions
Google Tag Manager is a tag management system that makes it easier to deploy and update analytics and measurement tags on your websites. Instead of manually installing and updating everything page-by-page, you can use Tag Manager to manage everything from a single consolidated dashboard.
Where it fits: If you’re going to use Google Analytics for all the reasons mentioned above, Tag Manager simply lets you (or your developers) save hours and hours of time by automating part of the process.
Google Ads
Set-up instructions
As you might have guessed, Google Ads is Google’s pay-per-click advertising platform. If you want to run ads on Google, this one’s a no-brainer.
The Google Ads platform is what you use to create online ads, and reach people interested in your products and services. It’s an effective way of driving qualified traffic to your business, because the users who see your ads are actively searching for products and services - or otherwise, Google has flagged them as a particularly good fit for your offer.
Where it fits: If you want to run ads on Google, you need to set up Google Ads. ‘Nuff said.
Merchant Center (retail only)
Set-up instructions
This one’s retail only, so if your business is service-based feel free to skip this part.
Google’s Merchant Center is a free tool that lets shoppers on Google discover, explore, and ultimately purchase your products. With a Merchant Center account you can upload and manage your product data and ensure that your products appear across various Google platforms like Search, Maps, and YouTube.
Like everything else Google does, Merchant Center uses engagement and visitor behaviour to provide actionable insights into how customers interact with your business and products, letting you optimize traffic to your website or local store.
Where it fits: Firstly, it puts your products front and centre in Google’s search results. Rather than visiting your website, searchers can view your products directly. Second, it provides an additional data source that can be used to further refine marketing, advertising, and product line decisions.
YouTube
Set-up instructions
I’m sure you know what YouTube is, but for the sake of consistency I’ll describe it anyway.
YouTube is by far the most popular video sharing website on the internet, allowing you to create and share videos with millions of users for free. If you want to boost visibility, you can pay to have those videos shown as ads to other users, connecting with and getting in front of audiences in ways that almost no other platform can.
Where it fits: If you want to run video ads, you’ll need a YouTube account. And since Google owns YouTube, creating, running, and managing these ads will require a Google Ad account too.
Starting to see how it all fits together?
2. Meta Platforms
The second most important digital network after Google, Meta comprises Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram.
Facebook Business Page
Set-up Instructions
Facebook Business Pages are a free product designed to help you build and expand your social media presence… on Facebook. They allow you to connect with new audiences, engage with fans or customers, and achieve business objectives.
Business Pages allow you to communicate publicly and privately with customers and people who show an interest in your product or service. Additionally, you can manage advertising tools, review audience insights through Page Insights, and use various features like Posts, Inbox, and Groups.
(Having troubles with facebook?, get help here troubleshooting facebook ad issues)
Where it fits: Despite some decline in popularity among younger generations, Facebook is still one of the most popular social media platforms in the world. Not only is the Business Page required to run ads, but it also serves as the heart and soul of your Facebook presence. Even if you decide not to run ads, the benefits of visibility, accessibility, legitimacy that comes with the account make it a solid time investment.
Meta Business Suite
Set-up Instructions
Meta Business Suite is Meta’s catch-all platform for managing marketing and advertising activities across Facebook and Instagram.
- Business Suite Data Sources
Data sources is a sub-function of Business Suite that lets you add or remove the data sources that feed into your tools and analytics. If you’re gonna be using Business Suite, it helps to be intentional about which data you’re choosing to include.
- Business Suite Ads Manager
Ads Manager is another sub-function of Business Suite, and serves as the central hub for running ads across the Meta platforms. Basically, It’s an all-in-one tool for creating, managing, and tracking ad campaigns, as well as monitoring performance, and generating reports.
Where it fits: It’s a thousand times easier to run ads on Facebook and Instagram if you get Business Suite first.
Meta Business Manager
Set-up Instructions
Meta Business Manager is a free tool developed by Meta that lets businesses manage their Meta pages without having to tie them to a specific personal Facebook account. It also allows you to manage and monitor ad activity, and tailor ad campaigns for different client needs or audience segments.
Where it fits: Meta Business manager is invaluable if your business is running multiple different pages, and if you want to securely share access to agencies, partners, vendors, or employees without compromising the ownership of your assets.
Meta Pixel
Set-up Instructions
Meta’s Pixel is similar to Google’s analytics tags - it’s an analytics tool that helps you track visitor behaviour on your website, and measure how your Facebook and Instagram ads are performing.
Once you’ve set the Pixel up on your website, it will begin logging events and actions taken by visitors. You can then use that information to “retarget” those visitors with your ads, depending on which pages they visited or actions they took.
Where it fits: It’s hard to understate the importance of retargeting in digital marketing. People who’ve already clicked on your ads and visited your website are highly promising prospects because they’ve already shown a level of intent in regard to your offer. Facebook’s Pixel unearths this information, tells you what visitors are doing on your website, and allows you to show them ads tailored to their specific area of interest.
Instagram Business Account
Set-up instructions
Running an Instagram business account isn’t all that different from a regular account, but gives you access to tools, insights, and business customization features that make it a very effective way of maintaining a business presence on Instagram.
Switching to an Instagram Business Account also grants you access to analytics through Instagram Insights. You can track your reach, engagement, follower demographics, and post-specific performance data, helping you understand how your content resonates with your audience.
Big Picture: If you plan to run ads on Instagram, you’re required to first have a business account. Then, you need to connect that account to the Meta Ads Manager, from where you’ll be creating and managing those ads.
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the Facebook of the professional world, and is essential for businesses looking to engage in B2B outreach and advertising.
LinkedIn Business Page
Set-up instructions
Your LinkedIn Business Page serves as your organization’s representation on the platform. It’s a place where LinkedIn members can learn about your business, brand, products, services, and job opportunities.
Having a dedicated business page is important to establishing your brand’s identity, voice, purpose, and business culture on LinkedIn. And since advertising on LinkedIn can only be done through a business page, it’s the first step you need to take if you plan to build a presence on LinkedIn.
Big Picture: If you want to advertise on LinkedIn, you’ll first need to create a Business Page.
LinkedIn Campaign Manager
Set-up Instructions
LinkedIn Campaign Manager is a self-service ad management tool that lets you create, launch, and assess the performance of your LinkedIn ad campaigns.
To run ad campaigns on Campaign Manager, you first need to establish four key sub-platforms, which are set up as a hierarchy:
- Ad Account: Set up an ad account to manage your campaigns
- Campaign Group: Organize your campaigns into groups for better management
- Campaigns: Create individual ad campaigns within your account
- Ads: Design and launch specific ads for your campaigns
Where it fits: As above, if you want to run ads on LinkedIn you’ll need to set up the campaign manager. It’s as simple as that!
Conclusion
We get it - it seems like a lot. But you’ll be happy to hear that not every business necessarily needs every single platform. Each one has its own unique advantages, targeting options, and user base, and choosing which to lean into depends on your marketing goals, your audience, and the nature of your business.
Google dominates the search market, for instance, which makes it ideal for capturing intent-based searches (“where do I buy…”) and getting the most reach.
Facebook and Instagram meanwhile offer extensive targeting options, and while Facebook skews older and Instagram younger, together they have an extremely diverse user base covering a huge demographic range.
As a B2B-focused platform, LinkedIn offers precise targeting based on job titles, industries, and company sizes, making it an ideal choice for B2B advertising.
The main takeaway is that whichever platform (or combination of platforms) you choose to use, doing a comprehensive setup before running ads is always the better call.
The proper set up lets you constantly improve your ads, target only the most qualified leads, and improve retention, follow-through and conversion stats by showing you what happens after the ad is clicked - not to mention that a proper set-up will generally improve organic stats too.
If you’re left with any questions after this article, or don’t know where to get started - leave a comment below or shoot us a message and we’ll help point you in the right direction.