5 Reasons Why PPC Ads Work Better in Search than in Social Media - with Kevin Lee (6:34) Dr. Ralph F. Wilson , Web Marketing Today - Sep 27, 2011

In this video interview, PPC expert Kevin Lee explains several reasons why PPC ads in Google AdWords and Bing search are more effective than ads in social media such as Facebook.

He cites a recent Gartner study that found a large group of social media users are becoming fatigued by social media in general, with the work involved in keeping up with their social media contacts.

1. "Ad fatigue" occurs also, since in social media, ads are targeted based on social media profiles, so the same people see your ad over and over again. You tend to have the same "ad burnout" problems you do with banner ads or traditional media. In search mode, in contrast, people only see your ad when you search on a particular keyword.

2. Social media may influence brand awareness and create demand for your product or service, but it is difficult to "harvest demand" on social media, that is, to get a conversion or a sale. Search PPC ads, in contrast, excel at providing what a customer wants, when he wants it.

3. Social media profiles also tend to be sparcely populated -- not well filled in at many points, such as for type of employment -- limited your ability to target carefully.

4. Social media profiles tend to contain lies. Millions of profiles are partly or fully fictitious, destroying effective ad targeting.

5. Finally, if a success metric for your ad campaign is the social media's own internal "like" as in Facebook, then your ability to 'touch' the individual can change over time. From an algorithm called Edgerank, you learn that them liking you may not be put in their feed at all.

Kevin Lee is the CEO of Didit, a pioneering search marketing firm that manages PPC search, auction-based display ads, for clients that range from $20,000 in ad spend per month and up. This interview was recorded on August 16, 2011 at the SES Conference in San Francisco.