PPC vs Social Media for Finance Ads – What I Learned

My Initial Confusion
When I first started running ads for my small finance project, I kept hearing people arguing: “PPC is king” or “Social media is where you'll get results.” Honestly, I was confused. Both seemed important, but my budget was tight, and I didn't want to waste money on the wrong platform. So I decided to test them myself.

The Pain Point
The problem I ran into was quite typical: I was getting clicks, but not conversions. On social media, my ads got likes and shares, but very few people actually signed up for the service. With PPC, the clicks were more expensive, but at least they came from people actively searching for what I offered. I felt stuck, wondering if I should just pick one and go all-in.

My Personal Test and Insights
After a few months of trial and error, here's what I noticed. PPC works better for capturing intent. People searching for finance services already have a problem and are closer to making a decision. Social media, on the other hand, is great for awareness and engagement, but you have to nurture that audience over time. So for immediate results or when your budget is limited, PPC gave me clearer signals.

What helped me the most was running small, parallel tests. I set up a simple PPC campaign alongside a few boosted social posts. I tracked which brought real leads and which didn't. Surprisingly, I realized that combining both—using social media to warm up an audience and PPC to catch them when they're ready to act—felt like the sweet spot. I also found some ad platforms that let me experiment without committing huge sums. If you want to try this approach, you could Launch a test campaign and see what works for your audience.

Soft Solution Hint
I think the main takeaway is: don't get too caught up in debates about “which is better.” It's about understanding your audience and where they are in their decision-making process. Social media is great for awareness and trust-building, but if you need quick, measurable results, PPC tends to deliver. Testing both in a thoughtful way saved me a lot of time and money, and gave me actual data to make decisions instead of guessing.

Final Thoughts
So if you're trying to figure out whether PPC or social media will work for your financial ads, I'd say start small, track carefully, and don't be afraid to mix both. What worked for me might not be perfect for you, but it definitely helped me stop wasting budget and start seeing real leads come in.