Part Three Of "Flip The Feed"
By now, one thing should be clear: paid advertising isn’t a gamble when it’s done with intention. It’s a system. However, here’s where most businesses get stuck because they treat platforms like silos. They either try Meta or Google without understanding the differences.
That’s the mistake. That's the disconnect.
“ What do you want to say and who do you want to say it to”
This will guide you to understanding the real power of what each platform is designed to do, and how they work together to build an engine that delivers results.
Two Different Jobs: Attention vs. Intent
Meta Ads are attention-based. They interrupt the scroll. They introduce ideas. They plant seeds.
Google Ads are intent-based. They respond to demand. They show up when someone is already looking.
Neither is “better.” They do different jobs.
This is the same framework I’ve written about before in Social or search.
Meta says: “Here’s something you didn’t know you wanted yet.” Google says: “Here’s exactly what you’re looking for.”
When you use them together, you stop guessing where people are in the decision process—and start meeting them where they already are.
That’s the beginning of a real ad engine.
Here’s where things get especially powerful for local and service-based businesses.
Both Meta and Google allow you to target by:
And that matters more than ever in places like Tahoe in season.
We’re not dealing with long, drawn-out buyer journeys. That’s for shoulder season marketing. We’re dealing with people who are traveling, tired, on their phones, and looking for something to do right now.
Let’s talk about one of my old clients, a tourist boat.
We weren’t trying to reach everyone. We were trying to reach the right people at the right moment. They had 4 cruises a day, each with its own appeal. The “Happy Hour” cruise was low-hanging fruit.
Who:
What:
So we scheduled ads specifically for that window. 25 mi. Geo-targeted, people who could make it in an hour. With a clear message and a simple call to action: Four o’clock happy hour cruise. Sit, recharge, and relax with the best view in Tahoe.
That’s not luck. That’s strategy.
And it works whether the ad shows up in a social feed or a search result.
If you’re a local or service-based business, organic alone puts you at a disadvantage. These days, the noise is so great organic views are at an all-time low.
You don’t need everyone. You need the right someone—close by, ready to act.
Paid ads allow you to:
For local businesses, paid ads aren’t about scale. They’re about precision.
I go deeper into this idea in Is Your Social Handled?, where I talk about the real cost of unmanaged, reactive marketing.
This is where a lot of ad campaigns quietly fail.
You can have the right platform, timing, and audience, and still lose people instantly if the landing page doesn’t match the ad. You lose trust immediately.
When someone clicks, the branding should feel familiar, the message continuous, and the promise clearly represented. If there’s a disconnect—different tone, different visuals, different message—people bail fast.
I had a failure recently with a Black Friday campaign; the webmaster forgot to put the Black Friday badge and sale price on the sale items. 984 people went to the site, and 984 people bailed. An expensive mistake.
Ads don’t work in isolation. They work as part of a connected experience.
When search and social work together… When geo-targeting and timing are intentional… When video, copy, and landing pages align…
Marketing stops feeling random. When all the parts align, tracking and analysis become clear, and it gives you the power to see quickly what works best and adjust what’s not. From here, you can build momentum instead of guessing.
That’s not just advertising. That’s an engine.
Most businesses don’t need more platforms. They need better alignment. When you stop treating Google and Meta like separate experiments and start using them as parts of the same system, you stop chasing visibility and start creating it.
That’s how businesses get to the surface. And that’s how they stay there.
If there is a topic you’d like to hear more about, by all means comment below or direct message, and I’ll do my best.
Nothing better than a good question to jump into.
Reach out for a talk over coffee or a hike. tgold@bigwaterci.com
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Trina Gold
Master Creator
