A paid social specialist sets up ads in the Instagram and Facebook feeds. They show your ad to people who were not looking for anything but who look like your customer. A Google Ads specialist works in search: the person who sees your ad has just typed a query about your service. These are two different jobs, and each is measured in a different way.
In 19 years in advertising I have often watched an owner ask for a social media ads person while their customers were already in Google, searching. So the first question is not “who do I hire” but “where is my customer right now: searching or scrolling?” For a service business with urgent demand, search usually comes first, not the feed. How a search specialist works day to day is covered in what a PPC specialist does.
Who a paid social specialist is
A paid social specialist builds and runs paid ads on social networks, most often Instagram and Facebook. They work inside Meta Ads Manager: they choose the campaign objective, the audience, the placements and the budget, and they pick the creative, meaning the image, the video and the ad text.
The job title is a market label, not a role with one required qualification behind it. So a title tells you little about skill. Judge the person by the ad account, the leads and the cost of one lead. The word “targeting” also exists inside Google Ads, but there it means setting who sees an ad. That is a separate topic, covered in the guide to targeted advertising and targeting in Google Ads.
What they do every week
Their week revolves around one task: stopping a person who was scrolling and was not looking for you.
- They prepare new creative: images, video and text, because an ad has to catch the eye at first glance.
- They check which ads produced leads or messages and which produced only likes, and they switch off the weak ones.
- They try other audiences: another area, another age range, other interests.
- They move budget to the ads that work.
- They ask you whether the leads are any good, because the ad account cannot hear the phone call.
Every ad goes through review first, and, per Meta’s help pages, it begins running after it is approved. So leave time for launch and fixes.
How they differ from a Google Ads specialist
The shortest version is this. At 2 a.m. a person types “emergency plumber near me” into Google because water is already on the floor. At 9 p.m. someone else scrolls Instagram and sees a photo of a remodeled bathroom. The first person is searching and ready to pay today. The second was not looking and has to be shown something that makes them want it. A Google Ads specialist stands at the moment of search. A paid social specialist creates interest.
I am comparing search ads here, because that is what most owners mean by “Google ads”. Google Ads also has display and YouTube, where people are also reached in a feed, but that is closer to a paid social specialist’s work.
| Question | Paid social specialist | Google Ads specialist |
|---|---|---|
| Where they find the customer | In the Instagram and Facebook feed and stories: the person was not searching, and the ad has to stop them | In Google search: the person typed a query about the service and is ready to choose |
| What they set up | Campaign objective, audience, placements, budget and creative in Meta Ads Manager | Keywords and search campaigns, ad text, locations, budget and the page the ad leads to |
| What they do each week | Refresh creative, switch off weak ads, test new audiences, move budget | Read the search terms report, add negative keywords (phrases the ad should not show for), check which phrases bring leads |
| How to measure the result | Leads and messages from the ads and the cost of each; reach and likes do not replace leads | Leads (calls, forms, messages) and the cost of each, split by the queries they came from |
| What they need from you | Fresh photos and video, fast replies to messages; if the ad leads to a website, also a page for one service and a way to log inquiries | A page for one service, a phone that gets answered, a way to log inquiries |
| Where it is weak | Interest without intent to buy: likes, no leads | Low search volume: if nobody searches for the service, there is nobody to show the ad to |
A Google Ads specialist starts with data on demand. Keyword Planner helps find keywords for search campaigns and shows the approximate number of searches per month. After launch they see the result in the search terms report, which lists the queries that triggered your ad. A paid social specialist has no such list, because nobody typed anything.
Who to hire first: a decision tree
Step 0 comes before any choice. Do you have a page for one service, a phone that gets answered and a way to log inquiries? If not, fix that first: neither specialist can save a page that does not take leads. If yes, go down the questions below and stop at the first “yes”.
- Do people already search for your service together with your city name? Type it into Keyword Planner and look at the search volume. The basic functions of Keyword Planner need a finished Google Ads account with billing details. If you do not have one yet, type the service into Google search and read the suggestions: that is only a hint of demand, not a count. Or ask the specialist to show you the numbers from Keyword Planner. Yes: hire a Google Ads specialist first.
- Is the service needed urgently, at the moment of a problem: a burst pipe, a dead furnace in winter, a legal emergency? Yes: search again, because at that moment a person does not scroll, they search.
- Is the service new, so nobody searches for it yet, or does a picture sell it: before and after, interiors, nails, wedding photography? Yes: a paid social specialist first.
No “yes” at all? Then it is too early to hire: ask your recent customers how they found you and go back to the first question. Is the budget small? Pick one channel and bring it to predictable leads before adding a second. Split a small budget in half and you get two tests, neither of which reaches a conclusion.
One person can run both channels, but they are two sets of decisions, so ask for a separate report on each. How to choose between channels on a concrete example is in Google Ads vs Instagram ads, and the first Instagram campaign is described step by step in the guide to setting up Instagram ads.
How to vet both
- The ad account must be yours. In Google Ads you grant access by invitation: in the Admin menu open Access and security, enter the specialist’s email, pick an access level and send the invitation. Standard access lets a person edit campaigns, while granting access and changing levels is for an admin only. Stay the admin yourself and add a second one: per the help page, if there is a single admin and that person becomes unavailable, you can lose access to your tags, the tracking code on your site. In Meta the principle is the same: ask who owns the ad account and the Page.
- Ask for leads, not reach. A decent report says how many calls, forms and messages came in and what each one cost. Ask to see a live ad account or case studies with lead numbers, not just a presentation.
- Do not trust scores in the dashboard. Even a high opportunity score in Meta, per its help page, does not reflect actual or future performance and does not guarantee it. For the same reason an honest specialist does not promise a number of leads in advance.
- Ask for a plan for the first test: what you check, what budget, and by which measure, such as the price of a lead, you decide to continue or stop. Without a plan it is not a test, it is spending.
When this does not apply
The advice “search first” does not hold if almost nobody searches for your service. Keyword Planner will show small numbers, search will not give you volume, and the feed comes first. For a new service or a visual product the feed is also first: people have to be interested before they can search.
It does not hold either when leads get lost after the ad: the page has no phone number, nobody answers messages, inquiries are not written down anywhere. Neither specialist can fix that with ads.
The limit of the data: Keyword Planner volumes are approximate and say how many times a phrase is searched, not how many leads you will get. I deliberately do not write what a specialist earns or costs, because I have no verified source for it.
So judge by your own leads from each channel, not by other people’s averages. The step-by-step version of how search differs from the feed, and of what exactly gets set up in search for a business owner, is in my book on Google Ads for business owners.
My e-book “19 Google Ads Secrets”: how to get the most out of Google Ads without draining your budget, drawn from real campaigns and tests.
See the book →Questions and answers
Can one person run both the feed and search?
Yes, but they are different decisions. Ask for a separate report on each channel and compare the cost of a lead from each.
Is the Boost post button on Instagram enough?
It is enough for a first try. Per Meta’s help page, you set a goal, an audience, a budget and a duration there. Placements and other settings come with Meta Ads Manager.
How do I know whether people search for my service?
Open Keyword Planner, enter the service with your city and look at the approximate number of searches per month. The basic functions need a finished Google Ads account with billing details. The number is approximate: it is a guide, not a promise of leads.