Meta, Google and TikTok each have a different job
Judging every channel by the same last-click number is how good channels get cut. How we assign each platform a role, and measure it accordingly.
A common way to run paid media is to put every platform side by side in a spreadsheet, compare return on ad spend, and move money toward whichever number looks best. It feels rigorous. It also tends to slowly strangle the channels that create demand, in favour of the channels that collect it.
Each major platform does something different in a customer’s journey. We give each one a job, and judge it by how well it does that job.
Meta: the engine
For most consumer brands, Meta is the core of paid growth. Facebook and Instagram combine enormous reach, strong buying intent signals and an algorithm that is very good at finding customers when given enough good creative.
Its job: create demand and convert it, at scale.
What it needs: volume and variety of creative, broad targeting so the algorithm can do its work, and a clean, simple account structure. Meta rewards brands that feed it many distinct ads and punishes over-engineered setups that split budgets into small pieces.
How we judge it: contribution to total sales and new customers, alongside in-platform efficiency for steering between ads.
TikTok: discovery
TikTok is where people find things they weren’t looking for. Products spread through creators, trends and comments long before anyone searches for them.
Its job: discovery, cultural relevance and reaching people who aren’t yet in the market.
What it needs: content that looks native to the platform. Creator-led videos, quick hooks, real demos and a willingness to let creators speak in their own voice. Polished brand ads often struggle here. Spark Ads, which run paid spend behind creator posts, are usually a strong starting point.
How we judge it: reach into new audiences, branded search lift, and overall new-customer growth, rather than last-click sales alone. TikTok often starts journeys that end somewhere else.
Google: capture
When someone searches for a product, a problem or a brand name, they’ve told you exactly what they want. Google is where that intent shows up.
Its job: capture demand that already exists, including demand created by Meta and TikTok.
What it needs: solid coverage of branded searches, so competitors don’t intercept customers who already want you; well-structured Shopping or Performance Max campaigns fed by a clean product feed; and selective investment in category searches where the margins work. YouTube sits a little apart. It behaves more like a demand-creation channel and deserves its own expectations.
How we judge it: efficiency and coverage. Branded search should be cheap and dominant. Non-branded and Shopping should be held to profitable return targets.
How the jobs fit together
The channels feed each other. Someone sees a creator video on TikTok, later sees a Meta ad with a strong testimonial, then searches the brand name on Google and buys. Last-click reporting gives Google all the credit. Cut TikTok and Meta because their reported return looks weaker, and a few weeks later branded searches fall and Google’s return quietly drops with them.
That’s why we evaluate the mix on blended numbers. Total marketing efficiency, new-customer growth and contribution margin come first, with platform metrics used to steer inside each channel.
How the mix changes over time
There’s no single correct split, but the balance usually shifts as a brand grows.
- Early: most spend on Meta, where creative testing is fastest and the algorithm learns quickly. Branded search on Google to protect existing demand.
- Growing: TikTok added for discovery once there’s a creative system that can produce native content. Shopping campaigns expand as product data and reviews mature.
- Scaling: YouTube and broader category search to reach further, with incrementality tests to check that each additional dollar is adding sales rather than claiming credit.
The principle
Give each channel a clear job, feed it the creative and structure it needs, and measure it by what it contributes to the whole. A brand that does this rarely has to wonder why growth stalled after it “optimised” its media mix.