The cost of Facebook advertising can differ significantly from year to year. As one of the most popular social networking platforms, Facebook has many users willing to pay a high premium for ad campaigns.
Below, we'll take a comprehensive look at the Facebook ad cost, including:
Let's get into it.
Many different factors affect your Facebook advertising cost (we'll take a closer look at those later), but in 2022, most users reported an ad spend of around:
Since Facebook advertising costs differ significantly based on the ad campaign objective, we can only give you a cursory price indication before delving into the details.
The Facebook ad auction is one of the most significant factors in how successful your ad campaign is. But what is it, and how does it work?
The ad auction is an algorithm-based mechanism that helps determine which ad campaigns to show at which times. Every time Facebook displays an ad to anyone, the auction runs to decide which Facebook ad is best.
Facebook determines the best ads to show based on:
One of the reasons why the Facebook advertising cost is so variable is the sheer amount of influencing factors. Below, we'll take a closer look at some of the things that affect the ad spend on your campaign.
While it's probably not one of the first things that come to mind, your target audience network is one of the significant factors affecting Facebook ad costs.
The more specific you want your target audience to be, the more your ad campaign will cost. This is especially true if you're trying to reach a niche target audience.
Broader audiences are easier to reach, which brings your Facebook ad spend way down. However, the higher Facebook ad costs might be worth it if the niche market brings in more income for you.
Your Facebook ad budget has a tremendous effect on how much your ad placement costs. If you have a larger budget, it translates to more successful results on the ad auction.
Better auction results lead to more click-through and more regular displays. Therefore, while your target audience is seeing your Facebook ads more often, a larger ad budget also leads to higher ad costs.
As much as your target audience affects how much your Facebook ads cost, your campaign objective does as well. The type of effect you want with your campaign further narrows down the amount of Facebook users they'll show the ad to.
This type of narrow audience targeting significantly affects Facebook ads cost. If you're trying to get users to download your app, for instance, you'll pay more than if you're trying to get traffic to your website. If you're doing brand awareness campaigns, they'll cost more than lead generation campaigns.
Facebook uses several criteria to determine your ad quality. Your ad quality then affects your Facebook ads cost.
Higher-quality Facebook ads cost less than those that Facebook considers less relevant or engaging.
The relevance and engagement score is the main factor affecting your ad quality rating. Your Facebook ads may earn a score of between one and ten, with ten being the highest. Facebook will base your score on positive and negative feedback received about your ad.
It's worth noting that Facebook only gives you a score after your first 500 impressions. Once you've passed this benchmark, you can easily check the score for any ad from your ad manager:
Whether you're looking at Google ads, Instagram ads, or Facebook ads costs, the value varies significantly depending on the industry involved. Before setting up your own Facebook ad campaigns, it's worth researching the average costs for your industry.
For illustration purposes, the average cost-per-click (CPC) may be as little as $0.63 in the hospitality industry or as much as $3.77 in the insurance industry.
As with many other elements of Facebook ads campaigns, the platform takes careful note of the click-through rate on your Facebook ads.
A relatively healthy average is a CTR of around 2%. Generally, your Facebook ad cost decreases as your CTR increases.
Facebook ads algorithms consider a low CTR indicative of an inadequate advertising campaign. Chances are that the ads lack the appropriate language or aren't getting to the right target audience network.
As with traditional advertising campaigns, your ad spend will be lower in certain seasons than in others.
Particularly in the third and fourth quarters, ad costs tend to increase. This happens when Facebook advertising costs shift in preparation for the Festive holidays.
Traditionally, many companies start pushing their Facebook advertising and traditional advertising as the Christmas season approaches. Depending on the industry you're in, you may also see a rise in ad costs around holidays like Easter, Halloween, or Valentine's Day.
If you're in the tourism or hospitality industry, you'll likely also see a rise in the cost of Facebook ads around popular tourist seasons.
The average CPC for a Facebook ad varied significantly throughout 2022. For example, in January, it was around $0.9, but by the end of November, it was over $1.40.
If you have a strict campaign objective and a low budget, you want to keep your Facebook ads as affordable as possible.
Fortunately, Facebook advertising is a fairly variable field. There are several ways to cut down on Facebook advertising costs. Whether you're an online store or a bed and breakfast, optimizing your Facebook ads for cost efficiency may mean less efficiency elsewhere.
Let's take a closer look at the options:
While broadening your target audience seems counterintuitive, it's one of the easiest ways to keep your costs low. As we mentioned earlier, Facebook advertising costs are generally less when the field of prospective Facebook users is broad.
That probably raises the question: will your Facebook ads be equally effective if your audience is broader? That's where the give and take comes in. Thanks to the ad auction system, it's unlikely that your advertisement will appear to many unnecessary people.
No, the ad may not be entirely as effective, but it should still be effective enough - at a lower cost.
It's tempting to try and be in absolute control of every aspect of your Facebook advertising cost, including where to place the ads. However, that technique is far from cost-effective.
The best way to have effective Facebook ads at affordable prices is to use the automatic placement function. This approach helps to maximize your budget by showing the ad to more people. It also allows the Facebook ads algorithm to learn where best to place your ads.
People who already interact with your social media accounts are one of the most viable audiences for Facebook ads. They're also one of the most overlooked.
When Facebook users interact with you or like your products, they're already likely to click on your ads. This type of audience targeting cuts down on failed ads and improves your CTR, leading to a lower cost per click (CPC).
Comparative testing, or A/B testing, is one of the best ways to optimize your Facebook ads and reduce costs. Change small things between one ad and the next, and see how the results differ.
Some of the things you can play around with include:
Depending on the industry you're in, your targeted audience may have different tastes from another industry's audience. For instance, a graphic designer or interior designer's target audience may have higher visual standards than a builder or plumber's target.
Running these types of tests on variables won't cost you any more than you're paying for the ad anyway. Once you find a style and layout that appeals to your target audience, you'll improve the CTR on your Facebook ads, thereby lowering the cost per click.
As we mentioned above, the ad auction is partially responsible for determining how many and which people see your Facebook ads. Since more interaction and a higher CTR lead to lower rates, being successful at the auction is foundational to lowering Facebook advertising costs.
Here are a few strategies you can use to help you come out on top of the Facebook ads auction:
One of the best ways to save money is to have a plan detailing precisely what you want to accomplish and how many resources you can dedicate to the task. This will help you to determine how to proceed and keep unnecessary costs to a minimum.
Some of the most important factors to consider include:
Facebook advertising is a worthwhile investment, and the right ad space can give your business a boost. But the advertising costs are far from stable.
Everything from your ad objective to the audience you target with your ad placements can affect the advertising costs.
For best results, it's best to work out your entire ad budget before you start advertising. That way, you can optimize all the ads you place. In the end, it comes down to having the right campaign objective, a good budget plan, and keeping your engagement and relevance score high.
For a rough cost of between $0.012 and $5.47 per click or engagement, you can easily generate sales, raise brand awareness, and sell products. Facebook offers some of the lowest prices for the advertising options available to you.