How Much Does it Cost to Advertise on Facebook

Facebook ad space works on a bidding system. That means you are competing against thousands of other companies also bidding for the same ad space.

What's the cost to win the bid? What affects your Facebook advertising costs? Keep reading to learn about the cost of Facebook advertising and what you can expect.

The Average Cost to Advertise on Facebook

You can measure the cost to advertise on Facebook by the "cost-per-click," or the "cost per like," or the "cost per app install." You can further break down the cost by country, gender, age, placement, month, and day of the week. As you can see, the average cost depends on many factors.

If we look at the big picture, the average cost-per-click throughout the world is $0.97. The average cost-per-click just in the United States is $1.10. You stand to save money on advertising if you are able to target other "lower cost" countries, but it doesn't make sense to do so if your product isn't available in those countries.

You can also look at the "cost per thousand impressions" in Facebook advertising. This is more about the reach that your ads have. You pay to have your ad in front of more people, but you aren't paying for an action per se. You pay to get your name out there and in the minds of your target audience. The average CPM in the US is $3.79.

What Factors Affect Your Facebook Advertising Costs?

You can set up Facebook advertising for one of three reasons:

1. Brand Awareness
   
2. Traffic
   
3. Conversion

Facebook will show your ads to the person who is most likely to fulfill your goal for the advertisement. If you are looking for brand awareness, Facebook will get your brand out in front of as many people's faces as possible within your chosen target audience. If, on the other hand, your goal is to convert viewers into buyers, Facebook may be more limited with who they show your ad too, choosing only those that tend to convert once clicking on an ad.

How to Buy Ads on Facebook

Facebook runs their ads in an auction format. Unlike a standard auction, though, the winner isn't the highest bidder.

Facebook created its advertising program to help advertisers reach their target audience while giving users a reputable experience.

In other words, Facebook won't put your advertisement in front of just anyone.

They will choose those users who have the characteristics to have a need for your product or service. In other words, they put ad value over money. If your ad has a greater value than another advertiser with a higher bid, you will win the bid.

You choose your budget and Facebook does the rest. You set either a daily budget or a lifetime budget (for the life of your advertising campaign). You then choose a schedule that includes a start and end date.

Facebook will then tell you the maximum amount you will pay for advertising for your set dates and daily/lifetime budget. They will also tell you the estimated number of viewers who will see your ad. If you agree with what they offer, you buy the ad

How To Determine Your Advertising Budget?

It's not necessarily about how much you spend on Facebook advertising, but on how you spend those dollars.

The more targeted and effective your strategy, the less your advertising may cost. Rather than throwing a random budget at your Facebook advertising strategy, consider testing the waters.

After a short while, you can view the results and decide which avenue offers the best ROI. This way, you can ditch the efforts that aren't working and put your true budget into the areas that worked.

Keep in mind that the smaller your audience is, though, the higher the cost-per-click, or impression, becomes.

On the other hand, it doesn't pay to waste advertising dollars on viewers who have no interest in your product or service.

Can You Make Your Facebook Ads Cheaper?

Advertising can get expensive no matter what type of business you run. Luckily, there are a few ways you can keep the costs of advertising on Facebook down:

• Select a Proper Target Audience: It can be tempting to target anyone who logs into Facebook, but this is a waste of your advertising dollars. Think long and hard about who you want to target. Who is likely to covert either to a page follower, email lead, or customer?

• Choose the Right Ad: Remember, people on Facebook are there to read about their friends and family. They aren't in the mind to shop for something. Your ad needs to catch their eye and make them think about your business. It needs to be catchy or they will keep scrolling, increasing your cost-per-click (CPC).

• Keep It Relevant: Facebook will give your ad a relevance score. This score runs from 1 to 10. The higher the score, the more people will see your ad. In other words, it pays to make sure that your ad is relevant to your target audience and will help engage them, as Facebook will put it out in front of more people—you'll win the bid.

Bottom Line

There's no set cost of Facebook advertising. How much you spend and how effective it is depends on the amount of research you do and how effective your campaign is for your target audience. You are in charge of what your Facebook ads cost, which means you can spend as little or as much as your budget allows.