Are Facebook Ads Worth It

Social Media

•

Saunder Schroeder

April 29, 2020

Social Media

•

Saunder Schroeder • April 29, 2020

How much does Facebook Ads cost? Are they worth it? Should I try advertising on Facebook?

If you've ever asked yourself these questions, you're not alone.

Over the last few years, Facebook has evolved into an effective marketing platform and businesses are starting to take notice.

Since you're reading this article, some part of you is probably hoping that Facebook will be a breakout opportunity for your business—the ads will be cheaper and the results will be better.

Well, I've got good news for you. Facebook Ads is an incredibly powerful and affordable way to promote your business online.

How Much Do Facebook Ads Cost?

Let's take a look at what you can expect to pay for Facebook Ads. AdEspresso runs a regular quarterly report on the cost of Facebook ads that has some great data.

For example, here is what the average cost-per-click (CPC) for different campaign objectives breaks down:

Overall, the average click on a Facebook ad costs around $0.55. But really, CPC data doesn't tell you a whole lot about the value of Facebook advertising.

Are those clicks turning into conversions? Are those conversions turning into sales? What sort of return-on-ad-spend (ROAS) can you expect from Facebook ads?

It doesn't matter how cheap your clicks are if they don't produce profitable revenue for your business.

throwing-money-away

That's why people still use Google Ads, even though the average click on Google Ads costs $2.69 and some clicks cost hundreds of dollars!

When it comes to online marketing, profit matters more than cost.

With that in mind, here's what you can—in our experience—expect to pay for the right clicks on Facebook:

A lot depends on whether you are advertising to people (B2C) or businesses (B2B):

B2C: $.90 CPC
B2B:$3.00 CPC

Of course, these are just averages, your actual CPC could easily be much higher or much lower than these numbers. But, these values are a good rule of thumb you can use to estimate whether or not Facebook ads are worth trying.

For example, if you have a fairly average conversion rate—say 3% for B2C or 1% for B2B—here's what your cost-per-conversion will probably look like:

B2C: $30 per conversion
B2B: $300 per conversion

Now we're getting somewhere!

If a potential cost-per-conversion (typically a sale or lead) of $30 or $300 makes you salivate, Facebook advertising is probably a great fit for your business. If that seems outrageously high, Facebook's probably not for you. There are also ways to drive cheaper, albeit lower quality, leads through Facebook Lead Ads; however, we typically only recommend these if you have a strong and experienced Sale's Team.

Are Facebook Ads Worth It?

When you get right down to it, though, even a great cost-per-conversion doesn't mean a Facebook campaign will be worth the money.

To determine that, you really need to know what your expected return-on-ad-spend will be.

For example, here are some results from a client of ours:

Can you tell if this campaign is profitable? They've certainly spent a lot of money.

What you can't see in this report is the fact that this client receives $4.75 of revenue for every $1.00 they spend on their Facebook ads.

In general, if you get more than $4.00 in revenue for every $1.00 you spend on advertising, that's a pretty profitable campaign.

But what about this campaign?

The CPC is more than double the last company's CPC—surely their return-on-investment must be worse!

Nope. This particular company makes $8.25 for every $1.00 they spend on Facebook.

In fact, despite having a CPC that is over 2x higher than the first company's CPC, their campaigns are nearly twice as profitable.

See what I mean?

Although Facebook's cost-per-clickis cheaper than many other online advertising platforms, deciding whether or not Facebook is right for your business is less about CPC than it is about ROI.

Should I Try Advertising On Facebook?

The good news is, Facebook doesn't just deliver cheap clicks. The examples I just gave are fairly typical for our clients.

Yes, the CPC is lower, but if you set up your campaigns right, your campaigns will drive high-quality clicks that produce value for your business.

As a result, Facebook ads are often a much more profitable way to market your business than other advertising channels.

For example, we recently tried Facebook ads with a client of ours who had been using Google Ads for some time. Their Google Ads campaigns had been performing well enough, but we wondered if Facebook would be a good way to reach a different, larger audience.

The results were astounding.

As expected, the CPC was lower (70% lower), but it turned out that the Facebook ads outperformed our paid search ads in every way.

The clickthrough rate was 20% higher.
The conversion rate was 70% higher.
Most importantly, the cost-per-conversion was 77% lower.

Overall, these campaigns produced a 4.35x better ROI than our Google Ads—Facebook Ads were an unqualified success!

At Disruptive, we often see results like these when we try Facebook Ads with our clients. So, if you're wondering whether or not Facebook ads are just a way for Zuckerberg to line his pockets—rest assured, they really do work!

And, because the CPC is often quite low, you don't have to spend all that much to see if they will work for your business.

Conclusion

When you get right down to it, advertising on Facebook isn't about cost—it's about profitability.

That being said, for most businesses, running a Facebook campaign makes a ton of sense. You can get high-quality clicks, conversions and sales without paying through the nose for them.

By the way, if you're considering Facebook advertising, let us know here or in the comments! We'd be happy to review your business needs and help you decide whether or not Facebook is a good fit for you.

What do you think of Facebook Ads? Are they a good investment or a waste of money?