How does Meta pricing work and what should you budget for advertising?
Meta sells ad space in an auction, so what you pay depends on who else wants the same people and what you're asking them to do. You set the budget. We work it back from what a customer is worth to you, test it, and scale only what shows up in your own records.
How Meta ad pricing works
Each time someone opens Facebook or Instagram, advertisers bid for that slot. What you pay depends on how many others want the same audience, how relevant your ad is to the person, and the goal you pick. A lead or a sale costs more than a click, because fewer people do it.
Working out a budget
Start from what a customer is worth after costs. That tells you what a lead or a sale can cost and still pay back. Pacing Numbers works out a budget, a target cost per customer and your break-even return from your own revenue and margin. It's free and doesn't ask for an email.
Before spending
If you can't yet see which ad a lead came from, fix that first: more budget only buys more of what you can't measure. We check the pixel, the server events and the landing page before a campaign goes live.
Judging it
You set a daily or lifetime budget for each campaign, so the spend is capped. Give it a few weeks, then judge it on the leads and sales in your own records rather than on Meta's reported return.
Our Meta tool page shows how we set it up, and our paid marketing service covers running it for you.
Also worth asking
Other answers about the same tools.
What is paid marketing and how does it work?
Paid marketing means paying to put your business in front of people, usually through ads on Google, Meta or LinkedIn. You set a budget and an audience, and you pay per click or per thousand views. The hard part is knowing which ads bring customers.
What platforms do you use for paid marketing campaigns?
Google Ads and Meta (Facebook and Instagram), plus LinkedIn for B2B work. We use Microsoft Ads where a campaign needs it. Which ones we use depends on whether people search for what you sell.
How much should I budget for paid marketing?
Start from what a customer is worth to you and what a lead costs in your market. The budget then needs to be big enough to get meaningful conversions in a month, and small enough that you can afford to find out it isn't working.
Want a quick starting figure from your revenue and a growth goal? Try the budget planner.
What’s the difference between paid search and paid social campaigns?
Paid search (Google Ads) shows your ad to people typing a query. Paid social (Meta, LinkedIn) shows it to people browsing. Search catches demand that's already there, and social creates interest in something new.
How do Meta advertising platforms differ from Google Ads?
Google Ads shows your ad to people searching for something. Meta shows it to people by audience while they scroll Facebook and Instagram. If people already search for what you sell, start with Google. Meta reaches the people who aren't looking yet.
Still have questions?Talk to us
Bring your numbers.
We'll tell you if the spend makes sense.
- A 15-minute callYour goals, your challenges, and whether we're the right fit.
- A 1-hour discovery callWe dig into your numbers. Worth a hundred emails.
- A concrete planAds, a custom build or both, as a one-off project or ongoing.