No matter how big or small your company is, you should always be looking for ways to reduce costs and improve your return on investment. The low cost to advertise on Instagram and Facebook ads present an opportunity for you to do this. In fact, you can reach 1,000 people on Instagram and Facebook for just $5!
You can place Instagram ads through Facebook Ads Manager. In fact, if you didn’t know, Facebook owns Instagram. Therefore, throughout this post, when we mention Facebook, you can also infer that the same applies to Instagram. Now let’s continue.
In addition to low cost and high ROI, there are also many other Facebook advertising benefits. The Facebook ad platform offers sophisticated targeting features that allow you to find and engage your target audience among the channel’s more than 1.85 billion users. This means that you can improve exposure among your target market without spending money on serving ads to irrelevant users.
Facebook and Instagram ads can also help you meet a variety of business goals including customer acquisition, audience engagement, and increasing sales. The low cost of Instagram and Facebook advertising can develop social media ads for lead generation and conversion.
Below, we’ll discuss the cost to advertise on Instagram and Facebook as well as offer tips for decreasing advertising costs while maximizing results.
The Cost to Advertise on Instagram and Facebook
Now that we’ve got your attention with all the ways that social media advertising can help you grow your business, let’s talk about the cost to advertise on Instagram and Facebook. First off, both of these social media channels use the same bidding process for ads. As an advertiser, you will set the budget, or how much you are willing to spend each day or over the course of the campaign. Then, you will set a bid, which is the maximum amount you want to spend when a user takes action on an ad.
Just like a typical auction, there is a winner when it comes to which advertiser’s content is shown to the target audience. However, unlike the typical auction, the “winner” isn’t always the highest bidder. Instead, Instagram and Facebook deliver the content from the advertiser that is most relevant and useful to the specific viewer. Basically, the social media channels take into account your bid, the likelihood that users will take action on the ad, and the quality and relevance of your ad content before serving ads to its users.
You have two different options when bidding on Instagram and Facebook. You can either use the CPC or CPM model. The CPC, or cost per click, advertising model is when you pay per person who clicks on your ad. Whereas the CPM model is where you will pay per thousand ad impressions, or per every 1,000 potential customers who view your ad on Facebook or Instagram.
Looking at the average CPM and CPC for these social media platforms can give you a better idea of what you can expect to spend on your Instagram and Facebook ads. According to a recent study, the average CPM for Instagram is $5.14 per 1000 visits. While the average CPC for Instagram ads is between $0.20 and $2. On the other hand, the average CPC for Facebook is about $0.80, and the average CPM is about $5.12.
These are just basic estimates based on data collected over a certain a period of time. It’s important to note that there are a number of factors that can impact your CPC and CPM rates. One of these factors is your target audience. If you are bidding on a target audience that many other advertisers are also trying to target, you may find that your ad costs are above the general average. This is because there is more competition for that particular target audience. This does not mean that you should target those who are not right for your business. As we will see later, relevancy plays a big factor in the cost and success of your ads.
This brings us to another factor that can impact your costs – the quality of your ad content. How relevant and useful your ad content is can directly impact the cost of your Facebook and Instagram ads. In fact, the Facebook ad platform takes relevancy into account when deciding which ads will be served to which target audiences. That’s why it is important for advertisers to create quality ad content that is useful or adds value for their target audiences.
The time of year that you advertise can also impact ad costs. During peak times of the year, like the holiday season, there is more competition from advertisers on these social media channels. This means that you can generally expect to pay more to advertise on Facebook and Instagram during these popular times of the year. However, it’s important to note that advertising during peak times like Black Friday can definitely be worthwhile as this is when shoppers are most active. (But it will still cost more!)
And just recently, Facebook has announced a new feature for Instagram tailored especially for e-commerce businesses – the Instagram checkout. With this new feature, companies can now sell their products directly using the Instagram application. How does it work? When used, it attaches a Checkout button to organic posts so users can pay for these products without leaving the app.
How to Decrease Advertising Costs
One of the most effective ways to decrease your Facebook and Instagram advertising costs is to create quality ad content that is relevant to your target market. Facebook and Instagram uses a relevance score to rank the relevance of the ads on their platforms. The more relevant your ads are, the lower your costs will be. Similarly, the less relevant your content is to your target market, the higher your ad costs.
Your relevancy score on Facebook and Instagram will change as more social media users begin reacting to your ad. Interactions like clicks and likes will help you boost your relevancy score. While negative interactions like users hiding your ad content, will make your relevancy score go down. In the end, this has a direct impact on your ad costs.
With that being said, you can work to decrease your ad costs by creating more effective ad content. Consider how each element of your Facebook and Instagram ads will relate to your target buyers. Make sure that the headlines, copy, graphics, offers, and calls-to-action are relevant to your audience. The more value that your ads can provide target users, the more relevant your content becomes and the less you will pay for your Facebook and Instagram ads.
You can also decrease the cost to advertise on Instagram and Facebook by improving your targeting. If you show your ad content to a broader audience, it is less likely to be relevant to the majority of those who see it. However, by using the sophisticated targeting features on the Facebook and Instagram ad platform, you can narrow down your audience to reach just those who are most likely to be interested in your content, product or service offering, or brand.
The best way to determine which ad elements are most relevant to your audience is to conduct A/B testing on your Facebook and Instagram ads. This is where you create two very similar ads that differ in one aspect, and then track your results to see which ad performs better. This helps you understand which element of your ad is most effective.
For example, let’s say that you want to A/B test your CTAs. You can create two Facebook or Instagram ads that are identical except for the CTA. You can then run the ad campaigns and gather analytics to see which CTA performs better based on your ad goals. Once you determine this, you will then know which CTAs are most effective for your target audience. You can use this information to improve on future campaigns.
Benefits of Hiring a Facebook Ads Expert
Using the Facebook and Instagram ad platform can become a bit complex, especially when you are working to increase the success of your ads while reducing costs. There are a number of different factors that go into successful A/B ad testing and implementation. Many businesses decide to partner with an Instagram and Facebook ads expert or agency for help to lower the cost to advertise on Instagram and Facebook.
Getting help from a Facebook advertising agency provides a number of benefits for businesses big and small. An agency can lower the cost to advertise on Instagram and Facebook. The experts at these agencies understand the complexities of the Facebook and Instagram ad platform as they work with it often. They also know all the tips and tricks that can help businesses increase their relevancy and conversion rates.
Though working with a Facebook ad agency does require an investment, it more than pays for itself in the long run. Hiring an agency helps you improve your social media advertising ROI while also saving your business time and money. You’ll no longer have to worry about finding the perfect combination of ad elements to increase your relevancy and reduce your ad spend. Instead, you have the peace of mind in knowing that the experts have your back.
Need help with your Facebook and Instagram advertising? Our social media marketing agency specializes in social media management and advertising. Our team can help you increase the relevancy of your Facebook and Instagram ads while decreasing overall ad spend. Contact us today for a free consultation.
