Different policies and variables apply to Facebook, making its ad system more complex compared to any other platform.

Why are Facebook ads so expensive?  

Learn all the factors that directly impact the Facebook advertising cost in Australia.

How to Generate SEO Leads Through Facebook Ads?

There are two key channels for generating SEO leads, through Facebook advertising. The first is to create regular ads targeted at your audience, while the second is to retarget – that is, to inform people who have already visited your website from other sources, such as Facebook ads – of what you have to offer.

How Much Do Facebook Ads Cost?

Facebook’s Ad Manager is very specific and precise, but its costs depend on the bidding strategy  (CPC, CPM, CPL, etc.) as well as other factors, such as the industry field, or the demand.

  • The 2021 cost of advertising on Facebook was $0.974 per click (CPC), with a high tendency of rising as of November 2021.
  • The average cost of Facebook ads is $1.72 on a global level, though this price varies according to campaign objectives and industry, with finance and insurance being the most expensive – $3.77 CPC.
  • The average cost of FB ads in Australia is between $1 and $3 for CPC, meaning that Facebook advertising costs in Australia are higher than the average.
  • Social media referrals of the top 20 websites receive more than 5 per cent of their total traffic via social media referrals. Facebook drives roughly three-quarters (74 per cent) of global social media referring traffic to third-party domains.

Compared to other social media platforms, Facebook advertising rates are following the global dramatic trend of increasing.

  • Facebook marketing cost has marked an 89% increase.
  • Google and YouTube have the highest increase in CPM of 108%.
  • TikTok’s increase is the second highest with a 92% increase.
  • Snapchat’s lowest rate of increase is 64% in CPM.

How Does The Facebook Ad System Work?

The Facebook ad system is based on bidding. But it doesn’t mean that the highest bid will get the ad placement.

Facebook considers three things before granting an ad to an advertiser:

  • The price of the bid – how much are you willing to pay to target your audience?
  • The quality of the ad (its relevance) – Facebook doesn’t ban bad quality advertisers, it just raises the price for them to make it to the News Feed. This means the higher the quality, the lower the price for the ad.
  • Estimated Action Rate – the smart mechanism will try to guess the probable success of the ad, by checking just how many from your targeted audience have engaged previously in similar content and ads (for generating traffic, buying, or subscribing purposes).

The ad that is graded the highest in all three categories wins the bid and is granted a place on the News Feed.

Facebook Bidding Models

When choosing a bidding campaign, you actually choose what kind of audience action on your ad you will be paying for.

How to Place A Facebook Ad Bid – 5 Easy Steps:

Note: you can always hire a third (professional) party to manage your Facebook ads, but you’d have to pay a management fee for the services.

  • CPC (cost-per-click) – you only pay per click on your ad.
  • CPM (cost-per-impression) – you pay after 1,000 people have seen your ad, regardless of clicks and action.
  • CPL (cost-per-like) – you pay every time someone likes your ad.
  • CPD (cost-per-download) – you pay every time someone downloads your app or instals the file.
  • CPE (cost-per-engagement/action) – you pay every time someone does a specific action, which is determined by your previously set Call to Action.

  1.   Log in to the Ad Manager on Facebook, and create an ad/campaign.

  2.   Choose your daily budget.

  3.   Choose your bidding model – choose the action you’d like to pay for (clicks, likes, views, downloads).

  4.   Build a targeted audience (demographics, interest range).

  5.   Launch the ad.

8 Key Factors That Determine Facebook Ad Price

1.   Audience

Yes, 89% of Australians are internet users but research shows targeting people over 40 costs more since Facebook is mostly used by younger audiences. Adding specific interests and gender can cost more but at the same time reduces the total ad costs, excluding a bigger audience.

2.   Marketing objective

Brand awareness usually costs less than conversions, since it’s a lot easier to promote content and make the audience engage, than make a purchase or download. Review your objective and consider if other marketing strategies could work for your business like influencer marketing. 50% of consumers have bought because of influencers.

3.   Competition

The more popular and desired the niche is – the higher the demand for ad space. In more competitive niches, there are more demands, naturally increasing the cost for the ad.

4.   Industry

Finance, insurance and consumer services are the most expensive and competitive sectors, while the cheapest ads are in the apparel industry, and travel and hospitality.

5.   The time you wish to advertise

Holiday seasons ads are more expensive compared to regular ads, as well as whether an ad would run at peak time (1 p.m. – 4 p.m. during workdays) or some other time of the day.

6.   Ad placement

This allows you to choose where your ads are placed and positioned, as well as whether they appear just on Facebook, or are included on Instagram and Messenger as well.

7.     Relevance score

This is the overall quality of the ad, from the aesthetic aspect to engagement and topic relevance. Promoting high-quality ads by making them cheaper is a way Facebook filters their massive demand for ad placement at the same time.

Finishing Thoughts

Facebook as one of the oldest and most used social media platforms, is the king of digital marketing strategies and offers more assets and personal configuration than any other social media platform available.

The rising trend in Facebook advertising is due to the rising supply compared to the demand of ads, meaning that more advertisers are fighting for the attention of the same audience each day, making Facebook an overwhelmed market for advertising.

1. How much money do you make per 1,000 views on Facebook?

An average of $8.75 is what you’ll end up getting for 1,000 views on a Facebook ad campaign.  

2. What is the average CPC for Facebook ads in Australia?

This is a variable sum, but the Facebook average CPC costs between $1 – $3, and it’s an inevitable factor of the Facebook advertising cost in Australia.

3. How much does boosting cost on Facebook?

Aside from doing your personal boost on the Facebook post with certain objectives, an average boost can cost as low as $5 – $10, if you manage your budget properly.