Long gone are the days of dial-up. With our entire lives documented, shared and filtered through our phone screens, the internet age is here to stay. As socials have become ubiquitous in modern life, it only makes sense to exploit this convenient tool for business. And by that, we’re talking about social media ads. But how much does it cost to advertise on social media?
Well, to put it bluntly: it depends.
There’s a whole slew of factors that will affect pricing and the costs will differ from platform to platform. On top of that, there are little extras like scheduling tools, which can add up, if you’re DIY-ing it. Then there’s the time-sink, which can be costly if you’re struggling to set things up.
This is all to say that it’s a bit more complex than simply bashing out an ad and then throwing money behind it. So, here’s an easy-to-follow price breakdown for all you budding marketers hoping to get good value from putting your business in front of the right eyes.
Skip to
- Social media advertising explained
- How you’re charged for social media ads
- Social media advertising cost platform by platform
- Outsourced social media advertising
- Paid social cost
- Recap
The fundamentals of social media advertising
Whether you’re a digital native who’s grown up alongside the likes of Facebook, Snapchat and Myspace (remember that?) or you’re not so keen on the social stuff, preferring to lurk rather than post, there’s really no excuse for not using it to your advantage in a business sense.
To have your company join the fold of the 77% of businesses already using it to reach customers is to open up new avenues of sales growth, connect deeper with your audience and acquire a new, authentic form of social proof. And with social media ads in your arsenal, you can increase your reach almost exponentially.
Organic versus paid
As you might expect, there are some significant differences between posting away on your chosen social media platforms to cultivate an audience organically and placing paid ads on those same platforms.
Organic reach
Organic social media refers to all of the activities you do on social media for free. This can include posting free content without boosting it or sponsoring posts, responding to comments, liking other posts, sharing user-generated content (UGC) and encouraging shares.
Usually, organic social figures into a wider social media strategy, whether that’s to build a general presence online, establish a brand voice, encourage repeat business or to support with customer service. Obviously, the major benefit here is that it doesn’t cost you a penny, and any business can do it.
So what’s the catch? Well, the downside is that organic social media is thought to be on the decline. The era of plastering a shedload of hashtags on your posts for decent organic reach is consigned to the past. Nowadays content needs to be well-placed, consistent, emotionally driven, well produced and authentic. After all, the money is in ads…
Paid social media
…which brings us to paid social media. This is the content you see on social media platforms that appears as an ad or with the #Ad marker somewhere on a post indicating that it’s a paid brand collaboration. This kind of content is promoted by the platform when brands pay for their visibility to be enhanced.
Social media advertising is one of the cornerstones of paid social. Unlike organic content that is “boosted” for a fee, these ads are specifically designed for unique campaigns. A brand creates the ad to promote a product, service or event, which the platform then serves up to a highly targeted audience based on granular demographics or market segments. This is beneficial as you’re only reaching the feeds of people who will be interested in your offering.
How social media ads work
If the last section caught your attention, you’ll be interested to know what goes on in the background with social media ads.
To grow your customer base or clientele, you’ll need to create an ad people will want to actually click on – sometimes that won’t look too different from organic content, but best practices include strong visuals; sharp, concise language; a powerful call-to-action; and an emotional through-line.
Hit all of these? Then it’s time to think about bidding. Essentially, when you place an ad on a social media platform, it works on a pay-per-click (PPC) basis. This means that you only pay for clicks or impressions, allowing businesses to maximise ROI. For the full scoop on PPC bid management, check out our dedicated blog on the subject.
Are social media ads worth it?
The clearest difference between organic and paid social media ads is the price tag, so what makes advertising worthwhile?
We’ve covered the benefits of social media advertising extensively in past blog posts, so here are just a few key ones to note down.
- Your ads won’t be bound to the whims of your chosen platform’s algorithm.
- With A/B testing you can learn what type of content converts best for your business.
- You’ll reach a larger audience, you might not have found otherwise.
- With the analytics tracking features baked into social media platforms, you can become more informed about who is engaged with your content, when and why.
- The data is showing that social media ads are becoming more influential.
- Thanks to the PPC bidding model, it’s much more cost-effective than traditional ads in the real world.
5 must-know factors influencing ad cost
Before we get to our central question – how much does it cost to advertise on social media? – we’ve got to interrogate some of the factors that influence said costs. After all, depending on the unique campaign at hand, things could vary significantly between brands.
Campaign costs regularly fluctuate, but if you’re aware of the following factors, you’ll have the upper hand when managing your budget.
1. Social media platform
Different PPC advertising platforms will each set their own fees according to their core competencies, demographics and value. The best provide detailed metrics, geographical targeting and unique features. Just make sure to research which demographics use each site, so you’re going after the right leads!
2. Target audience
One of the key areas of interest to advertisers is audience, thus, depending on your niche the cost of your social media advertising can vary. Put plainly, bigger audiences will be less expensive to cater to as there’s less demand. Where the competition is fierce, for example, in a small corner of the B2B sector, you may have to fork out a higher ad spend.
Think of it like this:
- Broad audience targeting: Cheaper per click, but may result in less relevant clicks. More of these cheaper clicks may well cost you more for each sale/lead generated than fewer, very targeted clicks.
- Narrow audience targeting: More costly but often results in higher-quality engagement and conversions
3. Ad type
Social media platform’s ad pricing can vary along with ad format. From “boosting” existing posts, so they can expand beyond your organic reach, to launching curated ads that take users directly to the social media’s associated shops, you’ll see variation. The more sophisticated the feature – like X’s branded hashtags and custom “like” buttons – the more you’ll likely have to pay.
4. Ad spend / bid size
When it comes to social media advertising, it’s not surprising that ad campaign budget and bidding strategy are going to have a big impact on your overall costs.
In paid advertising, “bidding” refers to the amount you’re willing to pay for a specific action, whether it be cost-per-click (CPC) or cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM). Your bid competes with other businesses in an auction to secure ad placement on your audience’s feeds.
Often, bidding comes down to something of a balancing act: if you put too much money behind your campaign you might experience inefficient spending but go too small with your bid amount and you might restrict performance.
5. Tech
If you’re running your own ad campaigns, you may have to shell out some extra cash to pay for software to help you hone your ads. This could be related to analytics or graphic design packages such as Adobe to create your ads in the first place.
6. Talent
While setting up your accounts on the various social media sites available is free, there is a cost attached. If you’re working alone, this will be the value you assign to your time, but if you’re hiring a professional to support you there will be associated fees.
Some agencies bundle up the cost of managing your ads along with their creation, content writing and photography included. Often these expenses will depend on their knowledge and expertise, and can vary in model – i.e., monthly, hourly or on a per-project basis.
If you go to an agency that offers a variety of digital marketing services, they may even pair your social media with a complementary strategy like SEO at reduced cost.
How you’re charged for social media ads
When it comes to paid social media advertising, understanding how you’re charged is essential to estimating costs. Most platforms charge in one of two main ways: Cost per Thousand Impressions (CPM) or Cost per Click (CPC).
Cost per Thousand Impressions (CPM)
With CPM, you’re charged every time someone sees your ad, regardless of whether they engage with it. This is ideal for campaigns focused on brand awareness, as it allows you to reach a large audience without worrying about the cost of individual interactions. If your goal is to boost visibility or build recognition, CPM can be an efficient option because you’re paying for exposure, not action.
Cost per Click (CPC)
CPC charges you only when someone clicks on your ad, making it a good choice if your campaign is designed to drive traffic to a website, landing page, or product. Because you’re only paying for clicks, this method allows for more control over your budget.
Getting things right with your campaign
The method you choose, CPM or CPC, should align with your campaign objectives. For brand awareness and broad exposure, CPM lets you cast a wide net. On the other hand, if conversions or traffic are your priority, CPC offers more accountability for your spend. Regardless of the method, keep in mind that costs will always fluctuate based on market conditions, competition and how well you target your audience.
Social media advertising cost platform by platform
*Note that the below rates are estimates and that CPC/CPM fluctuates over time.
Facebook & Instagram
These platforms are among the most cost-effective and versatile. Facebook offers detailed targeting options and allows for a variety of ad formats, while Instagram, also owned by Meta, often sees higher engagement rates, especially for visual content.
Sources vary widely for Facebook some purporting an average of £0.58 CPC for traffic campaigns and others £0.73 CPC.
For Instagram, major sources settle on £0.30-£0.53 CPC.
Best for B2B and professional targeting, LinkedIn ads tend to be more expensive but offer access to decision-makers, giving extra value.
WebFX cites an average CPC of £1.50 to £2.25.
Twitter/X
This is the place to be for time-sensitive ads and trending content, but do be warned, many advertisers are fleeing the platform due to its owner’s controversial opinions and policies.
According to WebFX, X advertising typically costs £0.20 – £0.38 per first action and £0.76 – £1.50 per follow for promoted accounts.
TikTok
Popular for reaching Gen Z and younger audiences, TikTok’s ad formats, including in-feed ads and branded AR filters and shareable stickers, can be highly engaging.
Here, various sources settle on an average CPC of around £0.75.
The tricky nature of estimating how much advertising on social media costs
Estimating the cost of social media ads is far from straightforward. Unlike traditional media, where rates are often set and predictable, the world of social advertising is shaped by a constantly shifting landscape. Trying to pinpoint an exact amount is challenging for two key reasons.
There are so many variables at play
Social media ad costs are influenced by a wide range of factors as you now know, and these can vary from campaign to campaign. The value of the keywords or interests you’re targeting, the time of year, even the day of the week – all of these can cause fluctuations in pricing. Think peak shopping season like Christmas; here, you can expect costs to increase.
Platforms like to keep their pricing models private
Another reason it’s tricky to estimate ad costs is that most social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, don’t publicly share detailed pricing models. The auction-based system used by many of these platforms means the cost per click or impression varies in real time based on competition, audience targeting, and bidding strategy.
That said, there are a few general principles that can help you understand how costs are calculated and managed.
What about outsourced social media advertising?
Navigating the minefield of Gen Z, or perhaps even Gen Alpha slang, can be a chore in itself. Add staying on top of the online trends that seem to crop up every other week into the mix and it can shape up to be a real challenge. Not very demure, not very cutesy.
If you’re bamboozled by this online landscape or keeping up with posting has you feeling like a hamster on a wheel, perhaps it’s time to consider outsourcing your social media advertising to the specialists. With an experienced consultant at the helm, you can get more bang for your buck all whilst freeing up your time for the stuff you’re really good at.
How much does paid social cost?
So how much does social media marketing cost? To give you a simplified answer, an experienced agency may charge something between £700 and £2,000 for the initial strategy. After which, you will enter into a monthly retainer charged at typical agency day rates. Over a year, it’s customary for you to have paid around £9,100. Of course, this can vary with agency size, specialism and location.
If you’re paying for paid social as a stand-alone service, this can be cheaper. But, of course, positioned alongside a comprehensive organic social media strategy, you’re bound to see better results.
A recap: how much does advertising on social media cost?
Navigating the world of social media advertising involves understanding the different platforms and how factors like audience targeting, ad format, and budget influence your overall costs. Whether you’re opting for Facebook’s cost-effective versatility or LinkedIn’s targeted professional reach, each choice plays a role in shaping your campaign’s outcome.
But here’s the secret sauce: success on social media isn’t just about throwing money at ads. It’s about finding the sweet spot between paid promotions and the authentic connections you build with organic content. Paid ads might give you the fast track to visibility and conversions, but organic content is where you nurture your brand’s voice and grow a loyal community.
By blending both you can create a social media strategy that’s not only cost-effective but also fuels long-term engagement, trust and growth. Whether you’re starting small or going all in, optimising your approach with smart targeting, creative formats and continuous learning will ensure your social media efforts pay off, big time.
