Facebook Ads cost Australia: A complete guide [2023]

How much do Facebook Ads cost in Australia? Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all answer.

The good news is that you set your budget, choosing how much to on a campaign. You can spend as little as

I could share a bunch of benchmarks that will leave you none-the-wiser on what Facebook advertising will cost you, like from Wordstream or Adespresso.

But instead, I am going to help you understand how to calculate what it may cost your business and what results to expect.

One of the reasons Facebook Ad costs are hard to calculate is that they are one tool, so how you use them and all the other steps in the journey influence their success (or failure).

How Facebook charges

Usually, Facebook charges a cost per 1000 impressions or CPM. So pay $X for even 1000 impressions of your ad.

How many $ you pay per 1000 impressions will depend on a range of factors, including your audience size, location, seasonality and competition.

In my experience, the Australian market’s CPM usually ranges from $8-$35.

Every time there is an opportunity to show an ad, all ads that are eligible for that ad spot go into an auction. Then Facebook selects a winner based on the bid (which Facebook determines based on your budget) and the expected performance of the ad.

Of course, all this happens behind the scenes with little transparency.

The takeaways here are that the two things that will determine your cost for each impression are:

• The amount of competition for an impression; how many other advertisers are vying for that person’s eyeballs.
• The expected performance of your ad; how engaging it will be for that user.

You may also have the option to pay on a Cost-Per-Click basis. Howeve this is only available for some campaigns and not available to new advertisers, so I’m not going to cover it here.

How to calculate your Facebook Ads cost and forecast results

Now that you understand the basics of Facebook Ads costs let’s look at the other factors that influence how much you will need to spend to get the results you want.

Let’s first use the example of a business that wants to generate leads that they can follow up and convert to customers.

The audience sees the ad, clicks the link, arrives on the landing page, completes a lead form, receives a call from the sales team and becomes a customer.

The following factors will determine our cost and revenue.

Other cost

Now that you know how to calculate your Facebook ads cost and potential results, it’s time to look at what other costs might be associated with running Facebook ads. 

Creative development

Having strong ad creative, i.e. compelling words and snappy images, can make or break your campaign’s success, but how will you produce your ads? 

You may need to pay for the following: 

• photography or stock images
• video creation  
• the creation of graphic 
• copywriting.

Of course, you can DIY, and there are many tools out there to help you, such as Canva, Lumen5 and Grammarly. 

Professional management

If you don’t have the time or enthusiasm to learn how to use Facebook ads then you have need to hire someone to do it for you.

Getting your ads professionally managed will also add to your cost. But if you work with the right people, it should also lead to the success of your ads. Talk to us to find out how we can help.