There are two parts to the cost of advertising on Facebook.
1. Time
2. Monetary
1. Time. The time cost of advertising on Facebook is enormous. Even with the updated interface, the time spent finding the images, writing the ad body and if applicable, the titles and uploading those ads takes a lot of time.
Then it’s on to optimization. You can easily spent 2-3 hours a week running through data, pausing, changing bid levels etc.
Creating an ad campaign if you have experience with at least 3 other campaigns is about 3-4 hours.
Optimization= 2-3 a week.
2. Monetary. The monetary cost of advertising on Facebook is up to your goals.
Example Goal 1:
1 Facebook Page: 100 fans and you have experience; it is about $1.07 USD a fan. So $107.00 USD
Example Goal 2:
Sending people on Facebook to your website and getting them to fill out a form.
100 clicks, converting at 3% = about 0.30 USD a click, getting you 3 filled out forms for $30.00 USD
If you consider your time worth $10 USD/hour, then it changes the equations.
3 hours of ad campaign creation = $30 USD
Optimization = $20 USD a week.
Add in those points and you can find 1000 fans @ $1.07 USD with a 4 week campaign will cost you:
$1,070 for Ad Spend
$30 for your time creating the ads
$40 for your optimization time
—
$1,140 for 1,000 Fans
Is this a good idea for your business?
Have you added in the time you will need to post articles, questions and other status updates to the Page?
Have you added in the time you will need to create the Page?
Have you added in the time you will need to respond to people’s comments?
Add that all together, and you have the true Cost of Advertising on Facebook!