Facebook advertising: how it works and what it costs

Facebook advertising means showing paid ads to an audience you choose yourself, instead of only to your own followers. You set this up in Meta Ads Manager, where you choose your goal, audience and budget. Your ad then runs on Facebook and usually on Instagram too, and you can start with just a few euros a day.

Starting cheaply is something else than running profitably, though. The campaigns we take over almost always lose money in one of three places: an audience that is set far too broad, an ad that does not fit the platform, or a landing page that does not turn the click into an enquiry.

On this page you read how advertising on Facebook works, how to set up your first campaign step by step, what it costs and what to watch out for. Last updated: September 2026.

Which placement works best differs per audience and per type of offer. That is something you measure rather than decide in advance: so we almost always start on several placements at once and shift the budget as soon as it becomes clear where the enquiries come from.

On top of that, the threshold is low. You start with a few euros a day, you stop whenever you want, and within a week you know whether a message lands. With most other forms of advertising you only find that out much later, or not at all.

If you solve a problem that is urgent today, a search campaign belongs next to Facebook. The two complement each other: Facebook creates the demand, Google captures it.

Facebook has quite a few ad formats, and which one fits depends on what you want to achieve.

• Single image or video. The simplest, and usually the best starting point to test which message lands.
• Carousel. Several products or arguments in a row that the visitor swipes through. Works well for webshops.
• Collection. A video with a product overview below it, so someone can click straight through to what they just saw.
• Lead form. The enquiry is filled in within Facebook itself, without anyone visiting your website. It brings in more enquiries, but of varying quality.

You can run several campaigns side by side with different objectives. Start with one format, measure what it does, and only expand once you know what works.

What is in the ad determines more of your result than the settings around it. A mediocre ad with a perfectly set audience performs worse than the other way around.

In practice, three things make the difference:

• The first second. People scroll. If you do not make clear in the first frame what it is about, they will not read the rest.
• One message per ad. Trying to say everything at once gets nothing across. Rather make three ads with one point each.
• A match with the landing page. If your ad promises something different from the page people land on, they drop off within seconds. That costs money without results.

Ads also wear out. If the same audience sees your ad too often, costs go up and results go down. That is why new creatives keep being necessary.

With Meta Ads you pay per thousand impressions. In the Netherlands the CPM is around 10 euros, with a click-through rate of about 1.2 percent. That comes down to roughly 83 cents per click.

If 4 percent of those visitors convert into an enquiry, you pay about 21 euros per lead. And here is a detail that surprises many people: that amount does not change when you spend more budget. Your cost per lead is determined by your CPM, your click-through rate and your landing page, not by the size of your budget. More budget brings more leads, not cheaper ones.

With 600 euros per month you get about 29 enquiries this way. If 1 in 4 of those becomes a customer, that is 7 new customers for 600 euros. Whether that is good or bad depends entirely on what a customer is worth to you on average.

What you need at minimum. Count on about 20 euros per day, so around 600 euros per month, to collect enough data to steer on. Below that it takes too long before you know which ad works. Management by ROXTAR comes on top of that, because your ad budget goes straight to Meta.

Want to calculate with your own numbers? Use the calculator at the top of this page.

Facebook and Instagram are both owned by Meta, and you manage them from the same system: Meta Ads Manager. That is more convenient than it sounds, because you create your ad once and let it run on both channels.

Meta then automatically spreads your budget over the placements where it performs most cheaply. Sometimes that is the Facebook feed, sometimes Instagram Stories, sometimes Reels. So you do not have to choose in advance, and in the reports you see exactly where your leads came from.

What does matter: the same ad does not work equally well everywhere. A vertical video does better in Stories than a square image, and in the feed the opposite is often true. We take that into account when we create the creatives.

You can do Facebook advertising yourself just fine. The platform is accessible, and with a small budget you quickly learn what works. Especially when you are just starting, experimenting yourself is a good way to get to know your audience.

It gets harder once more budget goes in or results lag behind. Then the difference lies in the things you do not see right away: tracking that is correct, a test setup you really learn from, and new ads every few weeks. If you lack the time or knowledge for that, read in outsourcing Facebook advertising how we approach it. Prefer to advertise on several platforms at once? Then take a look at social media advertising.

How does Facebook advertising work?

In Meta Ads Manager you create a campaign with an objective, an audience, a budget and one or more ads. Meta then shows your ad to the people in that audience who are most likely to respond, on Facebook and, if you want, on Instagram. You pay for the impressions and see per ad what it delivers.

How much budget do I need to start?

You set your budget yourself and can start with a few euros a day. In the Netherlands you pay around 10 euros per thousand impressions on average. If you want enough data to steer on, count on about 20 euros per day. How much a customer eventually costs you mainly depends on your ad and your landing page.

Can I advertise on Facebook for free?

No, an ad always costs budget. What is free: posts on your business page, posting in groups and offering products on Marketplace. Those reach far fewer people, though, and you do not decide who sees them.

How long does it take before my ad is live?

Meta reviews every ad before it goes live. Usually that is done within a day, sometimes it takes longer. If your ad is rejected, Ads Manager shows you why and you can adjust it.

What is not allowed in a Facebook ad?

Meta has its own advertising rules. Ads for things like tobacco, weapons and misleading claims are rejected. Since October 2025, Meta also no longer allows ads about political, electoral and social issues in the EU. Regular posts about those topics are still allowed.

What is the difference between Facebook and Instagram advertising?

Both run through the same Meta advertising platform, so you can combine them in one campaign. Facebook has a broader and on average older audience, Instagram is more visual and younger. Which mix works depends on your audience and product.

What is the Meta Ad Library?

A public database in which you see all ads currently running on Facebook and Instagram. Handy to see how competitors advertise, and free to use without an account.