Facebook ads still move the needle. The platform remains one of the largest places to find customers, with Facebook passing 3B+ monthly active users, and Meta’s Family of Apps (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp) reaching 3.48B daily users as of June 2025. That’s unmatched scale for local and regional brands.
Why pay when you already post organically?
Organic posting builds brand presence, but reach and engagement have trended low across most industries. Multiple benchmark studies put average Facebook engagement under ~1% and reach in the low single digits—paid distribution fills that gap and adds targeting, measurement, and control.
What a Facebook paid ad actually is
At its core, a Facebook ad is a paid placement that lets you target specific audiences and optimize for business outcomes (traffic, leads, sales). Meta’s ad tools let you refine by location, interests, behaviors, demographics, and more, and choose goals that align to your funnel.
How Facebook ads work now: automation + signals
Meta’s delivery system leans heavily on machine learning. After you create an ad set, the platform enters a learning phase—performance stabilizes once it receives enough optimization events (commonly around 50) after the last significant edit. This is why clear conversion signals matter.
Two pieces make your signals stronger:
- Meta Pixel + Conversions API (CAPI) together send web and server-side events, improving optimization and measurement (especially important post-iOS privacy changes).
- Aggregated Event Measurement (AEM) helps attribute and prioritize events on iOS 14.5+ devices where tracking is limited.
Campaign setup that works for SMBs
Objective alignment. Pick the objective that matches your outcome (Leads, Sales/Conversions, Traffic). Keep edits minimal early to avoid resetting learning.
Audience strategy. Start where you have leverage:
- Core audiences for tight geos and interests (great for local service areas).
- Custom audiences (site visitors, engagers, customer lists) to retarget.
- Lookalikes to scale from your best customers.
Meta continues to adjust detailed targeting, and some options are periodically removed or consolidated—expect more automation over time. - Placements. Let Advantage+ Placements (automatic) distribute budget across Feed, Stories, Reels, and more; it’s Meta’s default for efficiency. You can still test manual placements if you’ve got clear historical winners.
- Formats that stop the scroll. Single image/video, carousel, and Reels ads all perform when the offer is clear and creative is native to the placement. Carousels showcase multiple benefits or products; Reels lean into quick motion and captions.
- Creative + offer. Lead with a specific value prop, proof (reviews, demo, before/after), and a strong call-to-action (e.g., “Get Quote,” “Shop Now,” “Book”). Ads Manager provides standardized CTA buttons across objectives.
Budgets, costs, and what to expect
Actual costs vary by industry, objective, and market competition. Recent aggregators peg average CPC anywhere from ~$0.58 on broad datasets to ~$0.77 for traffic campaigns, with mixed-objective benchmarks around $1.6–$1.7—your numbers should be judged against your vertical and goal.
The broader trend across ad platforms is more AI-driven buying and automation (think Google Performance Max and Meta Advantage). That typically trades some control for efficiency—use it, but keep your own lift test(s) and brand guardrails.
Measurement that survives privacy changes
For reliable reporting (and better optimization), configure:
- Pixel + CAPI with deduplication, aligned events, and domain verification. Facebook Developers
- AEM with prioritized web/app events for iOS traffic. Facebook
At BeeSocial, we centralize performance using Vendasta’s Advertising Intelligence and use Snapshot Reports in discovery to baseline a prospect’s digital health before running spend. That keeps your KPIs, budgets, and next actions in one place.
A simple testing framework you can trust
Start with one campaign per goal. Use 1–2 ad sets (geo + audience hypothesis) and 3–4 creatives per ad set that test different hooks. Let them gather enough events before making big edits; scale the winners and rotate fresh creative to manage frequency.
What “good” looks like
Benchmarks help with sanity checks, not scorecards. Click-through and CPC norms vary widely by vertical and objective; improvement over your own baseline is the KPI that matters. Compare apples to apples (same goal, same optimization window), and give the system enough signal density to optimize.
Compliance and brand safety
Follow Meta’s Ad Standards and be mindful of restricted categories (credit, housing, employment) that require “Special Ad Category” handling and limited targeting.
Where BeeSocial comes in
We build and manage full-funnel Facebook/Instagram programs for local brands: strategy, creative, landing pages, Pixel+CAPI, reporting, and continuous testing. We’ll start with a no-pressure Snapshot Report and a one-month pilot plan, then scale what works.
Sources
Meta Investor Relations; Hootsuite industry data; Business of Apps; WordStream; Meta Business Help Center & Developers; WSJ coverage of AI-driven ad buying; Vendasta tools and documentation.