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When we talk about average results on Facebook, the Wordstream research from 2018 (updated in 2024) is often mentioned, which was conducted on a sample of thousands of accounts that invested in Meta across 20 different industries.
The data relates to the United States, so it doesn’t perfectly align with the market in our country; however, it gives us an interesting starting point to analyze our Digital Marketing work across the various Meta platforms.
So, what is a “good” average result on Facebook and Instagram? Let’s find out together.
What are “good” results on Meta?
Browsing online, you may have noticed that marketers rarely write down a specific number and say, “Voilà. You need to reach this number; if you don’t, you’re doing it wrong.”
This happens because good results are not objective but relative to the type of client, product, and market niche. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to establish a “good universal result” that works and makes sense for everyone.
For this reason, the most common answer you will find online is “it depends.”
But we’ve decided to take a risk and go beyond this “it depends”: we want to try to outline concrete numbers that, in our opinion, represent good results for Facebook Ads campaigns.
An important premise
However, we must start with a premise: results are good IF and ONLY IF the audience shown the ads is the correct and targeted one.
It’s too easy to get great results (e.g., low costs) by showing ads to millions of random people in foreign countries, without having done prior targeted audience research.
A simple practical example
For example, I might decide to run a Fan Acquisition campaign for a Page about events in Vicenza.
I could choose to launch a global campaign and immediately get many fans at a minimal cost. It wouldn’t be difficult to get, for instance, fans at less than €0.01 each.
But we all agree that such a campaign would make no sense, even though the number alone might seem great: “Wow, fans for just €0.01!”
Yes, but what kind of fans are they? These cheap fans are not targeted and are therefore not only useless but even harmful to the Page, which will fill up with uninterested people who will decrease its value. Results like these may be low-cost, but they will bring nothing useful to the business that is investing money to get them. The company is, in fact, investing its money poorly.
The real results of a Fan Acquisition campaign (and all social campaigns) should be measured by the correct target, such as people who live in or frequent the city of Vicenza. This is not the only targetable audience, but it is a base target. From here on, we can begin to define a “good result” for the campaign.
CTR, CPC, and related metrics: what are good average results on Facebook and Instagram?
Now that we’ve established the important premise, we can proceed to break down some numbers.
Facebook Ads: the CTR
In the increasingly competitive world of online advertising, monitoring the Click-Through Rate (CTR) of your Facebook campaigns is crucial for evaluating their effectiveness. Comparing the data shows that a CTR below 2% is considered insufficient and requires an in-depth analysis of the strategies adopted (usually, the type of creativity used, which doesn’t resonate with the user as it should). A CTR between 3% and 5% indicates there’s room for improvement to increase engagement; when the CTR is between 6% and 7%, we can say the performance is good, suggesting that the ads are generating the right interest among users. A CTR between 8% and 10% indicates a very good result, with strong engagement from the target audience; finally, if the CTR exceeds 10%, a superlative level of excellence is reached, with an extremely positive response from the audience.
To summarize:
- Below 2%: not good, needs to be revised and optimized
- 3-5%: improvable
- 6-7%: good
- 8-10%: very good
- Over 10%: excellent
Facebook Ads: CPC (Cost per Click)
Cost per Click is one of the most commonly used metrics to evaluate campaign performance, often used to compare the results of different campaigns.
What’s considered a good cost per click on Facebook Ads? Generally, a CPC between €0.01 and €0.03 can be considered a very good result if the target audience is well-defined and focused. This range suggests that the campaign is generating significant interest among users, with notable effectiveness in engaging the desired target.
Facebook Ads: Cost per Page Like
From our agency’s experience, the Cost per Page Like is one of the most fluctuating results depending on the target audience.
In the case of a Fan Acquisition campaign active in a large geographic area (many regions of Italy), for a broad-interest sector (e.g., women’s jewelry), a good result can be €0.03 per fan.
We consider anything below €0.09 to be excellent.
In the case of a Fan Acquisition campaign active in a very limited geographic area (a few kilometers around a specific city) for very specific sectors or niche audiences (private healthcare, local craftsmanship), a good result might be €0.35 per fan.
Anything under €0.40 is considered acceptable. However, it is not uncommon to see this campaign exceed €1/fan in cases of campaigns targeting small audiences with niche interests.
Facebook Ads: Cost per Conversion
First of all, what is a conversion? A conversion is a relevant action that I want users to take. A relevant conversion can be, depending on the type of business:
- course registration
- newsletter signup
- document download
- form submission
- viewing a specific page
- add to cart
- purchase
- and more.
On average, the conversion rate in Italy is 1%. What does a 1% conversion rate mean? It means that for every 100 people visiting the site, only 1 completes a conversion action, such as signing up for the newsletter, adding to the cart, purchasing, or submitting a form.
The cost per conversion is the most difficult to define, as it must be related to other key elements of the business. Conversions should be evaluated based on the potential revenue they might bring. For example, a conversion (which could be a form submission) may cost €30; but if the Life Time Value of the client who closes a deal is €30,000 (for example, for the purchase of an industrial machine), then the €30 spent to obtain that contact is entirely legitimate.
Facebook Ads: Cost per Lead
What do we mean by Lead? Receiving new contact information (name and email) from an interested user via a form.
From our experience, a good Cost per Lead for B2B campaigns on Meta ranges between €5 and €15. However, it’s not uncommon to obtain leads at much higher costs (30-50-80€).
The costs per lead should be evaluated based on the client’s LTV and the conversion rate after obtaining the lead (how many people who contacted us via the campaigns become clients by closing a deal?).
We consider costs between €5-15 to be good, especially since a new B2B client is generally worth thousands of euros.
Why is it important to assess the results of a Facebook Ads strategy?
When it comes to evaluating the effectiveness of our social media strategies, we often find ourselves looking at the wrong results.
Engagement, although important, should not be considered an end in itself, but rather a means to achieve more tangible and measurable goals. In digital marketing strategy planning, it is essential to establish defined goals associated with measurable indicators.
This is because only by carefully evaluating the results obtained will you be able to understand if you are indeed getting a return on your investment. In short: it’s important to assess the results of a Facebook Ads strategy because only then will you know if you are wasting your money or investing it in results that will bring future benefits.
How to set up a strategy for Facebook and Instagram Ads (Meta)
While the results suggested in this article can serve as useful reference points for comparing your results, they should not be the sole metric for evaluating the success of your advertising on Meta. Every company is different, and what defines the success of your campaigns will be unique based on that company’s needs, its budget, and a thousand other factors.
For this reason, to set up a sensible Meta strategy, it’s necessary to establish precise, concrete, and above all, measurable goals from the very beginning: otherwise, any action taken will be of questionable success.
The goal of every Facebook campaign should therefore be:
- precise
- predefined
- measurable
Example: in planning my Awareness campaign, I establish that the campaign will be successful if it gets at least 20,000 video views at 75% and if the average cost per view is less than €0.02.
I need to set these goals in advance, looking at my account’s historical data to ensure they are achievable and, when available, the industry average data to aim for a better result.
Conclusions
Do you have a clearer idea of what is considered a good result on Facebook and Instagram?
If yes, great! We are happy to have been helpful.
If not, contact us: we’re available to answer your questions, arrange an in-depth consultation, or help plan an integrated Digital Marketing strategy.
Sources:
Bonus: Google Ads
Are you looking for the same benchmark data for Google Ads? Good news: we’ve written a dedicated article based on WordStream’s research, which analyzed 17,000 active campaigns on Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising (formerly Bing Ads) across various industries.
>> Read our article on Google Ads benchmark data here.
Who we are and what we can do for you
We are Antartika, a Communication Agency specializing in Integrated Digital Marketing. Our services include Social Media Marketing, SEO, Google Ads, and Web Development, along with our suite of business strategy analysis activities (Integreation Launch), the first and fundamental step towards any new project.
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