Facebook advertising has become an essential part of any digital marketing strategy. With over 2 billion active monthly users, Facebook offers marketers an unparalleled opportunity to connect with target audiences and drive engagements. But how much do these engagements cost on average? Let’s take a look at the key factors that influence Facebook’s cost per engagement.
What is considered an engagement on Facebook?
On Facebook, engagements refer to actions that people take involving your ads or organic unpaid posts. The main engagements tracked by Facebook Analytics are:
- Likes
- Comments
- Shares
- Photo/video views
- Clicks
Monitoring these metrics allows you to understand how people are interacting with your brand on Facebook. High engagement levels are a sign that your content resonates with your target audience.
How is cost per engagement calculated?
Cost per engagement is calculated by dividing your total advertising spend by the number of engagements received. For example:
Total ad spend: $1,000
Total engagements: 1,000
Cost per engagement = Total ad spend / Total engagements
= $1,000 / 1,000
= $1
This means you paid $1 for every engagement on your Facebook ads. The lower your cost per engagement, the better value you’re getting from your ad spend.
What factors influence cost per engagement?
There are several key factors that impact your cost per engagement on Facebook:
- Audience targeting – Targeting very specific niches is more expensive than broader targeting.
- Ad placement – Ads in the Facebook News Feed cost less per engagement than ads in the right column or Instagram Stories.
- Ad format – Video and carousel ads typically deliver higher engagement rates.
- Ad quality – High-quality creative, copy and landing pages lower your cost per engagement.
- Competition – Bidding against others targeting your audience drives up ad prices.
How can you reduce cost per engagement?
Here are some tips to help minimize cost per engagement on Facebook ads:
- Set specific campaign objectives like engagement or clicks to website.
- Target larger but still relevant audiences to improve reach.
- Use detailed audience insights for better targeting.
- Split test multiple ad creatives and messages.
- Drive traffic to optimized landing pages that encourage engagements.
- Monitor results and prune low performing placements, creatives and audiences.
What are typical cost per engagement benchmarks for Facebook?
Average cost per engagement can vary significantly based on your industry, target audience and campaign objectives. Here are some typical cost per engagement benchmarks for Facebook:
| Engagement Type | Average Cost Per Engagement |
|---|---|
| Page like | $0.44 – $1.72 |
| Photo view | $0.25 – $0.54 |
| Ad click | $0.91 – $1.33 |
| Video view | $0.10 – $0.19 |
| Link click | $0.43 – $0.81 |
| Lead generation | $15.28 |
Benchmarks for Facebook cost per engagement in 2023:
| Industry | Cost Per Engagement |
|---|---|
| Ecommerce | $0.58 |
| Retail | $0.75 |
| Technology | $1.05 |
| Travel | $0.48 |
| Financial Services | $1.25 |
| Automotive | $0.87 |
As you can see, cost per engagement varies quite a bit based on industry averages. Ecommerce brands tend to have lower costs per engagement compared to financial services for example. Your individual costs will also depend heavily on the engagement objective you are optimizing for.
How can you benchmark against competitors?
Here are some tips for benchmarking your cost per engagement against competitors on Facebook:
- Research competitor’s current and past ad campaigns through Facebook Ad Library.
- Compare engagement metrics and audience targeting for their ads.
- Talk to advertising agencies familiar with your industry averages.
- Use third-party benchmarks reports from sites like Wordstream.
- Test engagement rates with small budget A/B ad sets.
- Factor in your relative brand strength and audience quality.
- Set benchmarks by each engagement type like cost per link click.
How often should you measure cost per engagement?
For active Facebook ad campaigns, you should monitor cost per engagement metrics at least weekly. The more frequently you measure, the faster you can optimize. Here are some best practices:
- Check cost per engagement daily for new ad campaigns.
- Review weekly engagement reports sent by Facebook.
- Compare week-over-week and month-over-month cost per engagement.
- Break down cost per engagement by audience, placement and creative.
- Set engagement rate alerts through Facebook or ad management tools.
- Monitor engagement trends over the buyer lifecycle.
Ongoing monitoring lets you spot positive or negative trends quickly and make any necessary adjustments. Changes in cost per engagement can indicate issues like ad fatigue, poor performing creatives or targeting the wrong audiences.
What is more important, lower CPC or CPE for Facebook ads?
When assessing Facebook ad performance, lower cost-per-click (CPC) and lower cost-per-engagement (CPE) are both good. But which metric should you prioritize?
In most cases, cost-per-engagement is more important. Here’s why:
- Engagements directly impact your business goals like leads and sales.
- Clicks alone don’t provide value without further actions.
- Many clicks don’t result in meaningful engagements.
- Low CPC could indicate poor quality traffic and clicks.
- Facebook optimizes campaigns for engagements, not just clicks.
That said, it still helps to maintain a reasonable CPC. Extremely high CPC can quickly consume your daily ad budget. The optimal approach is to get both low CPE and reasonably low CPC in tandem.
How should you balance CPC and CPE optimization?
Here are a few ways to balance optimizing for cost-per-click (CPC) and cost-per-engagement (CPE):
- Set maximum bid targets based on acceptable CPC.
- Focus ad set campaigns on specific engagement events.
- Use CPC bid strategies for middle-funnel traffic goals.
- Analyze click-through rates (CTR) to engagement rates.
- Review relevancy scores to identify low-intent clicks.
- Monitor changes in both CPC and CPE week-over-week.
- Factor in value per customer lifetime, not just conversions.
The ideal balance depends on your budget, industry and business model. Test different CPC and CPE target combinations to find the right balance for your Facebook campaigns.
How to reduce cost per engagement on Facebook ads
Here are 10 proven tips to help reduce your cost per engagement on Facebook ads:
1. Optimize for Relevance
One of the biggest factors determining cost per engagement is ad relevance. Using precise targeting and relevant messaging lowers your CPE. Make sure your landing page content also matches the ad language.
2. Bid at the Right Times
Bidding strategically during optimal engagement windows helps reduce costs. For example, bid higher in the mornings and evenings when more of your audience is active on Facebook.
3. Improve Landing Page Experience
Optimizing your landing pages for conversions directly lowers cost per lead or purchase. Remove friction in the experience and encourage the desired action.
4. Test Different placements
Try different ad placements beyond the News Feed such as Instagram Stories or Facebook Marketplace. You may find cheaper CPE rates in certain placements.
5. Leverage Retargeting
Retargeting past visitors and custom audiences has lower costs per engagement. You’re bidding on people already familiar with your brand.
6. Find Untapped Audiences
Targeting broader associated interest and lookalike audiences can reveal more cost-effective sources of engagements.
7. Automate Bidding Rules
Use auto-bidding rules in Facebook Ads Manager to automatically optimize for conversions and engagement at the target CPE you set.
8. Test Different Ad Formats
Ad format impacts cost per engagement. Try different formats like carousels, videos and messenger ads to see what resonates.
9. Make High-Quality Creatives
Higher quality visuals and copy lead to better engagement rates. Work with creative experts and test various ad designs.
10. Analyze Metrics Frequently
Stay on top of performance by checking for changes in cost per engagement daily and week-over-week. Remove poorly performing elements quickly.
Conclusion
Monitoring and optimizing cost per engagement is crucial to running effective Facebook ad campaigns. While benchmarks provide averages for comparison, marketers need to dig into audience- and vertical-specific engagement metrics. By continually A/B testing different targeting, placements, creatives and bids, you can systematically reduce cost per engagement on Facebook.