How do you set a Meta ad budget?

'How much should we spend on ads' has no answer on its own. The same budget is too much for one business and too little for another. Three things set it: the goal, what a result is worth to you, and the time the campaign needs to learn.

The goal comes first

On Meta (Facebook and Instagram) a campaign is built around a single objective: awareness, reach, traffic, messages, calls or sales. The system then looks for the people most likely to do that one thing. Pick the wrong objective and no budget will fix it: a campaign built for likes brings likes, not customers.

An example: optimising for calls

In the campaigns we run for North Villa Bungalov in Sapanca, the conversion goal was the call itself: a user who phones straight from the ad. For a business like accommodation, where the decision is made in a conversation, that is a more meaningful measure than a website visit. Budget, reach, impressions and cost per result were reported every month.

What a result is worth

To know what a call or a form can afford to cost, you need to know what an average customer brings in and what share of calls turn into sales. Without those two facts the budget is a guess. The purpose of the first month is often not sales but learning those numbers.

Time

In its first days a campaign is learning whom to find, and results swing. Changing the settings frequently restarts that learning each time. Rather than burning a small budget quickly, spread it over a longer period and change only one thing in that time; it is the most reliable way to see what works.

The ad account should be opened in the business's name and the payment method should stay with the business. The agency manages the account; you own the data and the history.