Your brand has a story to tell, and it’s important for you share that story to the right people at the right time. With millions of brands on social media and the constant algorithm changes, it’s no secret that organic social media reach is long gone. To maximize your efforts on social media, it’s critical to allocate some budget to social advertising costs. But how much advertising cost can your business expect?

Unlike traditional advertising, social media’s advertising cost varies depending on your business’ industry, goals, target demographics and ad creative. Before choosing any platform, consider which social sites attract and engage your target audience. Below are some simple advertising cost comparisons:

Facebook has the most robust targeting features of all the social media platforms, but the different advertising objectives can be daunting. On Facebook, video views and local awareness ads typically have the lowest cost, with many advertisers paying less than one cent per video view or impression. Choosing a post engagement objective or boosting a Facebook post will likely cost less than 30 cents per engagement. Other Facebook advertising objectives such as conversions or lead generation ads are known to cost significantly more, but may be more strategic for your business and its goals.

Depending on your target audience and advertising goals, other social media platforms can be cost-effective options as well. Pinterest advertising typically yields a lower cost per result if your business industry is relevant for Pinterest’s demographics. Based on our digital agency’s campaigns, LinkedIn ads and Twitter ads fall somewhere in the middle. Snapchat and Instagram are considered to have more expensive advertising costs.

The cost of advertising varies by social platform, but there are ways to make sure your dollars are being spent efficiently. With digital advertising, your business can easily track who your ads are reaching and measure results in real-time. What works well for one platform might be unsuccessful on another, and that’s why testing, measuring and refining your ads is critical to maximize your advertising cost per result.