How to Figure a Facebook Ads Budget

Here’s a comprehensive guide to figuring out your Facebook Ads budget, blending expert advice and real-world experience:

1.  Define Your Goals & Metrics

• Clarify your campaign objective
  Are you targeting awareness, traffic, leads, or sales? Each goal needs different budgeting: awareness needs broad reach, while conversion campaigns demand more investment per action (megadigital.ai, reddit.com).

• Track relevant metrics
  Know your CPM (cost per 1,000 impressions), CTR, conversion rate, CPC, and CPA. These will be inputs for budget modeling (mantramdigital.com, blog.hootsuite.com).

2.  Budgeting Formulas & Rules of Thumb

• “$1 per day per 1,000 people reached” rule
  E.g., for an audience of 36,000 → ~$36/day → ~$1,080/month (9clouds.com).

• Spend ~⅓ of your total digital ad budget on Facebook
  If your digital ad spend is $3,000/month, allocate ~$1,000 to Facebook (megadigital.ai, reddit.com).

• Start small, scale gradually
  Aim for $1–$3.50/day early on for testing; then scale-performing campaigns.

3.   Align Budget with Funnel Stage

• Top of Funnel (Awareness): Broad targeting, larger budget for reach

• Middle of Funnel (Consideration): Medium budget for retargeting & traffic

• Bottom of Funnel (Conversions): Highest budget focus here—aim for cost per acquisition goals.

4.  Budget Based on CPA & Learning Phase

To exit Facebook’s learning phase, each ad set needs ~50 conversions per week:

Daily Budget ≈ (50 × Target CPA) / 7

So, if CPA = $72:

• Daily budget should be ≥ $144–$360 to properly train the algorithm.

  And:

“The general rule of thumb is to take your average gross margin per sale, and allocate 3–5× that number for your daily ad spend budget.” 

5.  Expert & Community Tips

• Use the 70–20–10 rule: 70% proven campaigns, 20% new tests, 10% experimental ideas.

• Test duration matters: Give campaigns 1–2 weeks before making judgments

6.  Sample Budget Plan

Recommended Next Steps

1. Choose your KPI: Awareness, Traffic, Leads, or Sales.

2. Gather initial data: Use Audience Insights and benchmarks for CPM, CTR, CPA.

3. Calculate daily budget:

   • (Audience size ÷ 1,000) or

   • (50 × CPA ÷ 7), or

   • 3–5× average gross margin/cost per purchase.

4. Run for at least 1–2 weeks and monitor performance.

5. Scale top-performing ad sets gradually using the 70–20–10 model.

Summary

• Budget must align with goals & funnel stage

• Use clear formulas tied to cost and volume

• Give campaigns time (>=1 week) before iterating

• Scale incrementally—don’t rush it

With these tailored strategies, you’ll have a strong foundation to confidently set and refine your Facebook ads budget. Want help estimating your CPA or building a custom calculator?