A lot of things impact advertising costs on Facebook. But there are a few key elements that you control: your budget and your bidding strategy.

Using a daily or lifetime budget determines the amount of money that is given to each individual ad set to optimize for (cost per conversion or cost-per-acquisition). When using a daily budget, Facebook uses the ad auction algorithm to allocate the maximum number of conversions possible within your budget.

Understanding Advertising Costs on Facebook: A Comprehensive Guide

The ad auction algorithm considers your ad’s relevance score and estimated action rates to determine which campaign will win the ad space. The more relevant your ad is to your audience, the higher the relevance score and estimated action rate.

Another factor is the ad creative itself. Your ad creative must be in line with the objectives you’re trying to achieve. For example, if you’re running a campaign to increase brand awareness and your ad copy mentions a French press caffe verde or chocolate brownie, use a visual that is reflective of those items. This ensures that your ad is aligned with the messaging and that you’re not showing up to users who aren’t interested in your business or product.

Finally, you should always choose the most appropriate campaign objective for each ad. Choosing the wrong objective will not only drive up your CPC but also waste valuable ad spend that could have been better used on other more effective ads. Specifically, choosing a lead generation campaign objective when you’re trying to sell something will only cause your ad to perform worse, and Facebook will likely penalize you for it.