What $5 of Facebook Advertising Got Me

I decided to get my feet wet with promoting my films and YouTube Channel, starting with Facebook Advertising. My latest short Santa Barbara Isn’t Real, is pretty specific to the California’s Central Coast, so I created an ad targeting people ages 20-50 within 35 miles of Santa Barbara.

I chose to be charged by impression (CPM) instead of per click (CPC). I thought in this case, it made more sense to be charged based by how many people see the ad, not how many click on it. The recommended bid for one click was $1.30, which is a bit steep for me.

I included a Matrix movie reference in the ad since the short borrows some elements from the movie. Here’s what the ad looked like:

Here’s a summary of the ad campaign after reaching my budget.

Results: I spent $5.05 to show the ad to 1,186 people, of which 32 clicked. This made my cost per click $0.16, way less than the $1.30 bid recommended by Facebook.