Facebook boasts over 3 billion users, but that alone doesn’t automatically guarantee ROI from ads. You have to work on it.
Facebook is one of the go-to platforms for advertising in 2025. People average 33 minutes a day browsing Facebook and potentially see scores of ads during each session.
However, maximizing Facebook ads ROI in 2025 isn’t automatic. Increased competition and shifting algorithms mean advertisers need a strategic plan to reach potential customers effectively and make their Facebook ads campaigns pay off.
There are seven core steps to achieving success when running Facebook ads. From strategizing your campaign objectives to figuring out budgets, launching ads, and using tools to help, this guide has it all.
By applying these tips – and using smart tools like Brandwatch Social Media Management and Brandwatch Consumer Research to help – you’ll be equipped to squeeze the most value from every dollar of ad spend on your Facebook ad campaigns.
Understanding Facebook ads ROI
Before we dive into the steps for maximizing ROI on Facebook ads, let’s step back and outline what we’re talking about here.
ROI (return on investment) measures how much value you get back for the money you spend. For the purposes of this guide, it’s the measure of return on your advertising efforts.
You can measure this in many ways, which we’ll explain in more detail further in this guide. Usually, it’s the monetary results you see from spending on an ad campaign, although brand awareness and impact are other metrics to consider, too.
For perspective, Facebook’s advertising costs can vary by industry. The average cost-per-click for retail ads is around $0.70, whereas for finance ads, it’s about $3.77.
Focusing on ROI is even more critical to ensure your ad budget delivers returns if you operate in a higher-cost sector.
Let’s now walk through the seven steps to nailing Facebook ad ROI.
1. Set clear campaign objectives
It’s important to create clear objectives for an ad campaign; otherwise, you're doomed to fail. Why? Because you need to align your content with your objectives in order to secure ROI.
For example, if you want to boost sales by funneling followers on your Facebook Page to your webshop, you need to design ads that encourage that.
Equally, if you plan to boost brand awareness, you must ensure your ads are visually appealing.
When setting up a new campaign, Facebook’s advertising platform requires you to choose a campaign objective (such as awareness, traffic, leads, or conversions).
Make sure you’ve thought ahead and know exactly what you want. If you don’t have a good sense of your objectives, go back and strategize. Use Brandwatch Social Media Management to get a snapshot of your brand’s Facebook presence and develop a plan to move forward.
Once your objective is set, keep it in focus throughout your campaign. Your bidding, budget, and ad creative should all be aligned to support that goal.
Make sure each Facebook campaign has a clear purpose tied to your broader business outcomes so you’re not wasting money on efforts that don’t move the needle.
2. Know your target audience
This is a given that businesses need to nail down before launching ads, products, services, or marketing campaigns. Your target audience is crucial to your business success. You need to know who they are, what they like, and where they hang out.
In terms of Facebook ads, understanding your target audience is relatively simple. You can use Meta’s own targeting capabilities to zero in on specific users.
You can also use Audience from Brandwatch to get a 360-degree understanding of where your social media audience hangs out. You might find only a small fraction of your audience is on Facebook, which might lead you to change your strategy and consider advertising on Instagram instead.
If you’re looking to understand your audience for the first time, then Brandwatch Consumer Research can help. Use the tool to fully understand your market, competitors, and audience.
From there, you can begin to design ads that appeal to your audience demographics. Target users by age, gender, location, interests, and behaviors. The more relevant the audience, the higher your conversion rates and ROI will be.
Facebook also allows you to advertise via the Audience Network on Instagram, Messenger, and partner apps. This way, you can connect with users wherever they spend time.
The key to all this is knowing your audience inside out. Your decision-making for an ad campaign becomes much easier when you’re armed with information.
3. Craft compelling ads and avoid ad fatigue
Ad fatigue is a real issue for brands trying to get noticed on Facebook. Users quickly get frustrated by seeing the same ads time and again if they’re not interested in the content.
Combating ad fatigue requires background research on your audience so you can develop compelling ads they’ll actually want to see.
Then, you need to develop a series of interesting ads that maintain the core themes and messaging but, crucially, are different enough to avoid ad fatigue.
Engagement drives results. Use eye-catching visuals (images or video), write clear and benefit-focused copy, and include a strong call-to-action button (e.g., “Shop Now,” “Sign Up”).
Make sure your ads align with your campaign objective. For example, use a product demo video for a conversion campaign or a bold image for a quick promotion.
Match the ad format to your goal. Facebook offers a lot of ad formats, such as single images, carousels, collections, etc. Pick one that showcases your offering in the most effective way.
As for adding variety to your ads, create different imagery or headlines or experiment with a new angle in the ad copy.
By continually creating compelling ad elements and updating them before they go stale, you’ll maintain your audience’s interest and improve overall campaign performance.
4. Optimize landing pages for conversions
Don’t let the click go to waste. If you direct people away from Facebook to a website or shopping link, then make sure that destination is worth going to.
Ad campaigns often fail when interested Facebook users click on an ad post and receive a bad experience on the next page. In fact, Facebook actively looks at linked pages to check for accuracy and quality.
If you claim to offer “50% free shipping” in your ad but don’t provide it on your website, then Facebook may quickly ban the ad.
Your destination pages need to be accurate and fully optimized. Otherwise, people will just leave, and you’ll have wasted a click.
Did you know 98% of Facebook users access the site via mobile? Make sure your website is fast and mobile-friendly. If a user clicks on an ad via the Facebook app, then they’ll be taken to a browser page, which needs to load fast. Otherwise, they’ll leave.
Another important aspect of website optimization is making the process simple. Users trust a straightforward route from ad click to purchase. So, ensure your ad link goes directly to what’s being sold in the ad.
For example, if you’re selling designer shoes at a discount, provide a link to the discount page on your web store. Ideally, a user should be able to convert a purchase with a few clicks.
By polishing your landing pages and overall site funnel, you ensure that the traffic your ads generate has the best chance to convert.
Even small improvements – simplifying a form, improving page load time, etc. – can lift your conversion rate and significantly boost ROI without increasing ad spend.
5. Track conversions and use data to optimize
Optimizing ROI is far easier when you can see the conversion journey and spot barriers that customers encounter.
Start by installing Facebook’s Pixel (Meta Pixel) on your site to capture conversions. This snippet of code lets you track actions like purchases, sign-ups, and other valuable events that your ads produce.
Having the pixel in place is essential – it allows you to measure the real ROI of your campaigns, and it feeds Facebook’s algorithm with data to help it deliver your ads to the users most likely to convert.
With pixel data, you can even build custom audiences for retargeting (for instance, showing ads to people who added an item to a cart but didn’t check out) and create lookalikes of your best customers.
Once you’re tracking conversions, make it a habit to review your campaign performance and adjust as needed.
Facebook’s Ads Manager provides a wealth of metrics, as does Brandwatch. The key is to focus on those that tie to ROI, such as click-through rates (CTR), cost per click (CPC), conversion rates, cost per conversion, and return on ad spend.
Evaluate performance week by week. If you see results dipping, dig into why. Use Brandwatch’s reporting breakdowns to get insight into performance across different audiences, placements, and devices.
By relying on real data rather than guesswork, you’ll steadily improve your Facebook ads ROI over time.
6. Manage your budget and bidding strategy
Brands bid for advertising space on Facebook, so you need to create a strategy and set a budget.
Facebook has three bidding options:
- Lowest cost without cap
- Bid cap
- Cost cap
The lowest cost without cap is your default option when bidding for Facebook ads. It’s Facebook’s automated method to get you the most results for your budget.
If you have specific cost-per-action targets to hit, you could experiment with a cost cap or bid cap bidding strategy – these let you tell Facebook the maximum you’re willing to pay per conversion.
Whichever strategy you use, keep an eye on your cost per result and compare it to the value of that result. The bottom line is to manage your ad spend with ROI in mind at all times across your Facebook ad campaigns.
Shift the budget toward high-ROI efforts and pause underperformers to avoid waste.
>> Check out our Facebook ads bidding strategy guide for more info
7. Use Brandwatch and Meta’s new features
Brandwatch offers an ever-growing suite of tools to help advertisers get the most from their Facebook ads. You can manage your social media campaigns (paid and organic) in one place with Brandwatch Social Media Management.
Advertise is part of the suite and is ideal for Facebook ad campaign launches and management. Use automated features to work fast when setting up campaigns and collaborate across teams.
Get real-time insights as ad campaigns roll out, establish automated UTM tracking, and create multiple ads with different durations in a single ad set.
Struggling to write great copy to go alongside ads? Use Brandwatch’s AI-driven Iris Writing Assistant to generate the perfect messages and spot errors. It’s just one of the numerous AI features at Brandwatch.
Facebook’s parent company, Meta, has also heavily invested in AI-driven ad tools. These Meta technologies can automatically find relevant audiences and optimize ad delivery, ultimately improving ROI.
Features like Advantage+ automation produce great results, but human oversight is still crucial – the most successful campaigns combine smart algorithms with a marketer’s strategic guidance.
By using the right tools, you can automate tedious tasks, stay organized, and uncover opportunities to refine your approach – all of which contribute to a higher ROI on your Facebook ads.
Time to maximize your Facebook ads ROI in 2025
By working through these seven steps, you can get much more from your Facebook ad campaigns.
All the pieces – from clear planning and strong creativity to continuous optimization – work together to improve ROI.
The most successful businesses on Facebook stay proactive, constantly testing and fine-tuning their Facebook ads campaigns.
Remember that you don’t have to go it alone – Brandwatch’s tools can give you an edge. Request a personalized demo to see how our platform can help you create the right ad strategy and execute it to perfection.
Facebook, with its 3 billion users, can become a platform for growth for businesses of all sizes, delivering excellent ROI from Facebook ads. It’s time to get started!
