Paid Social Costs in Australia

Quick price summary

This is a realistic, Australia‑specific starting point. Your numbers may sit above or below these ranges depending on industry, audience size, offer strength and creative quality.

• Starter test (SME lead gen): $2,000–$5,000 per month in media for 90 days, plus management.
• Growth budgets (mid‑market or eCommerce): $5,000–$30,000+ per month in media.
• Agency management: 10–20% of ad spend with $1,000–$3,000 minimums, or $1,500–$6,000+ flat retainer.
• Setup and tracking: $1,000–$5,000 one‑off for structure, pixel/CAPI, events, and reporting.
• Creative production: UGC/creators $300–$1,500 per asset; pro video $2,000–$10,000; static design $100–$500.

What shapes paid social advertising cost

• Platform and audience competitiveness (local service vs national B2B).
• Funnel stage focus (prospecting costs more than remarketing but is required for scale).
• Creative quality and refresh cadence (fatigued ads inflate CPC/CPA; refresh every 2–4 weeks).
• Optimisation setup (events, pixel/CAPI, aggregated events, quality signals and conversion volumes).
• Offer strength and conversion rate (landing pages at 5% vs 15% CVR change CPL by 3x).
• Geography and seasonality (metro vs regional; Q4 pressure; industry peak periods).
• Attribution window and sales cycle (long cycles make paid social look expensive without proper tracking).

Benchmark costs by platform (Australia)

Indicative paid social media costs in Australia. Use these to sanity‑check quotes and plan tests.

• Meta (Facebook/Instagram): CPM $8–$20, CPC $0.50–$2.50. Broad reach, strong for lead gen and eCommerce. Creative fatigue can rise quickly.
• TikTok: CPM $6–$18, CPC $0.80–$3.00. Creative‑led performance; short‑form video required. Younger skew but broadening.
• Pinterest: CPM $8–$20, CPC $0.50–$1.50. High intent in certain niches (home, lifestyle, events, DIY).
• LinkedIn: CPM $30–$90, CPC $5–$15. Expensive clicks but higher B2B qualification. Use Lead Gen Forms and matched audiences.

Note: These are typical, not guaranteed. Creative, offer, targeting and data quality can move results substantially.

Typical budgets by goal

• Local service lead gen (Meta): $80–$250/day across 2–4 ad sets. Many see CPL $30–$150 with strong offers and landing pages.
• B2B lead gen (LinkedIn + Meta remarketing): $3,000–$12,000/month media. Expect higher CPL but stronger lead quality.
• eCommerce prospecting + remarketing (Meta/TikTok): $5,000–$30,000+/month. Target ROAS 2–5x depending on margins and AOV.
• Brand awareness burst: $3,000–$10,000 over 2–4 weeks to saturate a geo/audience at efficient CPMs.

Cost per lead (CPL) and CPA ranges

Expect meaningful variance by industry, offer and qualification requirements. Common Australian ranges:

• Home services and trades (Meta): CPL $25–$120; booking CPA depends on follow‑up speed.
• Professional services (Meta/LinkedIn): CPL $60–$250; SQL/meeting CPA higher.
• Healthcare/cosmetic (Meta): CPL $40–$180; compliance can lift costs.
• Education/training (Meta/LinkedIn): CPL $30–$200 depending on program price.
• eCommerce (Meta/TikTok): CPA varies with AOV/margins; many target ROAS 2–5x after 30–90 days of optimisation.

Conversion rate and speed‑to‑lead often make a bigger difference than ad costs themselves.

Agency fees and setup costs in Australia

• Management: 10–20% of ad spend with $1,000–$3,000 minimums, or $1,500–$6,000+ flat monthly retainer based on scope and complexity.
• Setup: $1,000–$5,000 one‑off for account structure, pixel/CAPI, aggregated events, audiences, naming conventions and reporting.
• Creative/UGC: usually separate; $300–$1,500 per UGC asset; $2,000–$10,000 for higher‑end video; $100–$500 per static set.
• Landing pages: $1,000–$4,000 when conversion‑focused pages are required.
• Tooling/reporting: typically $0–$300/month depending on stack.

Creative production: how much do you need and how often?

• Prospecting: plan 6–12 active creatives per audience. Refresh every 2–4 weeks depending on frequency and CPM trends.
• Remarketing: 3–6 evergreen creatives focused on proof, offers and FAQs.
• Cost planning: budget $1,000–$4,000 per month for rolling UGC and edits, or quarterly shoots at $3,000–$12,000 for asset packs.

How long until results?

Expect 2–6 weeks to exit learning for core ad sets and 60–90 days to gauge performance with confidence. New pixels, small budgets or long sales cycles need more time. Use remarketing and high‑intent audiences to stabilise early results.

• Signal volume targets: aim for 50–100 conversions per week per primary optimisation event if possible.
• If volume is low: optimise to higher‑funnel events temporarily (e.g., add‑to‑cart, leads) and tighten audiences.

Build a 90‑day paid social test budget

1. Clarify the commercial target (CPL/CPA/ROAS) and breakeven math.
2. Pick 1–2 platforms for prospecting and 1 platform for remarketing.
3. Allocate media so each ad set gets enough daily budget to learn (often $20–$50+ per ad set/day).
4. Pre‑build creative variants (hooks, angles, formats) and set a refresh cadence.
5. Verify tracking and offline conversions/CRM integration for attribution.
6. Report weekly on learning phase metrics; judge commercially at day 60–90.

Example SME lead‑gen test: $4,500 media over 90 days + $2,500 setup/management + $1,500 creative = $8,500 total test. With a $90 CPL target, 50 leads in test window is a reasonable milestone to validate the channel.

Cost‑saving tips that don’t hurt performance

• Run fewer, stronger ad sets with sufficient budget instead of many under‑funded sets.
• Use Advantage+ placements (Meta) and broad targeting where creative does the qualification.
• Leverage first‑party data and remarketing lists to improve conversion rates.
• Test UGC and testimonial‑style creatives before studio productions.
• Tighten attribution windows to reduce inflated performance claims across channels.

When paid social is not the right first spend

• No clear offer, weak proof or poor follow‑up process.
• Landing pages convert under 3% with no plan to improve.
• Sales capacity already constrained; pipeline cannot be handled.
• Budgets too small to exit learning (e.g., $5–$10/day with multiple ad sets).

If that sounds familiar, fix the bottlenecks first or run a remarketing‑only pilot.

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