If you haven’t already, now might be the perfect time to dip your toes (or the proverbial toes of your business) into the Facebook and Instagram advertising game.

It may sound strange, as we are no doubt in a significant economic downturn amid a world-changing health crisis; but this volatility is why it’s one of the most opportune times for your business to experiment with Facebook (and Instagram, as they are under the same platform umbrella) ads.  

To understand what’s going on, you first have to understand how these ads are priced. At its core, it’s a pretty simple supply vs. demand model. I’m sure it comes as no surprise that usage is up across all social platforms. Available impressions (views) are your supply. Supply increases for Facebook advertisers as we spend more and more time online. Demand is a function of how many other advertisers are vying for the same spot in your target audience’s newsfeed. As companies panic and decrease their marketing budgets, demand goes down. High school economics tells us that both of these movements drive price down. 

Even in times pre-COVID (remember that?), Facebook and Instagram were generally cheaper than other platforms at the most basic cost per click level. This, coupled with the corona-effect, led to some of our clients’ ads operating at a cost per click around one cent at one point during the heat of the crisis. While most aren’t running quite this cheaply, we’ve seen an overall decrease in average cost for most of the industries that we serve. 

Additionally, Facebook’s minimum daily budget is only a dollar where some other platforms require a spend of at least five dollars. While more is certainly more when it comes to pay-per-click advertising, it bears knowing that for only $1/day, you could expand your reach to 4,000 people that might not have otherwise been exposed to your content. With that, however, a dollar spent on sloppy targeting or half-baked creative is a dollar wasted. Do it right, put as much money as you’re comfortable with behind it, and reap the benefits of the times. 

Jump on in, the water’s fine.