3 Steps to Optimize Ad Budget between Facebook and Instagram

Are you a social media marketer and trying to optimize your ad budget between Facebook and Instagram?

This article will enable you to know about Facebook’s split test feature to know your ad spend distribution on Facebook and Instagram.

1) Go for a Split Test for Facebook and Instagram Placement Performance

To do a split test for Facebook and Instagram, go to Ads Manager and create a new campaign.

Remember, the Facebook split test works with following 10 campaign goals-

1. Traffic
2. App Installs
3. Lead Generation
4. Conversions
5. Video Views
6. Catalog Sales
7. Reach
8. Engagement
9. Messages
10. Brand Awareness

Here, choose the objective “Traffic”.

Once the goal is selected, create a name for your campaign and turn on the Create Split Test feature (available below campaign name).

Then click on Continue to move next.

As you’ll create the ad set, you’ll see the Variable section.

Click on What Do You Want to Test drop-down list to see four options- Creative, Delivery Optimization, Audience, and Placement.

Here select Placement.

Once you’ve done the selection, Facebook itself creates two different ad sets to be modified to focus on a particular platform placement.

To know about all the placement options in Ad Set A section, click on Edit Placements button. Now deselect Instagram, Audience Network, and Messenger.

This will make sure that ad will be displayed only to Facebook Feeds, Instant Articles, In-Stream Videos, Marketplace, and Stories.

Now go to Ad Set B section and click on Edit Placements button.

Now, you’ve to deselect Facebook, Audience Network, and Messenger.

This makes sure that the ad will be displayed only to the Instagram Feed and Stories placements.

If you alter any settings in your mobile & operating systems, ensure you extend identical designations or exclusions in both ad sets.

Now, fill the details of Audience section and Delivery Optimization section of the ad set.

When you enter the Split Test Budget & Schedule section, you find two options- Lifetime Budget and Daily Budget. Here select Daily Budget.

You’ll see Facebook itself suggests $200 for the daily budget. But, here you have to set the budget manually i.e. the lowest possible as you’re learning the tactic.

Set a small daily budget of $2-$5.

Next step will take you to split variable. You’ll find two options in the Split drop-down list i.e. Even Split and Weighted Split.

Here, choose Even Split. This tactic will make sure that 50% of your budget will go to Facebook ads running and 50% for Instagram.

You’ll get two options for the schedule. If you select the Run Split Test Starting Today option, you’ll have to choose 7 Days from the Duration drop-down menu.

If you choose the Set a Start End Date option, you need to set a 7-day date spread.

The duration of your experiment will vary depending on the unique attributes of your audience, but in general, results come in 4-7 days.

Now, finish your ad creative and start running your ads.

2) Assess the Results

For analyzing the results, one week of ad running would be good.

Now, click Facebook Ads Manager and then click on the Campaigns tab.

Now, look for a little bottle icon appearing next to the campaign name to immediately find your split test campaign.

Now, click the campaign name, and then again click the Ad Set level to show and compare the results.

3) Allocate Your Budget Between Facebook and Instagram after Seeing Performance Results

When you see the results, ensure that the ad spend is relatively equal across both platforms.

In the next step, go for analyzing reach and frequency.

When everything being equal, look at the cost of each result metric to conclude how to split your budget between placements-

• If the cost per result metric is lower for Instagram, allocate an amount for the Instagram campaign and the same for the Facebook campaign.

If you’re not getting desired performance, consider extending the test for next 7 days.

Conclusion

How to allocate expenditure on Facebook and Instagram can go tricky.

In such a situation, you need viable suggestions and trick to understand where and how much amount to spend.

Here is a 3-step practice which will let you how to allocate ad spend between Facebook and Instagram.