Do you run Facebook Ads for clients and are wondering if you are charging appropriately?  Or maybe you are thinking about offering Facebook Ads Management and are wondering about how to structure your services.

In this article, I’ll share with you different pricing models, how to set up your services, and how much you can make as a Facebook Ads manager.

Pricing Models for Facebook Ads Management

There are basically 4 different pricing models for structuring your Facebook Ad Management services.

1. Percentage of Ad Spend – typically between 10-20% of the monthly ad budget.  This is a fit for larger ad budgets.
2. Flat Fee – if you have a focused campaign during a bounded time period then a flat fee makes sense.
3. Hourly Rate – charge based on how long you spend doing the management and track your time.
4. Monthly Retainer – similar to the flat fee but an ongoing fee depending on a general number of ads you are running each month.

You can decide what is right for you and the type of businesses you serve.

Typically the percentage of ad spend would only work if the client was spending over $5000 per month in Facebook Ads.  The percentage can scale up or down depending on the spend and how complex the campaigns were.

A flat fee works well for something like a launch where you might be working with a client over a period of a month or two with a set number of ads during the campaign.

I don’t usually recommend hourly rates unless you are doing a variety of services for a client and the Facebook Ad management is part of everything you are doing.  I think the client prefers to know up front how long you think it will take and what the cost will be. But sometimes I will work with a client in coaching them through setting up ads while recording the call so that they can see how it’s done the first time and we get the ads set up and running.  Then they can continue the management from there.

A monthly retainer works well when you know exactly how many ads your client needs each month and you have a good handle on the time it takes you.

In all of these packages make sure you spell out how much contact you will have (some clients can get a little excessive with email and/or phone calls), how many revisions to the creative are included, and if there is a one-time setup fee.

Structuring your Facebook Ads Services

Typically Facebook ads for a new client require a setup fee but that can also depend on what they have in place.

Your first step will be to find out how much work they have done in the past and how much you will need to do.  To calculate your setup fee you need to determine:

1. Do they have the Facebook Pixel installed on their website?
2. Do they have conversion tracking in place?
3. Have they tested audiences in the past that you can use?
4. How many custom audiences will you need to set up?
5. Do they need advice on their landing page?
6. Do you have some initial research you need to do on their targeting?  (You may put this in the setup or in the monthly fee)

Once you have that information, you can calculate how long it will take you to do the initial setup work for the client (more on calculating your pricing in a bit).

If you are doing the percentage of ad spend or the hourly rate then calculating your fees are easy.  But for the Flat Fee or Monthly Retainer model, you should calculate your fees based on the work involved.

Here are some of the things you will need to estimate in order to calculate how much to quote:

1. Initial consultation with the client – I think it’s a good idea to allow for at least a 30 minute consultation at the beginning as well as information you may gather in a form
2. Research time – how long do you need to research keywords and targeting.
3. Creating the ad plan – if this is a launch, you will need to have different types of ads during the cycle of the launch.
4. Image creation – how many images will you be providing and how long does it take you to create them (or how much to outsource)
5. Writing the ads – good copy is critical for ads and you will want to vary your copy to test what works.  This also may be co-created with the client.
6. Getting approval from the client – you need to have an approval process so that the client can make sure the ads fit with their branding and voice.
7. Uploading the ads – depending on how many split tests you may have, this can take a while.
8. Monitoring the ads – daily time to check that the ads are performing well.
9. Communication with the client and final report – you may have weekly updates, daily messages, and a final report

Add up the time that this will take multiply that by your hourly project rate that you charge for clients. Make sure you also add in some buffer time for segments of the process to go over the time you estimated.

The challenge can be if you are new, this may take more time than you feel it should. Make sure you are putting boundaries on your time and not trying to research every possible keyword out there for example.

The other challenge is when you are new to the business and you don’t know how to estimate how long things might take. One of the solutions is to be your own first client and time the tasks.  And as you get faster, your margins increase as you put your systems in place and get better at the tasks.

As you gain experience and credibility in the market, you can charge a higher project rate.  You can have a great full time or part time business managing ads for clients.

Facebook Ads Management Pricing Calculator

Want a Facebook Ads Management Calculator so you can determine your pricing? I developed a quick time sheet that you can use to plug in your own numbers and calculate how much you should charge for setup and project fees.

Get it FREE here:

Getting Started as a Facebook Ads Manager or Agency

Facebook Ad management services are in high demand because Facebook ads have become more complex.

Businesses know that Facebook Ads can be laser targeted to their perfect client as just one of the good reasons to use Facebook Ads.. But they don’t want to take the time to learn all the nuances of creating Facebook ads that work.

If you are thinking about dipping your toe in the water and providing these services, stay tuned because I will have more resources for you!  Make sure you enter your name and email above to get notified of the upcoming webinars and events.