Understanding the essential Facebook ad metrics is just the first step. Do you know which Facebook KPIs accurately determine the success of your campaigns? With Facebook ad spending projected to reach approximately $121.80 billion by 2024, it’s more important than ever for companies and advertisers to assess whether their Facebook ads are performing according to the media plan. 

To do this, one must know what each Facebook metric represents and which metrics best suit different campaign objectives.

What Are the Basic Metrics in Facebook Ads That Advertisers Should Know?

To determine the effectiveness of your Facebook advertising efforts, you must know the different Facebook ad metrics available on the platform. Whether you are doing organic posts or paid Facebook advertising, you should be able to differentiate which Facebook metrics you should be tracking.

What Are Facebook Ad Metrics?

Before we get into the details of which Facebook ad metrics you should keep an eye on for your campaigns, let’s establish a clear understanding of the definitions:

Facebook Metrics: These are all the measurable data points on Facebook related to your Page, posts, and ads. They provide insights into your Facebook presence, audience, and overall performance.

Facebook Engagement Metrics: These focus on audience engagement with your posts, such as likes, comments, and shares. You can find these within your Facebook profile’s dashboard.

Facebook Advertising Metrics: These are the Facebook KPIs to note when running paid ad campaigns on Facebook. These can be found within the Meta Ads Manager.

Dissecting the Different Facebook Advertising Metrics

Within Meta Ads Manager, you can select predefined columns that display the specific Facebook ad metrics you want to observe on your dashboard. Additionally, you can customize the columns based on your preference.

Let’s break them down to analyze each metric further.

Performance Metrics

Your Facebook ad performance metrics represent an overview of your campaign’s reach and visibility. These metrics assess how many people your ads reach and how often they are seen. Your performance metrics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Reach 
• Impressions
• Delivery
• Results (based on campaign objective, e.g., if the campaign is running on Leads objective, Results will show the number of website leads)

Engagement Metrics 

Paid ads on Facebook appear on users’ feeds, similar to regular posts. Users can also interact with them via reactions, comments, and shares.

These metrics focus on how users interact with your ads, indicating their level of interest and responsiveness. While similar to the Facebook engagement metrics we mentioned earlier, these are specifically related to your paid ads. These are the Facebook ad metrics included in this view:

• Page engagement
• Post reactions
• Post comments
• Post shares
• Link clicks

For Facebook ad formats with video ads, here are the video engagement metrics you should monitor:

• 2-second continuous video play
• 3-second video play
• ThruPlays
• Video Plays
• Video Plays at 25%
• Video Plays at 50%
• Video Plays at 75%
• Video Plays at 95%
• Video Plays at 100%

Conversion Metrics

These metrics correlate directly to your campaign objective and are ideal for evaluating Facebook campaigns aimed at generating leads or sales. They help determine if your ads achieve the desired outcomes and if your ad spend is cost-effective. 

Common Facebook ad metrics in this view include:

• CTR (Click-Through Rate)
• Link clicks
• CPC (Cost Per Click)
• Purchase ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
• Results (e.g., add to cart, purchases)
• CPR (Cost per Result)

Cost Metrics

Cost metrics focus on the financial aspects of your Facebook ad campaign, helping you understand your spending and the efficiency of that spending. These metrics allow you to analyze cost rates at various levels. 

For example, you can analyze CPM against reach and frequency for Awareness, CPC against link clicks or website visits for Traffic campaigns, and CPA against leads or website actions for Leads campaigns. Key cost metrics include:

• Budget
• Amount spent
• CPC (Cost Per Click)
• CPM (Cost per Mille / Cost per 1,000 Impressions)
• CPA (Cost per Action)
• Cost per ThruPlay (for video ad formats)

The Right Facebook Ads Metrics for Different Campaign Objectives

By discerning what each Facebook ad metric corresponds to, what it represents, and which category it belongs to, you’re on the road to identifying which metrics align with your campaign goals. 

Let’s explore various Facebook advertising objectives and the metrics you should focus on to optimize your campaigns accordingly.

Facebook Ad Format	Campaign Objective	Key Metrics	Suggested Core Metric/s
Feed Ads – Image	Awareness	Reach Impressions Frequency CPM	CPM  Since the goal is to maximize the number of views on your ads, the primary metric should be the cost of acquiring each impression. For social media advertising, this cost is measured as CPM or cost per 1,000 impressions. By evaluating the CPM of your awareness ads, you can determine if you are acquiring Facebook impressions at a cost-efficient rate.
In-stream Video Ads	Engagement	Post reactions Post comments Post shares 2-second continuous video plays 3-second video plays ThruPlays	ThruPlays The important metrics for video ads aimed at audience engagement include how the audience interacts with the post (e.g., likes and comments) and how they engage with the video (whether they watch the entire video or scroll away).  In this case, ThruPlays is the suggested core metric for determining whether your video successfully retains the audience’s attention throughout the ad.
Video Feed Ads	Engagement – Video Views	Impressions Video plays at 25% Video plays at 50% ThruPlays Cost per ThruPlay	Cost per ThruPlay For video ads designed to boost engagement, the call-to-action (CTA) is typically included within the video. Therefore, the core metric should be related to the placement of your CTA.  For example, if your CTA is positioned at the end of the video (e.g., “tag a friend in the comments” or “visit our website for more details”), it’s important to track how much you are paying per complete view (for videos 15 seconds or less) or for at least 15 seconds.
Reels Ads – Video	App Promotion	Video plays Video average play time App installs Cost per app install	Cost per app install Since your main goal is to get your apps installed by the audience, it is important to know how much you spend on each app install.  Another suggested metric to focus on is the Video average play time, as it helps you understand where viewers stop watching the video and whether this timing affects app installations or clicks on the CTA button.
Reels Overlay Ads – Image	Traffic	Link clicks Landing page views (if driving towards website) CTR CPC CPLC	CPLC Since overlay ads on Reels can be less noticeable than other ad formats, we recommend tracking the cost per link click to your desired website page or app. Knowing the CTR also helps you understand how many viewers of your ad actually click through and show interest in this format.
Search Results Ads – Carousel	Leads	Leads (total) CPL (Cost per lead) Messenger calls placed (if directed to Messenger calls) Link clicks Landing page views (if driving towards website)	CPL Knowing the cost per lead (CPL) can help you determine if you are acquiring leads at the most efficient cost so you can optimize your ads to achieve better results. Landing page views are also a good metric for determining whether you are getting people to visit your website. Are they leaving their information as leads, or should you improve your landing page to get them to submit their information?
Marketplace Ads – Collection	Sales	Link clicks CTR CPC Results Cost per result Purchase ROAS	Purchase ROAS When running Sales campaigns on Facebook, it’s crucial to track the number of purchases (Results) and the Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) for each purchase.  To accurately calculate ROAS in Facebook’s Ads Manager, assign a value to each product in your collection ads. This will enable Meta Ads Manager to compute the ROAS correctly.

Importance of Aligning Your Campaigns with the Right Facebook Ad Metrics

As media buyers, it is imperative to acknowledge the different perspectives to consider when learning about Facebook ads reporting and the relevant metrics. While we have detailed the fundamental Facebook ad metrics to track based on your campaign objectives, it is equally important for you to align your reports with the team to whom you are presenting them.

For example, sales teams may prioritize results and purchases, whereas advertising teams may focus on costs and efficiency. With a clear understanding of which Facebook ad metrics matter and how they are interrelated, this aspect of your reporting should become clearer.

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