“How much does social media advertising cost?” is one of the most common questions, and the honest answer is: it depends. But that's not a very useful answer when you need to set a budget. So here are concrete figures for the DACH market, one language (German), and a small to midsize company.
Cost by platform: what you need to know
| Platform | CPM (1,000 impressions) | CPC (click) | Min. daily budget* | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CHF 3–8 | CHF 0.40–1.50 | CHF 15–20 | Awareness + retargeting | |
| CHF 5–12 | CHF 0.70–2.00 | CHF 15–20 | Visual products, B2C | |
| CHF 25–60 | CHF 4–12 | CHF 15–20 | B2B, professional audiences |
*Practical guide values for generating enough data to evaluate a campaign meaningfully, as of 2026. These are not the platforms' technical minimum budgets.
Important: LinkedIn is more expensive, but it also offers more precise targeting in B2B contexts. You're paying for the ability to target decision-makers by criteria such as job title, industry, and company size. Facebook and Instagram don't offer the same professional targeting capabilities.
Total 3-month budget: three scenarios
Starter
1–2 platforms, 1 campaign objective (awareness or clicks), and simple creatives produced in-house. Limited reach, but enough for initial testing.
Standard
3 platforms, 2 objectives (awareness + leads), professional creatives, A/B tests, and monthly reporting. Recommended level for small and midsize companies.
Performance
3 platforms + retargeting, multiple ad sets, video content, landing pages, and weekly optimization. Designed for measurable lead generation.
What often gets left out of the budget
- Creatives: Poor images and copy can make good targeting worthless. Professional creatives, including design, video, and copywriting, cost CHF 500–2,500 depending on scope.
- Landing page: Anyone who clicks needs somewhere to go. Without an optimized landing page, the media budget goes to waste. Either optimize an existing page or build a new one (CHF 500–3,000).
- Agency/management: Managing, analyzing, and optimizing campaigns takes 5–15 hours per month. That means either internal resources or external costs of CHF 500–2,000 per month.
- Pixel and tracking: Without the Meta Pixel, LinkedIn Insight Tag, and UTM parameters, meaningful analysis isn't possible. One-time setup: CHF 200–500.
What you can realistically expect from CHF 4,500 over 3 months
| Platform | Reach (avg.) | Clicks (avg.) | Leads (with optimized LP) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Facebook/Instagram | 40,000–80,000 | 1,000–3,000 | 50–150 |
| 15,000–30,000 | 200–600 | 20–60 | |
| Total | 55,000–110,000 | 1,200–3,600 | 70–210 |
These figures vary significantly depending on industry, audience, creative quality, and landing-page conversion optimization.
“Budget without strategy is money without direction. Strategy without budget is planning without impact. You need both.”
As a practical guide, plan on roughly CHF 15–20 per day per platform if you want to generate enough data for meaningful optimization. Across 3 platforms, that's roughly CHF 50–60 per day, or CHF 1,500–1,800 per month. Plus creatives. Plus management.
A realistic starting budget for a small or midsize company is CHF 4,500–6,000 for 3 months. Below that, you're better off doing one channel well than three badly.
The budgets shown here are practical guide values as of 2026. Actual costs and results vary significantly depending on the platform, campaign objective, audience, industry, creative quality, and competition.
Sources: Meta Business Help Center, About Daily Budgets and About the Learning Phase · LinkedIn Help, Minimum Daily Budget Requirements · LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, Ad Targeting · Meta Business Help Center, About Meta Pixel · LinkedIn Help, LinkedIn Insight Tag.
Published June 2026