Measuring the ROI of Your Social Media Ad Campaigns

Measuring return on investment helps you see what is working, what is wasting money, and where to put your next advertising dollar. This guide shows you how to set up tracking, do the maths, and report the results in clear language that any team member can follow.

What ROI Means in Plain Words

Return on investment shows how much money you gain compared with how much money you spend.

• ROI percent equals profit minus cost, divided by cost, then times 100

• Profit is the income from the campaign after you subtract the cost of the campaign

Simple example
If a campaign makes 8,700 dollars profit and cost 2,300 dollars
ROI equals 8,700 divided by 2,300 then times 100 which is 378 percent

Match Your Ad Goal to a Real Business Result

Choose one main outcome for each campaign. This keeps your numbers clean and your reports easy to read.

• Awareness
  Goal is reach and video views for a new listing or brand story

• Traffic
  Goal is clicks to a property page or a landing page

• Lead generation
  Goal is enquiries, appraisal requests, open home registrations, brochure downloads

• Conversion
  Goal is booked appraisal, listing won, buyer appointment, sale

Pick the stage that matters most this month. Then measure that stage with care.

Set Up Tracking Before You Spend

Good tracking makes ROI easy. Do these steps once and reuse them for every campaign.

1. Create one clean landing page per campaign
   Use a simple page with one action only such as register for open home or request an appraisal

2. Add a form with name, email, phone, and suburb
   Keep it short to lift the completion rate

3. Tag your links with UTM labels
   Use source, medium, and campaign to label where the click came from
   Example
   source equals facebook
   medium equals cpc
   campaign equals 10 Smith Street launch

4. Turn on the platform pixel and conversion events
   Facebook pixel and Google tag help you count actions like form submit or call click

5. Connect lead alerts to your inbox and CRM
   Make sure every lead flows to one place so nothing is lost

Define Success With Clear Targets

Set a target for both cost and volume. Then you can judge the result with no guesswork.

• Cost per lead target
  Buyer lead target for a listing launch could be 10 to 25 dollars per lead
  Appraisal lead target could be 50 to 150 dollars per lead

• Volume target
  Example
  40 buyer leads for first weekend
  5 appraisal enquiries this month

• Time frame
  Daily view for tuning
  Weekly view for decisions
  Monthly view for budget

Know Your Costs

Include every dollar linked to the campaign.

• Media spend on Facebook and Instagram

• Creative cost such as video, photos, copywriting

• Staff time to set up and reply

• Landing page tool and form tool

• Printing for QR codes or flyers if used

Add these to get your true campaign cost.

Put a Dollar Value on Each Outcome

You need a fair value for each main action. Use your own numbers or start with simple averages.

• Average gross commission income per sale
  Example 12,000 dollars

• Listing conversion rate from appraisals
  Example 1 in 3 appraisals becomes a listing which is 33 percent

• Sale conversion rate from listings
  Example 90 percent of listings sell

• Lead to appraisal rate
  Example 1 in 10 appraisal enquiries books a meeting

From these you can work out expected value.

Example for appraisal leads
If 1 in 10 leads becomes an appraisal and 1 in 3 appraisals becomes a listing and 90 percent of listings sell and the average gross commission income is 12,000 dollars

• Chance from lead to sale equals 1 divided by 10, then times 1 divided by 3, then times 0.9

• That equals 0.1 times 0.3333 times 0.9 which is about 0.03

• Expected value per lead equals 12,000 times 0.03 which is 360 dollars

This means each qualified appraisal lead is worth about 360 dollars on average. If you can get them at 120 dollars each, that is strong value.

Understand Attribution Windows

Attribution tells the platform which ad gets the credit for the result.

• Click through attribution gives credit to the last ad you clicked within a set time, often 7 days

• View through attribution gives credit to an ad you viewed without clicking, often within 1 day

Keep your reports consistent by using the same window for each campaign. For high value actions like listings, also use your CRM to confirm the true source.

Key Metrics to Watch

• Reach
  How many people saw the ad

• Click through rate
  Clicks divided by impressions

• Cost per click
  Spend divided by clicks

• Conversion rate
  Leads or bookings divided by clicks

• Cost per lead
  Spend divided by leads

• Cost per appraisal
  Spend divided by booked appraisals

• Return on ad spend
  Revenue divided by ad spend
  Useful for buyer lead generation with clear fee income
  For full profit use ROI

Track these weekly in one sheet.

The ROI Formula Step by Step

Use this simple path for every campaign.

1. Add up total campaign cost
   Example
   Ad spend 1,500
   Video edit 300
   Staff time 200
   Total cost equals 2,000

2. Add up campaign income
   If the campaign won one listing that sold for a 12,000 dollar gross fee

3. Subtract other variable costs tied to the sale
   Portal upgrades 800
   Extra marketing 500
   Net income equals 12,000 minus 1,300 which is 10,700

4. Profit equals net income minus campaign cost
   Profit equals 10,700 minus 2,000 which is 8,700

5. ROI percent equals profit divided by campaign cost times 100
   8,700 divided by 2,000 equals 4.35
   ROI equals 435 percent

Real Examples You Can Copy

Example 1
Listing launch with buyer lead ad

• Spend 900

• Leads 60

• Cost per lead 900 divided by 60 equals 15

• Leads to inspection rate 40 percent gives 24 inspections

• One extra offer leads to a sale at the price guide

• The listing would have sold anyway, but the campaign built stronger competition

• Value is brand reach and faster sale

• Report as cost per lead and inspection outcome

Example 2
Appraisal lead campaign

• Spend 1,200

• Leads 18

• Cost per lead 1,200 divided by 18 equals 66.67

• Ten book a call

• Three appraisals held

• One listing won

• Sale fee 10,000

• Profit equals 10,000 minus 1,200 equals 8,800

• ROI equals 8,800 divided by 1,200 times 100 which is 733 percent

Platform Reports You Should Read Each Week

• Facebook Ads Manager
  Look at cost per result, conversion rate, and frequency
  Turn off ad sets with high cost per result and low conversion

• Google Analytics
  Check UTM campaigns for sessions, form submissions, and calls from your landing page

• CRM
  Check booked appraisals, listing won, and sale outcomes with source set to the UTM campaign

Use the same campaign names across all three places. This keeps the story straight.

Track Offline Results Without Guesswork

Not every result happens online. Link offline actions to your ads.

• Use a unique phone number on each landing page

• Add a question in your form
  How did you hear about us with a choice for Facebook, Instagram, Signboard, Friend

• Use QR codes at open homes that lead to the same landing page with the same UTM tags

• Train the team to log source in the CRM during every call

Vendor Paid Marketing and ROI

When a seller funds part of the marketing, report the impact with care.

• Show the vendor a simple dashboard
  Spend, reach, leads, inspections, and offers

• Explain how the campaign built more buyer demand

• Include cost per lead and cost per inspection

• If the campaign helped win a stronger price or a quicker sale, state the evidence such as offers, days on market, and open home numbers

This builds trust and helps you win the next listing.

Common Mistakes and Easy Fixes

• No single landing page
  Fix by making one page per campaign with one clear action

• No UTM tags
  Fix by saving a simple link builder template and using it every time

• Counting all leads as equal
  Fix by grading leads as hot, warm, or cold and report each grade

• Short tests with tiny budgets
  Fix by running at least one full buying cycle for the objective you chose

• Turning off winners too early
  Fix by checking results over seven days before deciding

Benchmarks to Guide Your First Targets

These are starter ranges. Use your own data as soon as you have it.

• Click through rate
  One to three percent for most listing ads

• Cost per buyer lead
  Ten to thirty dollars for quality landing pages

• Cost per appraisal lead
  Fifty to one hundred and fifty dollars for most areas

• Conversion from appraisal lead to meeting
  Ten to thirty percent with fast follow up

Review these each quarter and update for your local market.

A Simple Weekly Reporting Template

Copy these lines into your sheet and fill them in each Monday.

• Campaign name

• Goal

• Total spend to date

• Leads this week

• Cost per lead this week

• Leads to bookings this week

• Booked appraisals this week

• Listings won from this campaign

• Sales from this campaign

• Profit to date

• ROI percent to date

• Next action for this week

Five Step Workflow You Can Repeat Every Month

1. Set one goal and define the main action to measure

2. Build one landing page and one form with UTM tags

3. Launch two creative versions and one audience test

4. Check numbers twice a week and shift budget to the best ad set

5. Close the loop in the CRM and update your ROI sheet on the last day of the month

Quick Tools Checklist

• Landing page builder with forms

• UTM link builder

• Facebook pixel and conversion events

• Google tag and Google Analytics

• Call tracking number or CRM call logging

• One shared ROI spreadsheet

How to Lift ROI Fast

• Improve the first three seconds of your video and the first line of your copy

• Make your forms shorter and your landing pages faster

• Reply to every lead in five minutes or less

• Use social proof in your ads such as sale results and reviews

• Retarget warm visitors with a simple follow up offer such as a price guide or suburb report

ROI is not a mystery. It is a simple habit. Plan your goal, track cleanly, count every dollar, and follow the numbers. When you do this each week, your spend goes to the best ideas, your team moves faster, and your listings and sales grow with less waste.

Author Ken Hobson
ken@agentslibrary.com.au