FB Ads ROI Optimization: Case Study of GLP’s Best-Performing Facebook Ads

Case Study Overview

This case study examines the cost-efficiency and effectiveness of Facebook Ads run by Germanlanguage.ph in 2021, targeting international students primarily in the Middle East and Asia. The study identifies that the ads featuring students and teachers as ambassadors and community-building themes significantly outperformed others, achieving engagement costs up to 60 times cheaper Cost Per Result (CPR). It demonstrates that even the low ad budgets, when allocated strategically through rigorous testing of creatives and audience segments, can generate substantial reach and engagement, thus maximizing return on investment (ROI) in digital marketing for international students recruitment.

Highlights: Most cost-efficient FB marketing ads

• 59% of the top-performing, most cost-efficient Facebook marketing ads featured students and teachers, while 31% focused on educational Trivia about Germany and 10% were Awareness Campaigns.
• Overall, the most cost-efficient ad generated up to 60 times more return per euro invested, and it was categorized under the theme of student ambassadors and global community-building.
• Ads emphasizing student ambassadors and community themes performed best in both engagement rate and cost efficiency metrics such as CPR, frequency, and reach of unique accounts.
• Ads with lower frequency drove engagement faster and more efficiently, requiring fewer impressions per user.
• This case study demonstrates that high engagement and ROI are achievable even with modest Facebook ad budgets. (see details on ROI analysis section)

Data Summary

• Data Coverage:  Full year 2021, accessed in year 2023
• Business Data Source: Facebook Ads marketing metrics from a public Facebook page
• Selected Objective: Marketing ads with the objective set to Post Engagement
• Metrics Analyzed: Cost Per Result in Euro, Amount Spent in Euro, Frequency, Reach, and Impressions
• Data Collection Method: Custom Python automation script developed by the author to retrieve marketing metrics via the Facebook API
• International Student Targeted Markets: Middle East (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, etc) and Asian countries (mostly Philippines)

Ad Selection Criteria

Out of a total of 73 ads, the top 29 were selected as the best-performing ads based on cost-efficiency, specifically those with a Cost Per Result (CPR) strictly below €0.03.

Thematic Analysis on Selected 29 Ads:  

• 17 ads featured primarily student advocates and alumni testimonials, with some including teacher advocates as part of the campaign
• 9 Ads  consisted of educational trivia posts about Germany.
• 3 Ads were purely awareness-focused campaigns.

Themes by Cost Per Result (CPR) Brackets for 29 Ads:

Cost-Efficiency and ROI Analysis of the Top 29 Ads

• Individual ad spending of the top 29 ads ranged from €7.62 to €300, showing that cost-efficient campaigns can be executed with modest budgets while allowing experimentation across ad formats and audience segments to optimize ROI.
• The Cost Per Result (CPR) for post engagement ranged from €0.0027 to €0.0298, indicating that even low-budget ads can drive meaningful engagement through likes, comments, and shares.
• The extremely low CPR of €0.0027 shows that certain creatives achieved engagement at almost no cost, while even the upper range remains highly efficient by industry standards.
• Mean CPR: The average Cost Per Result of the top 29 ads was €0.0192,  reflecting strong overall cost efficiency across the dataset. This shows that most ads achieved favorable engagement costs, confirming effective creative performance and budget allocation that supported high ROI outcomes.
• Median CPR: The median Cost Per Result was €0.0184, meaning that half of the ads achieved engagement below this cost, highlighting consistent cost-efficiency across campaigns.
• CPR's Mean and Median Interpretation: The close alignment between the mean (€0.0192) and median (€0.0184) CPR values indicates a balanced and stable performance distribution across the top 29 ads. This suggests that cost-efficiency was consistently strong, with minimal influence from outliers, and that high ROI results were achieved broadly rather than being driven by a few exceptional ads.
• Unique Reach: The top 29 ads achieved an average reach of 37,921 unique accounts, demonstrating the ability to connect effectively with both broad and niche audiences across campaigns.
• Frequency- Impressions: The top 29 ads had a frequency ranging from 1.09 to 3.83, with an average of 1.89 and a median of 1.66. With an average frequency of 1.89, these top-performing ads engaged users fast and efficiently, requiring fewer impressions per person.
• Frequency Mean and Median Interpretation:  The Mean (average) being higher than the median suggests a right-skewed distribution, where a few high-frequency ads (up to 3.83) raised the overall mean. This pattern implies that while most ads delivered moderate frequency per user, a subset of campaigns targeted specific audiences more intensively to drive engagement.
• Altogether: Combining the low CPR, high reach, and efficient frequency, this highlights the importance of focusing budget on the most effective creatives to maximize engagement and ROI across diverse audience segments.

Cost-Efficiency and ROI Analysis Across All 73 Ads:

While this case study highlights the top 29 ads, comparing them to the remaining 44 ads provides a fuller picture of overall campaign performance. When evaluating all 73 ads together, distinct performance gaps become apparent:

• Across the full campaign, CPR for post engagement ranged from €0.0027 to €0.1638. This wide variation in ad effectiveness as reflected in CPR metrics, highlights the importance of testing different creative formats and audience segments, enabling continuous optimization and experimentation to maximize ROI on Facebook Ads.
• The gap between the cheapest and the most expensive Cost Per Result (CPR) is approximately 5,967 %, meaning that the lowest-cost ad generated engagement nearly 60 times more efficiently than the highest-cost ad. This clearly highlights the importance of identifying and prioritizing top-performing ads when allocating budget.
• The average Frequency of the remaining 44 ads is 2.55, which suggests that these ads require more impressions for the audience to engage.
• The top 29 ads reached an average (Mean) of 37,921 unique accounts, which is 12,987 more unique accounts than the 24,934 average reach of the remaining 44 ads. This significant gap shows that the top-performing ads were able to connect with a substantially larger audience more effectively aligning to the lower CPR metrics, driving engagement across a broader user base in a more cost-efficient way.

Ads Investment Analysis Conclusion

This case study demonstrates that high engagement of the target audience can be achieved at minimal cost, even with relatively low ad budgets. The wide variation in CPR emphasizes the importance of continuously testing different ad creatives and audience segments to identify the most effective approaches. By strategically allocating budget toward top-performing ads, advertisers can maximize efficiency and significantly increase return on investment (ROI) in their Facebook Ads campaigns.

Final Takeaway

Even small-scale advertisers can achieve remarkable engagement rates on Facebook by:

• Prioritizing authentic, community-focused content (for example, featuring students and teachers).
• Testing multiple creative formats and audiences to identify the most efficient combinations.
• Focusing on ROI metrics, not just ad spend, to guide strategic marketing decisions.

Note to reader:
Advertising data such as amount spent, target audiences, and related targeting data is generally available through the Facebook Ads Library. However, Facebook only makes this data publicly accessible for up to three years and does not include key performance indicators such as Cost Per Result, Reach, or Impressions. This article aims to provide an alternative source of GLP's facebook ads data to support public access and transparency.